“Education Ministry” adds flexibility in working hours, from 7 am with 7-hour work day

Mansour Al-Daihani, Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, issued a circular regarding the determination of official working hours, which will be according to the “flexible working hours system.”

It was decided that the official working hours would be “flexible” during the days, from Sunday to Thursday of each week, at a rate of 7-hours, for employees in the Ministry of Education in the following departments:

• Public Education Sector and its affiliated departments, and educational districts, except schools.
• Private and Specialized Education Sector and its affiliated departments, except schools.
• Administrative Affairs and Administrative Development Sector and its affiliated departments.
• Financial Affairs Sector and its affiliated departments.
• Information Systems Management.
• Legal Affairs Sector and its affiliated departments.
• Educational Facilities and Planning Sector and its affiliated departments.
• Educational Development Sector and its affiliated activities and departments.
• Educational Research and Curricula Sector and its affiliated departments.
• Office of the Minister of Education + Public Relations and Educational Media Department.
• National Commission for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) and the Supreme Council for Education.
• Office of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education.

According to the provisions of the decision, it was decided that the start of work will commence from 7 am to 8 am, and the employee will be allowed to attend any time during that period, provided that he leaves after completing 7-working hours, which will be according to his attendance time, and without any prejudice to the prescribed grace period.

As a matter of fact, these provisions are not applicable to employees covered by the reduction of working hours for any of the reasons stipulated by law, nor do they apply to those subject to the partial absence system without pay.

Consequently, this decision will be effective as of November 3, and those required to implement it will be notified, and all previous relevant decisions that conflict with it, will be cancelled.

Al-Daihani pointed out that the application of the work system requires, allowing of multiple attendance and departure times, and calculating the number of official working hours and grace period, individually for each employee.

Further to this, he also stressed that calculating the grace period, minutes of delay and hours of leave at the beginning of work for those covered will be as follows:

• Grace period will be calculated at the beginning of the working day after the end of the last attendance time, i.e. after 8 am.
• Minutes of delay will be calculated at the beginning of the shift after the end of the last time for attendance, in addition to the specified grace period, which is after 8:30 a.m.
• The hours of leave will be calculated at the beginning of the working day from the time specified by the employee during the period from 7 am to 8 am.