A leading Abu Dhabi-based school has eased COVID-19 restrictions on its premise after vaccinating more than 85 percent of its students. In line with the ongoing recovery efforts, Grace Valley Indian School lifted mask wearing and social distancing protocols for students in outdoor areas.

As per the updated guidelines, students are no longer required to wear masks in outdoor areas. Furthermore, the school has permitted all school events, including assemblies and graduation ceremonies.

In accordance with the Blue School Initiative, the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek) earlier recognised Grace Valley's successful efforts against the pandemic by placing it in the top 'blue' tier.

The initiative provides a clear roadmap to normalcy to schools across the emirate. It categorises schools based on their vaccination rates to offer customised privileges. It also allows schools to gradually relax precautionary COVID-19 measures in order to enhance the return to pre-pandemic school operations.

Under the blue tier, Grace Valley Indian School will enjoy a number of privileges including the permission to host inter-school extracurricular activities like sports tournaments and competitions with other 'blue' tier schools. Furthermore, parents are allowed to attend the events on the school campus by presenting entry requirements such as green status on their Al Hosn app. The school is permitted to organised field trips for students among other privileges.

Speaking about the development, Sara Musallam, chairwoman of Adek, lauded the recovery efforts made by the Grace Valley Indian School community that now play a significant role model to the entire Abu Dhabi education sector.

"I would like to personally thank all parents who chose to vaccinate their children. Your decision has helped to protect the health and safety of your child’s school community and contributed towards a return to pre-pandemic school operations," the official said.

In addition, Adek has partnered with schools to conduct a survey with the aim of assessing the parents’ opinion about the increasing rate of COVID-19 vaccination among students. The results of the survey indicated that about 52,000 parents are interested in getting their children vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccination is the most effective way to facilitate normalcy in the education sector. In addition, a 21 percent increase is expected in the number of students who have received the COVID-19 vaccine, taking the total to 59 percent.

In this regard, Musallam has called on all private and charter schools to continue their efforts to add more schools in the blue tier to "safeguard the health and safety of our entire Abu Dhabi education ecosystem."

Since the launch of the Blue Schools Initiative in November, nine private and charter schools have advanced through the four tiers after a rise in their student vaccination rates.

As per the latest update, seven schools have progressed from the orange to yellow tier and one school has moved from yellow to the green tier. These schools have moved a step closer to achieving the coveted blue tier.

Musallam noted that since the launch of the Blue Schools Initiative, there has been a prominent rise in student vaccination rates in schools across the emirate. All school community stakeholders, including students, parents, principals and teachers, have worked collectively to enhance the vaccination efforts.

"It is encouraging to see so many schools advance through the tiers due to an increase in student vaccination adoption. We look forward to celebrating more schools that advance to the blue tier soon," Musallam added.

To date, a total of 107,000 students across Abu Dhabi schools have received the COVID-19 vaccination. It represents 39 percent of the total number of students in Abu Dhabi schools. Since the activation of the Blue Schools Initiative, vaccination rates for students under 12 have doubled in the last two weeks.