Abu Dhabi: An initiative titled ‘Education after the coronavirus pandemic’ will be submitted to Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled, explaining briefly the status of education during the pandemic and the future of education beyond the pandemic, said Mutee’a Al Ajmi, head of the Teachers’ Association.
Al Ajmi said the post-Covid 19 educational plan includes solutions to academic challenges. This involves formulating a practical model of education that ensures the continuation of education without interruption, in addition to addressing the current situation in the academic year 2019–2020.
He pointed out that this initiative comes as part of the association’s role in supporting national efforts to counter the pandemic and provide support to decision-makers towards the continuation of education in light of the current situation and future possibilities that may prevent students and teachers from going back to schools. This is all the more important given the fact that education is an issue of national interest that cannot be suspended.
Al Ajami said that the coronavirus pandemic was a tough lesson that all must learn in order to radically address issues of Kuwait’s educational system. He said that along with the efforts made by the public and private sectors to tackle the repercussions of the outbreak, it is vital to ensure continuity of business in important sectors. The education sector, which is no less important than the health and economic sectors, has been the worst-affected by the pandemic.
He reminded that repercussions of the pandemic have impacted the whole world and Kuwait is not an exception.
Need for clear vision
Al Ajmi hoped that the current initiative involving the academic sector will be considered by the Cabinet. He added that given the current global scenario, time is of the essence here and Kuwait ought to have a clear vision to ensure resumption of all academic activities in the country.
He pointed out that one of the challenges facing the education system is the disruption of studies in the current academic year, in order to protect the health and safety of students and educational and administrative staff members.
Key points
He spelled out some important steps that seek to ensure the return of students to schools and secure their health and safety:
• Normal academic activities should not be resumed until the health situation stabilises and the pandemic subsides.
• Preparing and equipping all schools and kindergartens and applying all preventive health measures.
• There is need to ensure schools are back in shape after they had been used by various other authorities over the past months.
• School clinics must be provided with necessary medical equipment before resumption of studies.
• Attendance rules need to be amended once students return to schools.
• Assessment rules need to be amended in order to cope with the requirements of e-learning and distance education system.
• Greater attention needs to be paid to the role of educational platforms, educational TV channels and lessons that the Ministry of Education has recorded during the past period and these should be considered for the curricula for the current academic year.
Al Ajmi further said that in the event that a decision is taken to end the school year prematurely, due to the inability of students, teachers and staff members to return to schools, suitable solutions should be put in place to make sure academic activities continue so that students are not affected and have enough opportunities to continue with their studies.
