Al Falasi: The “Covid-19” pandemic has caused a huge global educational loss

“Education”: Virtual education is a reinforcing system, not an option versus the “real” one.

• Al Falasi, during his speech in the “Al-Ameen Majalis” under the title “Education hosted by the Al-Amin Majalis.”

  Photography: Ashok Verma

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Minister of Education, Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, stressed that the multiplicity of educational institutions in the country gives impetus and enrichment to the educational process, and provides multiple opportunities for students and their families of different languages ​​and nationalities, and therefore diversity gives integration, which is one of the pillars of strength for the Emirates, which is reflected in all sectors in the country.

Al Falasi indicated that the “Covid-19” pandemic forced everyone to practice the majority of life activities remotely, including education, and we have strong experience in this regard, because the UAE has a strong infrastructure, noting that the pandemic period witnessed global educational loss, and despite the Our underachievement is less than in other countries, so it is necessary to take this into consideration, and therefore we adopt e-learning (distance) as an enhanced means, and not as an option as a stand-alone system versus real or classroom education, either. Either the general education student belongs to virtual education only. Or just describe.

He added: "We can adopt e-learning as an enhanced means, as the student can study in the classroom, and see the educational platforms in which the curricula are available as auxiliary factors."

This came during his speech, finally, in the “Al-Ameen Majalis” in the Al-Khawaneej Majlis, under the title “Education is hosted by the Al-Ameen Majalis.” It was moderated by the media Marwan Al-Hel, and attended by the Ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Licensing and Quality Sector, Dr. Hamad Al Yahyai, ​​and Assistant Undersecretary for the Curriculum Sector, Dr. Hassan Al Muhairi, along with members of the Federal National Council, Shatha Alai Al Naqbi, and Maryam Majid bin Thaniah, and the Director General of the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities in Dubai, Dr. Hamad bin Al Sheikh Al Shaibani, and a number of educators, students and their families.

Al Falasi stressed the need for students’ parents to pay attention to the fact that there is no difference between the American and British education systems in general, as the difference is in the age of student acceptance in the first grade, which leads to determining the number of years of study, explaining that the American educational system is similar to the Emirati and other educational systems Where the student enters the first grade at the age of six years, and receives his school education in 12 academic years, as for the British system, the child begins younger, as he enters the first grade at the age of five years, and receives his school education at 13 years.

The UAE was also distinguished by the presence of a large number of nationalities, and this in turn led to the availability of a large number of different curricula to meet the needs of these nationalities.

Regarding the length of the school year, the Minister of Education stated that the school year, according to international requirements, must have 182 days of schooling, and then leave distribution after that, explaining that in previous periods the duration of the summer vacation was up to three months, which is For a long period and not in the interest of the student, therefore, best practices are applied by distributing vacations in proportion to the student's educational interest.

In response to a question for "Emirates Today" about developing a strategy to generalize volunteering among school students, Al Falasi said: "The experience of the Higher Colleges of Technology in volunteering is a rich and good experience, in addition to that, many students are currently volunteering in cooperation with the Ministry in a number of events, However, it is necessary to achieve the desired benefit for the student from volunteering while preserving it, as the Ministry is studying the generalization of volunteering at the level of universities and higher education institutions, bearing in mind that generalizing volunteering to nearly 180,000 students in higher education may constitute a challenge, as we do not We want to set a policy without examining its feasibility and in a successful way, and then we communicate with the various educational institutions to benefit from their experiences, and consider applying the distinguished ones to other institutions.

With regard to the length of the period for obtaining approval to allow the student to transfer from one curriculum to another, Al Falasi stated that the current academic year witnessed large numbers of cases of national students transferring between the British and American curricula in private schools. these requests.

He added that the lack of clarity in the idea of ​​13 years of schooling in British schools for many students' parents is one of the reasons for their desire to transfer their children from the British curriculum to the American curriculum and vice versa.

With regard to facilitating the teacher’s license tests, he explained that the teacher’s license, EmSAT tests and other new systems were recently introduced in education, with the aim of improving the quality of education outputs and raising the efficiency of those belonging to this system, as all these systems are periodically reviewed and evaluated with the aim of improvement and taking into account the interest of All parties, pointing out that the teacher’s license is one of the systems that we are working on reviewing and evaluating, to determine whether it achieves the goals for which it was set and to determine the degree of its difficulty and the method of its application, as the purpose of the license is to measure the depth of knowledge of the teacher, to choose the best elements for teaching.

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• «Education» studies the generalization of volunteering at the level of universities and higher education institutions in the country.

• 182 days The number of school days during the school year according to international requirements.

"Distance Education Certificate"

The Minister of Education, Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, said on the adoption of the "distance education certificate", that e-learning will become an essential part of the education system in general, as the student can receive his education remotely, which is one of the projects that the Ministry is currently studying, He added that the ministry is currently accrediting the certificates of prestigious international universities that grant degrees for distance study, in addition to the fact that within the country there is Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart University, which is a local university, and relies on electronic programs.

Digital Education Licensing

The Minister of Education, Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, said about licensing digital education: “It is not possible to rely only on (virtual) distance education for school students, because it is necessary for the student to engage with his peers in the school environment, which is an integrated environment, to obtain On life skills and future skills, therefore, it is not possible to adopt a distance education school in which the student learns all his years of study with this system.

He continued: “The matter is different in university education, because the university student is more mature than the school student, who must deal with his peers and teachers to develop his personal skills, and what we saw through the data and results of the pandemic period (Covid-19), proved that it is not possible to adopt a learning school. Fully default.

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