Schools ordered to make up for canceled classes

Education Minister Ahmed Al-Issa instructed education departments in the Kingdom to arrange for additional compensatory classes for students in cases where classes were canceled due to extreme weather conditions or any emergency that warrants school closures during the year, Al-Hayat reported.
In the circular, Al-Issa said the “rights of school directors and leaders recently issued grant them full authority to take any administrative or educational measures to guarantee the safety and security of students in emergency situations.”
The ministry instructed that cancelled classes be made up with additional classes, as per a specified mechanism. The seventh and eighth sessions are determined by cutting five minutes from every class, as well as adding an additional class to every school day starting from the second week of classes, and giving priority to subjects that are only offered once a week.
The mechanism specifies preparing an official report of these procedures, a plan to compensate for school material, informing parents of students of this plan and obtaining their signatures of approval.
Meanwhile, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education (Girls) Dr. Haya Al-Awad launched an autism forum titled “Together We Brighten Their Hopes,” and said that efforts must be focused on this group of students. “Some behavioral directives make them overcome many of the difficulties they face,” she said, stressing the importance of early intervention for children with autism.
She said the forum will come out with programs that serve students with autism, the first of which will be launched in Riyadh and later spread to other parts of the Kingdom if proven successful.
The forum aims to find solutions to rehabilitate and support students with autism as well as train parents to interact with their children, while promoting community awareness and participation in different medical, rehabilitative, education and behavioral activities.
Source: Arab News