34 private and charter schools have already advanced through the Blue School Initiative’s colour-coded four tier system 

Abu Dhabi, Nov 4, 2021: Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) has brought forward the implementation of its Blue Schools Initiative following an increase in COVID-19 vaccination adoption reaching 37% among students attending the emirate’s private and charter schools.

Designed to support schools returning to normalcy through the gradual relaxing of precautionary measures, the Blue Schools Initiative will now launch two months ahead of schedule, with schools set to reap the benefits of the initiative’s privileges during Term 1 of the current academic year.

The move follows an increase in vaccination rates among all student age groups currently attending Abu Dhabi’s private and charter Schools. To date, 93% of students aged 16+, 68% of 12- to 15-year-olds, and 21% of under 12s have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Currently, 34 of Abu Dhabi’s private and charter schools have already advanced through the Initiative’s four tiers to open up wide-ranging privileges including the relaxation of physical distancing and mask-wearing protocols, the reintroduction of field trips, on-campus events and extra-curricular activities such as team and contact sports, as well as inter and intra-school sports competitions.

In line with the Blue Schools Initiative’s objectives to provide parents with full visibility of the vaccination status of their children’s schools, a dedicated section for the initiative has been developed on ADEK’s official website. The website enables parents to obtain general information about the initiative, the vaccination calculation method, as well as detailed information about the customized benefits of each tier. The website is also equipped with a filter that allows parents to search for a specific school, view its tier status and track schools’ advances through tiers as vaccination adoption increases within its community.