To reduce the financial burden on families

Demands to support Internet prices for "virtual education"

  • A student receiving a class during distance education.

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Parents of students identified challenges they face with the "distance education" system, including slow and high cost of the Internet, following up the educational process for children, and the effect of computers on their eyes.

They added that the multiplicity of devices that use the Internet inside the home constitutes a pressure on the service, pointing to the need to allocate packages for education at prices that do not constitute a financial pressure on them.

A member of the Federal National Council, Shatha Saeed Alai Al Naqbi, called for the implementation of measures in support of virtual education, most notably the price of Internet packages for education.

She said, "Taking a step of this kind will positively affect the entire educational process."

The ophthalmologist, Dr. Muhammad Al-Baram, stressed the need for an appropriate distance between the student's eye and the computer, ranging between 35 and 50 centimeters.

In detail, Aya Emad (the mother of two children) said: “We were forced to choose a distance education system for our two children out of fear that they would be infected with the Corona virus, in light of the lack of a vaccine to prevent it,” adding that “the cost of virtual education is exaggerated when compared to it. Realistic education, because it needs to provide a computer for each student, and to follow the children during their studies, which affects the regularity of the parents in their work.

The competent authorities called for allocating Internet channels for students at reasonable prices.

Hoda Ibrahim (mother of three students) stated that she had converted her home into a mini-school, dividing the bedrooms into separate classes, and bought each student a computer, which increased the financial costs incurred by families, in addition to the annual school fees that private schools did not tolerate in Fully suing her, noting that "every mother became a student with her children during the virtual education class, and a teacher after the end of the school day."

Mira Othman (a student's mother) confirmed that the educational level of her daughter, who studies in fourth grade, is low compared to previous years, because she was not well followed during distance education.

She explained that she and her husband are employees, and their work starts at 7 am, which makes it difficult to follow their daughter while studying.

The concerned authorities demanded that the school day start at 2 pm, "because this period is suitable for families in which the parents work, and they do not have the means to follow their children in studies."

Hussein Jamal (the father of a student) pointed out that virtual education is subject to interruption of the Internet service from time to time, or to the occurrence of technical malfunctions, which causes a loss of communication between students and the teacher, calling for strengthening Internet lines.

For her part, a member of the Federal National Council, Shatha Saeed Alai Al-Naqbi, said that providing students with the opportunity to choose the appropriate educational model for each student is a positive and highly effective step, to provide a flexible educational process according to the conditions of families in light of the Corona pandemic that the whole world has been suffering for months.

She added that «many families have chosen virtual education, out of concern for the safety of their children, but they face several challenges during the implementation of this type of education, and then measures must be taken to facilitate the virtual teaching process for the student and his guardian, most notably taking into account the working mother from her workplace. By allowing her to work flexibly in government and private agencies, relieving pressure on families with more than two children, in addition to telecommunications companies providing information networks to reach remote areas efficiently and with high quality, whether during school lessons or exams.

She added that support packages and reasonable prices should be provided for the internet for students' families, and focus on basic study materials, to shorten the time of the school day so that the student's mind is not distracted, and he is not forced to sit in front of the computer for long periods.

For his part, a specialist in ophthalmology and surgery at Emirates Specialist Hospital, Dr. Muhammad Al-Baram, stated that students' eyes are vulnerable to health problems due to the excessive use of tablets, especially during the distance education stage that many schools apply during this period, referring to what is known as « Computer Vision Syndrome », which is a group of symptoms that patients complain of as a result of prolonged use of tablets, especially if the period exceeds two continuous hours.

He pointed out that the symptoms are headache, pain around the eyes, a feeling of heaviness in the eyes, irritation, and a transient decrease in visual acuity, in addition to pain in the elbows of the neck and shoulders.

He said that the presence of uncorrected visual problems, such as a shortage, height, or aberration, may exacerbate the problem.

Al-Baram stated that one of the most important factors that increase symptoms is the prolonged use of tablets, the inappropriate position of the head and body while working on these devices, in addition to the working distance, which is the distance between the patient's eyes and the device's screen.

He pointed out that the treatment begins with a visit to the specialist doctor if pathological symptoms appear on the eye, then work to put an appropriate and comfortable distance between the eye and the device, ranging between 35 and 50 centimeters, and give the eye a period to rest every two hours, for a period of at least 20 seconds by looking at an object that is twenty Forward every 20 minutes during school or work hours.

He continued: «It is also important to detect the associated dry eyes.

It is common due to the prolonged use of tablets, whether for work or study, and the use of moisturizing drops suitable for each patient.

Loss of focus

An otolaryngologist, Dr. Habib Al-Bitar, said that the ears become accustomed to the degree of sound and a certain pattern of it for a long time, and the student loses his focus, and eliminates the element of interaction between him and the teacher.

He stressed the need to rest the ear from the headphones from time to time, advising the teachers to take this issue into account during the class, and to invite students to remove the headset for a period of not less than 10 seconds before resuming the explanation.

- "Mothers who become students during the virtual lessons and teachers after them."

- "Families suffer from slow internet and interruptions sometimes due to poor packages."

Families converted bedrooms into classrooms and bought a computer for each student.

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