DOHA: Parents in Qatar can choose between complete online classes or blended learning for their children from next week, Ministry of Education and Higher Education officials said on Monday. Blended learning combines in-person classes with online learning.
Parents can choose between the two options. At the same time, the Ministry officials made it clear that attendance will be compulsory for both options.
Addressing a press conference, Mohamed Al Bishri, adviser to Minister of Education and Higher Education, said schools will continue to provide blended learning and will continue to limit the number of students attending classes to 30 per cent.
The officials urged the parents to study both the options carefully and take a decision and inform the schools because several preparations need to be taken to implement these options. They can choose either complete online learning or blended learning.
Al Bishri reassured parents about the safety of schools and said that most of the cases recorded among students occurred outside schools.
Small number
Addressing the press conference, Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, Chair of the National Strategic Group on Covid-19 and Head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Hamad Medical Corporation, said that out of more than 350,000 students and over 35,000 teachers in the country, less than 0.2 per cent have tested positive since schools reopened on 1 September.
This is a very small number. And ,those who were infected caught the virus outside the schools, either from home or at social gatherings.
Al Bishri said there is a strict protocol being followed and in case of any infection in any school, a set of procedures are followed to prevent the spread of the infection. “If there is an increase in the number of cases in schools, classes will be suspended and they will switch to online learning,” Al Bishri said.
In the event that a classroom in any school or class is closed, parents will be notified by text message immediately, he said.