Back to school dates for the UAE confirmed

The UAE Ministry of Education has confirmed that students will be expected to return to school on September 1.

With schools closing for the summer later this week, that means schoolkids in the UAE will have eight weeks of holidays this summer. Teachers, however, will return to work in the last week of August to prepare for the new term. 
Winter vacation has also been confirmed and will take place from December 15 to January 9 this year.

Here's a provisional list of the country's public holidays for 2019 so you know what to look out for:

• Friday August 9-Monday August 12: Arafat Day and Eid Al-Adha
• Sunday September 1: Hijri (Islamic New Year)
• Sunday December 1: UAE Commemoration Day
• Monday December 2-Tuesday December 3: UAE National Day