The gatherings we once enjoyed have dwindled. People now fear leaving their homes after work, and students remain confined indoors—without schooling. Many parents are asking the same question: what is the solution? In our academic roles, we have proposed many ideas and criticized even more, especially the state of education under Corona. We even heard the Minister of Education’s response: that there once existed an educational TV channel, which cost 3 million dinars! But, Your Excellency, you said “once was.” It stopped because curricula were changed from grades 1 through 9. So where is it now?
In the midst of this educational crisis, what we need most is awareness and preparedness. The truth is clear: there is a failure in crisis management. Our ministries and administrations have no specialized crisis management structures. If they did, why is this educational crisis still ongoing? Time is slipping away. The semester is nearly over. Our children are waiting for solutions, and parents are anxious about their future. None of us knows how long this deadly pandemic will last, or what its consequences will be. So why not open educational platforms and channels for remote teaching? Many teachers have already expressed full readiness to teach online.
Some Arab countries, even before announcing school closures—and I have followed this closely—had already prepared plans to face the global crisis. They decided that if schools were suspended, an alternative plan would immediately be activated: broadcasting classes on television if necessary, and launching comprehensive distance learning systems. Ministries in those countries produced video lessons for every grade level, filmed in collaboration with supervisors and educational experts, alongside private schools. These lessons were uploaded to interactive online platforms, accessible to all students. Their ministers confirmed that ministry websites and e-learning platforms were fully prepared to serve as alternatives to in-person schooling, ensuring that students’ learning would not be interrupted.
These nations had not yet even closed their schools, but they had already put alternative plans in place through distance education, taking every precaution. Shouldn’t we also manage our educational crisis as they have managed theirs? Shouldn’t we learn from their expertise if we are serious about ensuring that our students do not fall behind?
We need rapid solutions. What are we waiting for? Time is against us. Activate crisis management in education, put in place plans and alternative plans, and seek the expertise of others if we are unable to design solutions ourselves. Only then can we shield education from collapse under this deadly pandemic. God help us.
