To raise the level of students before the end-of-year exams

Schools turn break time into remedial classes

Private schools in the Northern Emirates have decided to combat the phenomenon of private lessons by converting break time between classes into remedial classes for students at each academic level, less than a month before the start of the end of the current academic year exams.

The schools stated that classes will be optional and free of charge for students in all curricula, to avoid their parents incurring money for private lessons.

On the other hand, the parents of students said that the schools' initiative contributed to motivating their children to register for remedial classes and demand them, because it compensates them for the private lessons that were necessary before the beginning of the end-of-year exams, especially in subjects that their children find difficult in, or that have witnessed a decline in their grades during the last period.

In detail, officials in private schools told Emirates Today, who preferred not to be named, that they spotted students in schools looking for teachers who accept to provide them with private lessons before the end-of-year exams, which teachers rejected, and some of them made a proposal to provide lessons at break time between classes for students wishing to do so.

They added that accordingly, the schools decided to convert the rest time, which lasts up to 45 minutes, into free remedial classes for all students at each academic stage, so that the student registers his name with the department official, and determines the subject he wishes to review with the teacher, and then a schedule for remedial classes is set in coordination with the teachers.

They explained that the classes will be dedicated to answering students' questions in each subject, by teachers, in addition to explaining the skills of answering questions that measure the skills of students from outside the curriculum, and the mechanism for reading, understanding and answering exam questions within the specified time, so that the student does not get distracted and waste his time reading, understanding and answering questions wrongly.

They pointed out that the remedial classes will continue until the beginning of the end of the current academic year exams, and the focus will be on low-level students who obtained low grades during the second semester, in order to raise their level so that they can improve their performance in the exams and obtain distinguished grades.

On the other hand, the parents of the students, Suhaib Raad, Hani Shukri, Yasmine Alawi and Laila Mohsen, said that converting schools at break time between classes to remedial lessons would contribute to reducing private lessons, especially as they spread weeks before the end-of-year exams.

They pointed out that they resort to private lessons to raise the level of their children in difficult school subjects, stressing that they incur financial losses for this, especially since some teachers take advantage of students' need for private lessons before exams and raise their fees to many times.

They added that the remedial classes will be an alternative to private lessons, and that they communicated with the heads of departments in private schools to register their children in them, especially in scientific subjects and the Arabic language, noting that the student receiving information and reviewing it with his teacher is better than reviewing it with a teacher from outside the school, as this gives the student confidence in understanding the question, which contributes to increasing the student's self-confidence, and raises his level in exams.

Classes will be optional and free of charge for students in all curricula.

To benefit from the remedial classes. The student must register his name and specify the course he wishes to review with the teacher.