KUWAIT CITY, Aug 10: The undersecretaries of the ministries of education of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries will hold a virtual meeting on Aug 23, 2021, to discuss the issue of safe return to schools, reports Al-Rai daily. In this context, the Minister of Education, Dr. Ali Al-Mudhaf, asked the Arab Bureau for Educational Research for the Gulf States to identify the scenarios of return to school and the office is said to have provided him with a detailed report on the educational situation in each Gulf country, starting with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has issued a decision to open doors of schools for middle and secondary school students while continuing to apply distance learning to primary school students, while at the same time obliging the higher classes students to be vaccinated.

An educational source schools in the UAE and Bahrain will go for what it called a ‘blended education system’ meaning one week attendance in school and one week online, while Qatar will begin with 50 percent attendance of school hours and gradually increase it to 100 within a month of the start of its academic year, while the Sultanate of Oman has put forward a proposal to implement a full return from November 1.

As part of the preparations for the new academic year, the Ministry of Education is working on providing the appropriate environment for the students as well as their parents. This is being actively followed up by the Undersecretary of the ministry Dr. Ali Al-Yacoub, reports Al-Anba daily reports informed educational sources. They explained that the decision to reduce tuition fees will continue to be applicable in case of continuation of distance learning. However, if the education method is comprehensive, the previous fees of 2019 will apply.