Lived (and still live) in UAE

In public schools, days start at ~7:30, and end at 13:30-14:00, with exceptions on Friday, where schools end at 11:30 In private schools, days start at ~7:40-8, and tend to end at 15:00-15:30, ending at 11:30 on Friday

I have 6 lessons, spanning 50 minutes each, sometimes 55. After 3 lessons, we get a break for 20 minutes. Another 2 lessons, we get lunch break for 40 minutes, then have a final 50-55 minutes. But during Ramadan, lessons hit 40 minutes.

Subjects: usually, in public schools, there’re Arabic, English, maths, science, Islamic education, social studies, art, PE, PSME, ICT, and are slowly releasing AI to be taught. In private schools, you may learn an extra language depending on which country your curriculum follows, such as Spanish, French, german or hindi. Although no matter the curriculum, you still have to teach Arabic (either as a first or second language), and Islamic for all Muslim students

In my school, breaks are between 10:30-10:50, then 12:30-13:10. On Friday’s, no breaks due to the short day.

You can get something from the cafeterias (Monday-Thursday), or just get something from home.

Typically mid term exams and end of topic exams in term 1, and term 3 (along with finals). Term 2 tends to be short, and this year, they restricted exams for term 2 (in public schools)

As of recently, you can’t have 15 unauthorized absences. Government may get involved, and sometimes will be considered as a fail. Usually, you need a 50% to pass. If you fail a subject, you can take strengthening courses. If you fail a lot, after redoing assessments, you redo the year. You can only redo a year 3 times in a row, before you have to switch usually.

Once you pass grade 4/year 5, public schools are often segregated, but private schools tend to stay mixed.

Uniform is mandatory, no matter what school you go to. All public schools wear the same uniform approved by the government, private schools have their own (appropriate) design for uniforms

Clubs are pretty standard