Arab education and the Corona (COVID-19) crisis

scenarios for the future

Abstract

Abstract : The world is currently experiencing a major event that may threaten education with a huge crisis that is perhaps the most dangerous in the present era. Until March 28, 2020, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused the disruption of more than 1.6 billion children and young adults from education in 161 countries, i.e. Nearly 80% of students enrolled in schools globally, and this came at a time when countries in the world are already suffering from an educational crisis, there are many students in schools, but they do not acquire the basic skills they need in working life.

         On the global level, the pandemic has a grave danger, as researchers at the Royal College in London estimate the global impact in 2020 between 20 million deaths, in the case of effective non-drug interventions, and 40 million deaths, in the absence of such interventions, in the states In the United States alone, Dr. Anthony Fossey, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, estimated that this epidemic would kill between 100,000 and 200,000 people..

     During the period of preparing this study, according to an article (Sky news Arabia) on June 15, 2020, the number of injured people worldwide reached about 8 million cases, about 4 million of them recovered, and the number of deaths reached about half a million deaths. These numbers can be increased as the virus continues to circulate around the world.

         The Corona crisis (at an undisclosed date) forced the Arab countries to make a sudden transition to distance education. The relevant ministries have tried to facilitate the process by providing e-learning platforms, in this context, as most countries of the world are trying to provide ways to enable students to have free access to educational platforms.

          Despite the widespread use of the Internet in the Arab region, many countries have not previously tested the technologies provided by e-learning, and Arab experiences are still very modest, and successful ones are partially concentrated only in some rich oil countries (and some other countries), but Arab countries have not been able Many even introduce distance education into the college system altogether, although ancient universities across the world have adopted digital lectures more than a decade ago.

          As it is difficult to predict the date of the end of the crisis globally and in  Arab world, and from the premise that the educational process should not stop, regardless of the obstacles, it becomes necessary to search in the mechanisms of facing the crisis to ensure continuity in the provision of education to the children of the Arab nation, and then this study is interested in researching the future scenarios of Arab education To face the crisis.

Keywords : corona crisis - distance education - future scenarios