Corona & Distance Learning

The issue of distance learning now involves 80 percent of the world's students due to the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus. According to UNESCO, one billion and 37 million students do not go to school because of the quarantine.

This organization has launched a global coalition for education to support countries in expanding the range of best distance learning solutions and reaching the most vulnerable groups; children and youth. The closure of schools has affected more than a billion and a half billion students distributed in 165 countries. 

Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO said: "We have never witnessed this degree of disturbance in the field of education,"

"Building partnerships is our only way forward. This alliance urges coordinated and innovative work to find solutions that do not confine to supporting students and teachers at the present time, but also continue throughout the recovery process, with a special focus on the principles of inclusion and equity." 

And the great fear extends to poor countries. According to the World Bank, the richer countries are better prepared to move to online learning strategies, even if it involves a great deal of effort and challenges facing teachers and parents. But the situation in both middle-income and poorer countries is not the same, and if we do not act appropriately, that lack of equal opportunity - which is terrible and fundamentally unacceptable - will worsen. 

Many children do not have an office to study, nor books, as well as poor Internet connection or even they do not have laptop computers at home at all. But, furthermore, those might not  find any support from their parents as hoped, while others have all of the above. 

Therefore, we must avoid widening these differences in opportunities - or reducing them as much as we can - and avoid increasing the negative effects on the learning of poor children. Fortunately, the World Bank report adds: “We are witnessing a great deal of creativity in this regard in many countries.”

Many ministries of education are dedicated to relying on constructive and purposeful strategies by making distance education available to everyone without exception. The strategy appropriate for most countries is to use all possible means provided by the current infrastructure to deliver the service. Internet tools can be used to make lesson plans, videos, tutorials and other resources and materials available to some students, and most likely to teachers. 

Furthermore, blogs, audios and other resources that use less data should also be used also. The work with telecommunications companies should implement policies that exempt users from fees, to facilitate downloading of the learning materials to smartphones, which are often carried by most students.

Radio and television are among the tools that should not be underestimated as well. The benefits provided by social networks, such as WhatsApp or SMS, can be used to enable education ministries to effectively communicate with parents and teachers, to provide them with instructions and introduce them to the structure of the learning process, using the content provided via radio or television. 

Distance learning is not only about using the Internet, but it involves learning that relies on a variety of media that ensure it reaches the largest possible number of students today.

Personally, as a university professor and as a father, I was initially wondering about the effectiveness of such distance education, especially when we are used to directly meet students and interact with their questions and researches; but when efforts become joint, and here I mean, those of relevant Education Ministry, University, Faculty, Professors, Students, Telecommunication companies, Radio and Tv, then the results would definitely turn positive.

I see this personally with students and with researchers in the doctoral level, and even with my two young children who are used, with other students to study remotely, but also mastering what is related to direct interaction with teachers, via voice, images and writing tools kindly provided by the Ministry of Education and academies, which I applaud their work in all countries because it serves as the oxygen that makes our children do not stop the study, whatever the circumstances ..