While schools following the British and international curricula in the UAE begin their October half-term break on Monday, October 12, running through Friday, October 16, Indian-curriculum schools — including CBSE and ICSE institutions — will not observe an October break this year. School leaders say the next holiday for these students will be the winter break, starting December 14 and running until classes resume on January 4.
Punit MK Vasu, CEO of The Indian High Group of Schools, explained that the gap comes down to how the Indian academic calendar is structured. Unlike most other UAE schools, which start their year in August or September, Indian-curriculum schools typically begin in April, meaning October falls right in the middle of first-term assessments as students prepare to move into term two — a period school administrators say requires uninterrupted teaching weeks rather than a mid-term pause.
Seema Umar, Principal of Dewvale School in Dubai, and Deepika Thapar Singh, CEO-Principal of Credence High School, both confirmed the scheduling difference and urged parents to plan family travel and holidays around their own children's specific school calendar rather than assuming a uniform break across the UAE.
For schools on the unified calendar, the October break runs from October 12 to 16, and when combined with the surrounding weekends, students effectively get nine days off, from October 10 through October 18. Some Dubai private schools have moved their break forward by a week. The yearly mismatch between curricula continues to create planning headaches for families with children enrolled in different school systems, and administrators are advising parents to check their own child's academic calendar carefully before booking any October travel.