Citizens in the Emirate of Fujairah expressed their dissatisfaction with the experience of their children in private schools, with distance education, pointing out that some of its departments seemed confused and were not really ready to take this experience, compared to government schools.
They considered that the conflict of private school laws in light of the "Corona" crisis, and the sometimes taking them into an arbitrary manner, was an indication of their unwillingness to face the emergency situation, which imposed itself on everyone.
Some of them assured «Emirates Today» that their children are deprived of attending daily lessons, in light of the application of distance education, under the pretext of late payment of the school’s monthly installment.
And they expressed surprise at this decision, because their children were not deprived of education when they were late in paying the tuition fees during the regular school days.
Some of them also confirmed that there are private schools that refused to receive new students for the next academic year, on the pretext of the school’s total closure, but that it accepted students who had siblings in its classes. They affirmed that they are planning to enroll their children in the emirate's public schools, the new academic year, considering that "government education has proven to be the best, and that it does not accept comparison."
Mohamed Ahmed said that the current experience favors education in government schools, as it has proven its ability to manage the student and the teacher, during the crisis, in a way that ensures the continuation of education at a level that exceeds the expected.
The guardian of two students at a private school in Fujairah, Mohammed Rashid Al Murshidi, said that public schools have proven their ability to provide a high level of education, in light of the implementation of the distance education system, and have surpassed private schools, whose students have suffered opposing decisions, and their issuance is irregular.
He pointed out that the families of students suffered during the past period, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, the large number of daily duties and assignments imposed on students, in all their stages, and having to buy tools from libraries to implement projects, despite the state’s decision not to leave the homes, except for the most urgent necessity.
Sarah Rashi al-Naqbi, in his opinion, endorsed it, saying: “The main reason for enrolling my children in private schools is my desire to receive a better education. In spite of the large sums of money that I have to pay annually, I have not found any educational development for my children compared to what students receive in public schools ».
She added that she sent inquiries and notes via the school's private mail, about exams or timing of lessons and the possibility of returning them to students, but they were not taken seriously, and she did not receive any response to her observations and inquiries.
In turn, the Ministry of Education stressed that it is not permissible to require private schools for students ’families with fees in exchange for implementing the“ distance learning ”programs.
Its departments called for providing educational curricula and lessons to students in an interactive way that simulates school reality, despite their presence in their homes, and stressed the need to give the student an opportunity to obtain quality and appropriate education, through educational platforms approved by the Ministry and supported by an integrated educational content.
Ongoing specialist training for private school teachers
The "Department of Training and Professional Development" in the Ministry of Education launched continuous specialized training for teachers of private schools that apply the Ministry's curriculum, to raise their competencies in the specialized aspects according to the professional standards of teachers in the country.
The training materials were prepared according to the needs of teachers in the educational field after activating "distance learning", as the focus was on the specialized scientific subject with different content type, level, cognitive depth and applied dimensions for all classes, in addition to analyzing the curricula to ensure that the most important actual needs of teachers are taken into account while taking nutrition The reviewer from the educational field on the topics presented for the specialized training.
Training activities included the Emirati school system workshop on Learningcurve.moe.gov.ae training platform for all disciplines, in addition to a group of specialized workshops on the Microsoft Team program.
The workshops included a strategy for learning by playing and its practical applications in Islamic education, a workshop on reading strategies for Arabic language teachers and field 1, a workshop on geographic information systems in social studies and national education, a workshop on the main components of the music scales, and others.
Students' families have suffered during the past period, many daily duties and assignments.