In a historic overhaul of student evaluation practices, the UAE Ministry of Education has announced the cancellation of centralized second-semester examinations at all educational levels, replacing them with a continuous assessment model. This step is part of a comprehensive strategy to increase learning results, reduce educational pressure and modernize timely education system for the beginning of 2025–26 academic year.
A change in assessment: Examination, continuous evaluation
The UAE Ministry of Education (MOE) has officially canceled all centralized other-semester examinations for students across the country. Instead, schools will apply a new performance measurement structure based on continuous, school-based assessments to individual progress and learning needs. The announcement was made during a media briefing held at Zayed Educational Complex in Dubai, the new policy made the ministry part of the ministry’s efforts to modernize the evaluation equipment, adjust diverse teaching styles and promote important thinking among students. This change affects all academic levels, with clear guidelines for various grade groups:
- The evaluation of grade 1 to 4 will be done through continuous evaluation, focusing on monitoring personal educational progress. This system allows teachers to provide regular, personal feedback and adjust teaching methods to support each student’s development.
- In grade 5 to 12, there will no longer be centralized examination in the second semester. Instead, these students will undergo school-based yogic assessments. However, centralized examinations will be held during the first and third semester.
According to Mohammad Al Qasim, the Ministry of Education Ministry’s Understanding, this change is designed to provide strong educational assistance to students to detect talent and additional additional activities to participate more actively in additional activities. Talk to Gulf News“The reason for this change is to provide more educational assistance and focus on the talent and textual activities of the students,” he said. The ministry emphasized that these changes aim to adapt to school days, improve learning quality and adjust semester weightage in alignment with updated assessment policy. Additionally, the purpose of the reforms is to increase the good of the student by reducing academic pressure.
Infrastructure and readiness for new academic year
Education Minister Sara Al Amiri confirmed the entire readiness of the country for the 2025-26 school year, with more than one million students to return to classes starting on Monday, 25 August. In preparation, the Ministry has prepared adequate infrastructure development and logistics plans:
- Nine new public schools have been set up in various Emirates to support population growth and offer modern, innovative teaching environment.
- These new schools will accommodate more than 25,000 students.
- In the United Arab Emirates, 465 existing schools have made extensive maintenance to ensure security and readiness.
- A total of 830 new educational staff covering all specialties have been admitted to support educational distribution.
- The Ministry has distributed 46,888 laptops to students, strengthening its commitment to digital education and skill development.
- More than 10 million textbooks have been printed and distributed in schools before the academic year.
- 5,560 school buses have been deployed to ensure easy transport for students.
These developments align with the widespread vision of the Ministry, which is capable of “able to meet the needs of new generations and prepare them for future demands” to stimulate the learning environment. ,
Policy reforms contained in educational development
This examination reform and infrastructure expansion is part of the integrated strategy of the Ministry of Education to elevate the UAE education system. By updating the performance assessment tool, the ministry aims to create a more flexible and inclusive educational environment by eliminating the traditional semester-end exams in favor of the more overall, ongoing assessment. The ministry said during the press briefing, “The central examinations have been removed at the end of the second semester and replaced with a school-based yogic assessment.” Officials clarified that this approach would not only bring diversity to the methods of student evaluation, but will also increase teaching quality by promoting adaptive, student-centric instructions. Now the focus will be on measuring long -term learning results rather than high pressure examination performance.
