Dubai allows home-based early learning

Dubai’s education regulator now lets licensed nurseries shift some learning for children from birth to age 6 into homes when distance learning is officially required. (khda.gov.ae) The Knowledge and Human Development Authority, which oversees private education in Dubai, set out two home-based models in its April 2026 guidance for early childhood centres. One allows “hub” groups in approved homes for up to eight children from multiple families; the other allows a centre to send one teacher to a single family’s home for that family’s children only. (khda.gov.ae) The rules apply only during periods when the authority mandates distance learning, including closures tied to weather, health, security or other disruptions. Centres cannot keep offering the service once that activation period ends, and the guidance says services must stop no later than five days after the authority deactivates distance learning. (khda.gov.ae) Dubai is not opening an unregulated tutoring market for toddlers. The framework keeps the licensed early childhood centre responsible for teaching quality, child safety, staffing, supervision and insurance even when care moves into a residential setting. (gulfnews.com) That matters in a city where many families rely on private nurseries and where sudden closures have disrupted in-person learning before. The authority said the policy is meant to preserve continuity during disruption without lowering standards for children in their earliest years of development. (gulfnews.com) The home “hub” model is treated like a satellite nursery. Each host home must be reviewed by the centre, logged with the authority and staffed by assigned centre employees, with a responsible adult present and accessible throughout sessions. (khda.gov.ae) The one-family model is narrower. A trained employee of the nursery can work with one child or siblings from the same household, with the guidance capping that group at four children. (khda.gov.ae) KHDA said the framework is backed by seven requirements, including licensing approval, risk assessment, parent agreements, child-protection policies, staff records, supervision and monitoring, and insurance coverage. Gulf News reported the authority tied the move to Dubai Education 33, the emirate’s long-term education strategy. (gulfnews.com) The practical effect is that a nursery can keep serving very young children during an officially declared distance-learning period without asking parents to replicate a classroom on their own. In Dubai’s new model, the setting can change from centre to home, but the centre keeps the legal and educational responsibility. (khda.gov.ae)