*Schools to inform parents through SMS about in-school days of attendance
* Blended learning support hotline 155
*Six sessions/day for distance learning
*Students to attend school 1 – 3 times a week
Each school will inform the parents concerned through SMS about the in-school days of attendance for each student, under the blended learning system being implemented during the first term of the school year 2020/2021 across all the educational stages including government and private schools, higher education institutes and kindergartens.
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) also announced on Friday the availability of a technical support hotline, 155, for students and parents.
The amendment of the back-to-school plan was released on Wednesday, after a co-ordination meeting with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), regarding the precautionary and preventive measures against Covid-19, and mitigating the academic consequences of school closures and delaying the beginning of the new academic year.
Blended learning combines online learning and in-person teaching in the classroom. Students will attend classes 1 – 3 times per week to do coursework, experiments and exams. From September 1 – 3, students are to be informed about the blended learning approach in schools.
During the first term, schools will receive only 30% of its students capacity to attend in-person classes on daily basis. Each student should attend in-person, one to three classes per week, as assigned by the school.
Distance learning will take place through six sessions a day. The recorded lessons will be of 15 – 20 minutes duration. Students should access Qlearning portal through a dedicated login with their user names and passwords, and have access to MS Teams App.
Parents will provide computers for their children, create a convenient environment and offer them support and guidance.
The Educational Affairs Sector at the MoEHE has supplied the government schools in the country with the forms and guidelines to implement the blended learning system, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported on Friday.
The guidelines, which the daily said that it had a copy of, point out that the primary schools pupils shall attend classes at the school building in rotation.
The pupils of classes I and III will accordingly go to school on Sundays and Tuesdays, while the pupils of classes II and IV attend on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the pupils of classes V and VI shall attend only on Thursdays of each week.
As for the preparatory school, students of class VII shall attend on Sundays and Mondays, students of class VIII on Tuesdays, and class IX on Wednesdays and Thursdays every week.
Students of class X shall attend Sundays and Mondays, students of class XI on Tuesdays and students of class XII on Wednesdays and Thursdays of every week.
As part of distance learning, students will have daily assessment and discussions with their teachers and there will be a weekly assessment for each subject. In addition, the ministry will provide a good number of recorded lessons on its YouTube channel on weekly basis. Digital textbooks will be available in pdf format, besides other interactive textbooks.
The teaching staff will be given adequate training on the remote learning techniques and all the related applications. However, teachers are not obliged to respond to the queries of students outside the official working hours, and schools cannot force them to do so.
The Educational Affairs Sector recommended that live streaming lessons should be avoided through MS Teams unless absolutely necessary. Teachers are urged to respond to the related queries and questions of students on daily basis during the official working hours.
Similarly, students have to accomplish the daily and weekly assignments and assessments based on which their attendance will be calculated. They should also practice good discipline when attending online lessons. Parents are required to monitor the attendance and progress of their children closely to help make the process successful and productive, Arrayah added.
