School Students' Parents Call for Flexible Friday Prayer Timing to Ease School Dismissal and Mosque Attendance

The UAE's General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments has moved Friday prayer time to 12:45 PM starting January 2, 2026. This timing change has sparked debate among parents who say they'll now have to choose between picking up their children from school or attending Friday prayers at the mosque.

Parents are asking education authorities to either make Friday a school holiday or switch to remote learning that day. The current school schedule ends at 11:45 AM on Fridays, but parents say the timing creates a logistical nightmare.

Here's the problem: Many parents work far from their children's schools. By the time they finish work, drive to school, pick up their kids, and get home, there isn't enough time to make it back to the mosque for 12:45 PM prayers. Traffic around schools makes this even tougher, with long pickup lines eating into the already tight schedule.

Parents like Mohammed Naeem, Ahmed Salah, and Khaled Mansour say they respect the religious authority's decision on prayer timing. But they want schools to be more flexible to help families attend prayers together. They see this as important for teaching children commitment and good values.

The parents have two main solutions in mind. First, make Friday a complete school holiday and add those three hours to other weekdays - about 45 minutes per day. Second, use remote learning on Fridays, similar to what happened during Ramadan with the "Ramadan with Family" program.

School officials say they haven't received any updates about changing Friday schedules. They point out that regular students who get picked up directly should be fine timing-wise. But students who take school buses face a real problem - bus rides can take up to an hour, which means they'll miss mosque prayers entirely.

Teachers from both public and private schools expect Friday classes to continue since it's still an official working day in the UAE. They think schools might dismiss students 30 to 45 minutes earlier at most. Remote learning on Fridays seems unlikely since it was rejected before due to high student absence rates.

The education authorities haven't commented on the prayer time change yet. School officials say any schedule updates will be announced during the last week of winter break or the first week of the new semester, when students return on January 5, 2026.

This situation highlights a common challenge in the UAE - balancing work schedules, school timing, and religious obligations. Many families have young children and daughters who can't easily be taken directly from school to the mosque, making the coordination even more complex.