After months-long concerns that school closures were doing more harm than good, especially as evidence mounted that children rarely develop symptoms from COVID-19, the new academic year in Oman got off to a good start.
The new education approach, with a mix of classroom and online learning, with educational institutions determining the cases that require students to attend the university campus, no doubt, has been carefully weaved in consultation with the experts in the respective fields.
And for those attending face to face classes, all the safety measures are in place in schools to ensure safety and reduce the risk of coronavirus infection among students who attend the classes.
Educational institutions, according to the guidelines, are committed to developing the necessary technical infrastructure for e-learning on an ongoing basis and that should conform to international standards.
The academic courses must include a mixture of simultaneous and asynchronous — online and recorded — lectures and the institutions must specify the appropriate mechanisms to ensure interaction of students in these lectures and their commitment to attend them on time.
If parents prefer to educate their children completely through the distance education system due to safety concerns, they can take exemptions by submitting a written application to the school authorities.
Arrangements have also been made that Oman TV will telecast lessons for Grade 12 daily on weekdays between 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm with their schedules available at the ministry website.
Rather than returning fully to the way school education was designed and functioning before, the pandemic has presented systems with an opportunity to positively embrace a paradigm shift that has long been happening, albeit slowly.
Yet there are discussions and other realistic concerns related to the economic and social aspects that up to what extent people can afford the distant education, which involves risks as far as the level of availability of the Internet facility in remote villages in the Sultanate.
The interruption of in-school teaching during the current crisis has revealed the possibilities and challenges of distance learning. It has highlighted the crucial role of communities with a sense of belonging and safety apart from developing social relationships; and a source of support from everyone in the society.
In the online learning system, not only that children need to have computers and accompanying applications to work according to the programs, but also parents need to follow up with children the way they learn, how to deal with these interactive electronic educational platforms and how to use them. In addition, a family has to find funds to meet the additional expenses for buying enough laptops.
Therefore, the new school year raises a new reality of responsibility and affirmation of cooperation and a continuous evaluation of the situation to ensure fair support for the children. All national telecommunications companies, without exception, have a great responsibility by providing schools and homes with high quality internet and other support including programs and financial support by reducing the subscriptions rates.
Companies as part of their social responsibilities should endeavour to help children who need support with computers and other devices that are required in the online education system. A feeling of national brotherhood based on the principles of social solidarity is the need of the hour so that no child is denied the right to education. Everyone needs to pull each other’s hand to keep the thread of the education link continuous and uninterrupted!
Samuel kutty
samkuttyobserver@gmail.com
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