A system adopted by Al-Maarifah and the municipality to prevent COVID-19

Dubai maintains student safety with "glass barriers" in the classroom

“Knowledge” obliges schools to adopt protocols to prevent Corona.

Photography: Ahmed Arditi

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai and the Dubai Municipality have adopted a plan to implement a system of glass barriers and partitions between students inside classrooms in educational facilities, to maintain the health and safety of students and educational staff in the classroom, and to protect them against infection with the emerging corona virus (Covid 19).

The authority checks the extent to which schools implement the Corona virus prevention protocols.

Meanwhile, Dubai Municipality defined several specifications for glass barriers among students in the "Technical Instructions Manual for the Separation Barriers Between Students in Educational Facilities", which it recently issued.

The municipality stated that the system of barriers between students targets all educational facilities within the emirate of Dubai, with the aim of enhancing safety and health in the emirate in general and the school community in particular.

The municipality affirmed that, based on its role in preserving public health and safety in the emirate of Dubai, and with the aim of limiting the spread of the Corona virus in educational facilities, the presence of barriers separating students is an important matter in achieving the principle of physical distancing in the classroom as a precaution, which contributes to Student safety in cases of coughing or sneezing in the classroom.

The guide mentioned two types of requirements for the barriers between students in schools, namely, the specifications of the material from which the barriers are made, so that it is transparent, impermeable (solid), unbreakable, and its edges are blunt, smooth, of relatively low density, and easy to clean, and it is also a material. Chemically inert, and the second type concentrates on the material from which the barriers are made, as they are polycarbonate or Plexiglass.

The guide for installing the barriers stipulated that they be well fixed and safe, be easy to remove and replace, be in a suitable place that does not hinder movement within the classroom, and be in individual seating areas such as the classroom, or group such as the laboratory, so that there is a distance of 1.5 meters between each of the two seats. The lowest from one student to another, and a meter high from the roof of the seating place, and it should completely separate students.

The guide specified the dimensions of the barriers so that they are 219 inches, width and height, and their thickness ranges between one and six millimeters, and the breathing area can be in the form of a bubble with a radius of 30 centimeters, so that it exceeds the breathing area by a wide margin, taking into account the height of the students.

On the other hand, the school reopening procedures guide, published by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority on its website, at the beginning of the current academic year, includes 14 procedures for arranging places and physical distancing within private educational facilities in the Emirate of Dubai, including the necessity for the classroom design to allow room for preservation Physical spacing, by keeping a distance of at least one and a half meters between each student and another in the class, provided that everyone in the class (students and teachers) wear masks, and make sure to maintain a distance of two meters between people in all common areas, customer service areas, and other similar areas that mix There are different groups of students, educational staff and visitors.

Among the precautionary measures, the guide stipulated placing visible and clear signs on the ground to indicate safe distances, and the necessity for the percentage of students to match the size of the class, and the school has freedom of choice in determining the number of students in each class, while maintaining the specified distance between each student.

Apply the precautionary measures

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai affirmed its keenness to follow up private schools in the emirate during the second semester, with the aim of determining the extent to which schools apply prevention protocols and precautionary measures to prevent the Coronavirus, which includes several preventive measures, including sterilization and physical distancing. And the presence of guiding signs, the availability of isolation room inside the school building, wearing masks, and washing hands with soap and water.

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