A “fuzzy” plan to start the school year

Every time the Minister of Education of the interim government, Tariq Al-Majzoub, holds a press conference, the components of the educational family, including administrations, teachers, parents and students, come up with greater questions about the executive mechanisms of the decisions taken in education in the time of Corona. Three weeks before the start of the academic year, on January 28, Al-Majzoub renewed the call for help to “Friends of the world” to ensure the renovation of the buildings of private schools and universities affected by the explosion of the port of Beirut, and to provide a laptop to all public school students as a priority, and then to private school students. », In addition to the official school equipment!

The minister spoke that UNICEF will provide 8,000 laptops for operating licensed classrooms, and a thousand computers are still needed so that all classes in official schools and high schools are equipped with laptops to facilitate education and communication with students, provided that the Educational Center for Research and Development trains the members of the organization. Educational methods on its use in the explanation, understanding, evaluation and monitoring of the reduced curriculum.
Al-Majzoub, based on the recommendations of the Crown Committee, chose the mixed education scenario in public and high schools (combining urban education and “online” education), while preparation is not fully available for this or that. The Internet situation in Lebanon does not help, according to the approval of the Minister, to adopt distance education fully. “We have sent a lot of books and correspondence about the Internet, and so far we have not got what we want, and we hope that the Internet problem will be solved soon by providing it for free. For students and / or whitelist educational pages ». Public and private schools have not yet received the two manuals on the health protocol and the psychological support program, which were implemented by the Ministry of Education in cooperation with UNICEF, promising to secure electronic resources and free electronic applications.
Although all agreed not to risk losing a second academic year, the plan launched yesterday by the minister was not discussed in the Educational Emergency Committee. And it depends on dividing people into two groups in the first semester, each with 50% of the number of students, including no more than 18 students, and ensuring social distancing, as long as the first group attends throughout the week, followed by the second group in the following week, with the first group continuing education. Remotely while the second group is at school and back, while maintaining the official working hours of teachers and professors without increasing their quorum.
Al-Majzoub was left to private schools and universities to choose the scenario that takes into account its specificity, provided that the curricula are cut almost in half in public education classes. Regarding vocational and technical education, teaching begins on October 12, using blended learning according to the specificity of each specialization, since vocational education depends largely on applied materials. Teaching will also begin at the Lebanese University in early November through the adoption of blended learning. Although the minister spoke about the near completion of the electronic version of the official school textbook, he did not touch the printed copies of the book in the absence of a tender procedure for the binding of its printing, which aroused the surprise of the president of the Official Basic Education Association, Hussein Jawad, stating that this would cause a “great crisis in urban education.” Jawad raised the issue of school funds that did not receive their fees for the entire last academic year, “The accumulated debts in some schools have reached 100 million pounds, which will make it impossible to buy emergency health supplies such as masks, sterilization materials and others ”, although the minister said they would be insured by UNICEF. And the red cross. And he indicated that the school year will not start in the evening schools for the education of Syrian refugees unless the funding quotas are also secured.
The head of the private school teachers union, Rudolf Abboud, wished that the plan had been discussed within the educational emergency committee, noting that “we will study the preparation of teachers and students and their willingness to implement it, given their psychological condition.”
Teacher sources asked how it is possible to divide people without increasing the teacher quorum, and what is meant by the first group being taught remotely and the second in presence. Will the two groups follow the same materials at the same time? What will happen in the second semester?
Parents, for their part, described the situation as nebulous, as the Minister of Education did not explain what would happen to fees if education were approved “online”, and would parents be forced to pay it in full as the last year? Who bears the costs of any injuries to teachers or students? The director of the Union of Parents and Committees of Parents in Private Schools, Lama Al-Tawil Al-Zein, said that the responsibility is shared between the school administrations, the ministry and the parent committees not to lose the school year, and the Health issue is one of the responsibilities of parent committees, noting that parents prefer the safer “online education” at all levels. The requirement to protect computers also for private school students.

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