All spring camps licensed by Dubai’s private schools regulator will remain closed until April 5, officials have said. The Knowledge and Human Development Authority grants permission to dozens of organisations in the emirate who provide after-school activities for young children. Other spring camps not licensed by the KHDA are able to remain open if they choose. Earlier this month, the UAE government announced all schools, nurseries and universities would close for a month as part of their efforts to contain Covid-19. Spring break, which was due to begin on March 29, was brought forward by two weeks and started on March 8. “All nurseries, schools, universities and training institutes in the UAE are closed for four weeks from Sunday, March 8,” the KHDA announced earlier this month. “Training institutes must not use any premises, either theirs or someone else’s, to conduct any kind of training that requires students to be physically present. “Instead, training institutes should find ways of providing training or tuition through distance-learning until Sunday, April 5.” Numerous spring break camps around the country who are not licensed by the KHDA are still operating. Many have introduced special measures to better protect children against the spread of Covid-19. Some camps have reduced the size of group sessions to six or eight people while others have increased the frequency of cleaning practices. OliOli, a children’s museum in Dubai that is also running a spring camp, has restricted numbers of visitors to five families every 30 minutes. This week, more than 20 activity centres in Dubai announced they had suspended their activities for children under the age of 18. They included Hamilton Aquatics, a swimming academy based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and Just Football in Dubai.
