‘Back to school’ is safe, yet be careful

Gradual resumption of classes in schools began on Sunday, as thousands of students of grades 1, 4, 5, 9, and 11 were seen attending the school after the decision of the Supreme Committee on COVID-19 on the issue. The resumption of schools started after 10 months of suspension due to the spread of the pandemic. The Ministry of Education confirmed that returning to school will be gradual and is subject to the epidemiological evaluation of the virus in the Sultanate. It called upon all to adhere to precautionary measures stressing that a support investigation team will visit the schools, helping the main team at the level of each governorate. Students will have their basic subjects in the school for a week, while they will receive individual development subjects through other platforms in the following week or according to the school system based on the intensity factor. Dr Abdullah bin Khamis Ambusaidi, Under-Secretary of Ministry of Education, clarified during the 20th press conference of the Supreme Committee last Thursday that the decision to reopen schools came in response to several justifications, the most important of which is the positive outcome of the implementation of the ‘Schools Health Protocol’ and the need to further empower ‘First Cycle’ pupils in basic skills, such as reading, writing, arithmetic and new syllabi. He said, “The current health situation in the Sultanate is evaluated. There are also other possible considerations, upon which decisions will be taken, either returning to schools or continuing the blended learning for the second semester. If the pandemic continues to exist, the conceived scenario is sticking to blended learning.” BLENDED LEARNING Faisal bin Ali al Busaidy, Assistant Director-General of Information Technology at the Ministry of Education, said that educational platforms are synchronised to blended learning within the parameters of the current app. Students will be required to log in to these platforms to get access to homework and interactive activities. He added, “There are important requirements for the educational platforms, most importantly of which is the availability of tablets and the Internet. Indicators show significant use of the educational platform by students and teachers alike. We made adjustments to the platform based on our field observations,” stressing that there are three periodic surveys carried out by the ministry to monitor the use of the platform by teachers and schools. Al Busaidy indicated that figures show that the data volume in electronic platforms has exceeded 70 million MB. There are more than 150,000 virtual classrooms, more than 300,000 daily active users in sync classes, and more than 3 million participants.