‘First semester exams to be conducted online’

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 3: The meeting of directors of all school districts, which was chaired by the Undersecretary for Public Education Osama Al-Sultan, failed to set a date for the schoolchildren to return to schools and failed to add anything new to the current situation, amid assurances the Ministry of Education is bound by the Ministry of Health’s requirements not to ‘open’ schools for traditional learning except after a vaccine is found and the epidemic begins to recede, reports Al- Seyassah daily.

The educational sources told the daily, the ministry has not taken a decision to return to what it called the paper-based exams at the end of January or confirm the return to traditional education in March 2021, at the beginning of the second semester, indicating that the e-learning decision is still in effect and no decision has been issued to the contrary but situation will continue to be evaluated depending on the Ministry of Health decision to return to schools but until then, distance education will continue. The sources indicated that the ministry is laying out its perceptions, options for moving to the fifth stage, and its preparations, as if it were thinking out loud.

Suggestions
However, what is seen on the surface are just ideas and suggestions, not decisions, and that the final decision is not in the hands of the Ministry of Education as it does not have a say on the issue, especially as it is related to the return of more than half a million students to schools.

The sources explained the ministry suffers from a shortage of teachers in various specializations because of the health exemptions that were granted to about 50 percent of teachers in various regions, in addition to the unavailability of nurses in all schools, pointing out that the educational districts presented their visions in the event of return, but they differ from one region to another.

The sources emphasized that the first semester exams will be conducted “online”, and there is no way to conduct them on paper in light of the previous circumstances and data, at least until now. Kuwait University has approved the distance education system for the first semester of the academic year (2020/2021) during the University Council meeting held yesterday. The Secretary-General of the university, Dr Muthanna Al-Rifai, said in a press statement after the meeting: The University Council decided to continue applying the regulation of the distance education system when traditional study was not possible in the first semester while taking into account health controls and requirements.