The Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced changes to school working hours and holiday times for schools in Qatar for the next four academic years.

The amendments were made after HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi, adopted a report written by a committee that studied amending the academic calendar from the year 2019-2020 to the year 2022-2023.

Working hours have been reduced to between 850 and 1,000 hours for primary schools. The new academic calendar has fixed annual summer holidays for students to be no less than 70 days. These holidays are in addition to the mid-year and mid-semester holidays. Under the new amendment, teachers will be given no less than 80 days of annual leave.

As per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) education standards, the average number of schooling days has been changed to 185 days.

For more information about the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, please visit their website.