The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) has officially transitioned students in the UAE to the Non-Exam Route for the May 2026 session due to regional security threats and significant educational disruptions. However, students across neighboring regions facing the exact same geopolitical instability and "shelter-in-place" protocols are still expected to sit for high-stakes examinations.
Why we are petitioning:
- Educational Derailment: Many of our institutions have been forced into mandatory online learning for over six weeks. This has severed the essential in-person connection with educators and compromised the completion of rigorous IB requirements.
- Security & Mental Health: It is academically and ethically unreasonable to expect students to perform at their peak while living under the constant threat of aerial attacks and regional conflict. The psychological toll of this instability cannot be ignored.
- Safety of Gatherings: If regional conditions are deemed too unstable for daily in-person classes, mandating large-scale gatherings in examination halls poses an unnecessary security risk to students and staff.
- Lack of Equity: Maintaining the exam requirement for one group of students while exempting their neighbors in the same conflict zone creates a profound lack of parity in the global assessment process.
We call on the IBO to prioritize student well-being and implement the Non-Exam Route across all affected areas of the region immediately.
Our learning was still heavily disrupted and hindered resulting in us students missing essential content and even missing some papers. If the UAE had the opportunity to cancel and took it I think we should be given the same opportunity.