Sunday, the Director of Examinations Department at the Ministry of Education, Dr. Mohammad Kinana, said that a total of six days will be added to the academic calendar for the second semester, which will be distributed on Saturdays for a period of six weeks.

Kinana told Roya that the addition comes to complete the number of days of the official school year to reach 195 days, as the number of days for the first semester was 92 days, and the second semester will be 103 days.

He noted that Saturdays which fall on April 30, May 15, May 21, May 28, June 4, and June 11, will be designated for all students of public and private schools and for all stages to attend classes. However, this decision excludes Tawjihi students.

Tawjihi students will have the usual three Saturdays, during which they will take the experimental school achievement exams, which are May 14, May 21 and May 28.

Earlier this month, it was announced that the start of the second semester will be postponed in public and private schools from kindergarten to eleventh grade to Feb. 20. However, Tawjihi will begin their face-to-face classes on time on Feb. 1.

In regards to schools with international programs; the government left the decision to them to choose between adhering to the national school program in terms of the start and end date of the semester, or starting distance education according to its school calendar on Feb. 1 online and then on Fec. 20, students can attend face-to-face education.

The spokesperson for the government, Faisal Al-Shboul, said that the reason for this decision is to preserve the health of students and educational staff and contribute to breaking the epidemic curve, which is currently escalating. He also noted that the decision to advance the date of the winter vacation for schools that was taken previously has contributed to breaking the curve at the time.