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The Riyadh General Directorate of Education directed all institutions in the capital and affiliated governorates to end the remote phase and return to physical classrooms following completion of the designated period, according to notifications sent to parents and staff. The temporary measure had been communicated through official school channels rather than a broad public announcement from the Ministry of Education. Parents received messages over the preceding weekend informing them that buildings would reopen after the closure that ran from Sunday through the following Thursday.
More than 1.6 million students across 8,652 schools in the Riyadh region were impacted by the initial order, figures from the General Directorate of Education show. Both teaching personnel and administrative employees followed the same remote protocol using the Ministry of Education’s established digital infrastructure. The directorate has maintained the Madrasati platform as a standard tool for such continuity measures in recent academic years.
Similar short-term transitions have occurred previously in the kingdom, including a 2025 incident in which cable theft forced 51 schools to adopt remote learning until repairs concluded, according to reports from the General Directorate of Education in Riyadh. In April 2026, multiple governorates shifted classes online for a single day based on National Center of Meteorology warnings, an Okaz newspaper account stated. Those precedents underscore the directorate’s emphasis on safety while preserving instructional schedules.
No official explanation accompanied the latest remote directive, though some regional coverage linked the timing to heightened alerts following interceptions of Houthi missiles and drones, a Moneycontrol summary noted. Saudi civil defence authorities had issued separate warnings for other cities during the same period, yet none specifically targeted Riyadh. The Ministry of Education has instead focused communications on operational adjustments and the resumption timeline.
Administrators coordinated with families through approved digital channels to minimize disruption, the directorate’s approach in prior cases indicates. Students returned to morning assemblies at the standard summer schedule times of 6:15 a.m. followed by first period at 6:30 a.m., according to the academic calendar released earlier in the year. The General Directorate of Education described the overall 1448-1449 academic term as fully prepared with supervisory teams monitoring compliance at every site.
Naif bin Abed Al-Zaraa, director general of education in Riyadh, had earlier highlighted comprehensive readiness measures for the school year, an Ajel English report detailed. Those preparations included field oversight to guarantee safe environments once in-person activities restarted. Officials continue to urge adherence to updates distributed via school platforms for any further schedule modifications.
