Ministry of Education Unveils Key Preparations for 2025-2026 Academic Year

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has outlined its key preparations and development plans for the academic year 2025-2026, focusing on national priorities and enhancing the competitiveness of national education. The plans include fundamental changes to the assessment policy, introducing qualitative updates, and boosting the competitiveness of national education. The new system optimizes school days, diversifies student performance assessment tools, enhances learning quality and teaching methods, and promotes student well-being.

Key Takeaways:

• The MoE has been developing proactive plans since January to ensure public schools' readiness for the academic year 2025-2026, covering all aspects from facilities to advanced curricula.
• The new assessment policy removes centralised tests at the end of the second semester, replacing them with school-based summative assessments, and retains centralised tests only in the first and third semesters.
• The project-based learning and assessment (PBLA) system has been approved for phase two, covering all Cycle 2 students in public and private schools applying the MoE curriculum, with over 127,500 students and 350 schools participating in the first phase.
• A new standardised proficiency test will be introduced in grades 4-11 in public schools to measure Arabic, English, and mathematics skills, with the first phase expected to include 26,000 students.
• The Ministry has increased teaching time for Arabic and Islamic education in kindergarten and dedicated daily hours for Cycle-1 students to reinforce Arabic reading and writing, achieved by redistributing class periods without extending school hours.
• An Arabic baseline assessment will be introduced in Grade 1 across 100 public and private schools to establish standard levels and enable tailored support programmes to enhance linguistic skills.
• The MoE is opening 9 new schools across several emirates, welcoming over 25,000 students, supported by more than 800 new teachers.
• The Ministry has distributed more than 47,000 laptops and printed over 10 million textbooks for the new academic year.
• The new Physical Education, Sports and Health Programme in public schools promotes a healthy, sustainable lifestyle by improving school health environments, organizing sports tournaments, restructuring PE classes, and introducing healthy meals.
• The MoE has activated 520 Parents' Councils, representing 6,140 members nationwide, to contribute to MoE decisions and projects.
• The 'From Skill to Leadership' campaign aims to develop students' skills and transform them into achievements through exploration, development, and excellence.
• The MoE will introduce its nationally developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) curriculum in the coming academic year, providing lessons on integrating AI into education and preparing students to use AI responsibly.

Statistics:

• Over 127,500 students and 350 schools participated in the first phase of the project-based learning and assessment (PBLA) system.
• The new standardised proficiency test will include 26,000 students in grades 4-11 in public schools.
• The MoE is opening 9 new schools across several emirates, welcoming over 25,000 students, supported by more than 800 new teachers.
• More than 47,000 laptops have been distributed, and over 10 million textbooks have been printed for the new academic year.
• The new Physical Education, Sports and Health Programme will benefit over 25,000 students.
• The 'From Skill to Leadership' campaign aims to develop students' skills and transform them into achievements through exploration, development, and excellence.

Sources:

• Ministry of Education (MoE)
• UAE Government Media Office
• Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of Education
• Mohammed Al Qasim, Under-Secretary of MoE
• Sulaiman Al Kaabi, Assistant Under-Secretary for the Professional Development Sector
• Amna Al Saleh, Acting Assistant Under-Secretary for the Curriculum and Assessment Sector