A new step in education with the nationwide reopening of schools – Mehr News Agency | Iran and world’s news
According to the Mehr correspondent, on the morning of Sunday, April 5, 1401, when I was on my way to work, I was with a crowd of people who had started their new year; I saw a large number of students going to school alone or with their parents. These were scenes we had not seen in a long time.
Late February 2017, when the outbreak of coronavirus in the country was confirmed; One of the measures taken by government agencies to reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease; Schools and universities were closed.
The then Minister of Health, Saeed Namaki, had announced the closure of schools on March 6, 2017, on the sidelines of the sixth meeting of the National Headquarters for Management and Countering the Corona Virus.
Namaki, of course, promised the people at the same meeting that if they did not think about traveling at the same time as the closure of schools and universities; The Ministry of Health can collect the exceptional prevalence of coronation in the country. Although schools have since been closed extensively and many Nowruz trips have not been made due to inter-provincial travel bans, the Ministry of Health has never been able to collect coronations exceptionally throughout the country.
As the holiday season has increased, nationwide quarantines and the possibility of schools being closed for longer periods of time, the Ministry of Education has proposed virtual education for students in collaboration with the state broadcaster. The Ministry of Education from the early days of March 2017 through the television education network, which previously broadcast educational programs; Was able to offset some of the educational burden through television broadcasting.
As school holidays extended, it was necessary to continue educating children virtually; In this way, the development of electronic devices and the expansion of the Internet greatly contributed to distance education in schools. In our country, the issue of distance education became a reality with the continuation of the Crohn’s restrictions in 1399, and schools sought to continue education with the help of existing networks and media.
Non-governmental schools have been banned from attending Shad from the beginning
Happy plan that was proposed in 1394; With the corona outbreak, it was implemented in practice and started operating in April 2016. At first he was just a messenger and had many problems due to structural weakness. The problems that have led many schools, especially non-governmental schools, to attend Shad and choose another way of distance learning. Constant interruptions, slowness in sending messages and opening photos were among the most important happy problems.
Ali Kazemzadeh, CEO of Shad Network, said in a conversation say He acknowledged with Mehr that Shad had many weaknesses, especially in the first year of its implementation; The slowness of the network, the delay in uploading photos and videos, the impossibility of holding a live and interactive video session between the teacher and the students were among the most important weaknesses of the happy network. In this situation, most non-governmental schools used similar foreign software such as Google Mate and Skype to hold their classes.
School closures led to students dropping out
While non-governmental schools sought to pursue classrooms with new methods of distance learning; Many students have dropped out or even dropped out due to school closures. Rezvan Hakimzadeh, Deputy Minister of Primary Education, in a specialized meeting on explaining school dropout, which was held in March of last year; Regarding the impact of Corona on increasing student dropout, he said: “Before Corona, we had 39,788 children who dropped out of primary school in the country, and in Corona, this number suddenly reached 87,000.”
At the beginning of the new school year, Alireza Kazemi, the head of the Ministry of Education of Iran, announced: “Students have suffered a lot of serious injuries due to being away from school, so we are witnessing an increase in dropouts and a sharp drop in education.”
Gradual reopening of schools with nationwide vaccination
From the beginning of the year 1400 When corona vaccination was started by vaccinating the elderly and certain patients, schools gradually tried to hold at least part of their classes in person. The process of vaccinating teachers also achieved positive results very soon. Mohsen Beigi, the then director general of the Ministry of Education’s Health Office, announced in August 1400 that 930,000 teachers needed to be vaccinated and said: “The number of education staff in the public sector is about 930,000, which may be a very small percentage.” Increase. In the non-governmental sector, the number of employees is 230,000, and in total, about 1.3 million employees of the education complex must be vaccinated.
With the inauguration of the main government and the acceleration of the process of vaccinating the people, the officials of the Ministry of Education also gradually emphasized the need for the reopening of schools in person and 100%. Vocational schools were fully operational, and elementary schools were part-time and complementary. The Ministry of Education has always emphasized combined education since the beginning of October.
Sadegh Sattarifard, Deputy Minister of Physical Education and Health, in an interview with Mehr, said that according to the instructions of the Corona Anti-Corruption Headquarters in each province, schools in cities with a red status can operate in a combined (face-to-face) manner. Added: Primary schools can be more virtual because students have not been vaccinated, but secondary schools need to be active in person because they have to take the final national exams. While a higher percentage of high school students have been vaccinated, the provincial education authorities decide according to the needs of their region.
Sattarifard also participated in a live special news talk show on the topic of “face-to-face training and physical health of students (approved by the National Anti-Corona Headquarters)” regarding the vaccination rate of teachers and students during the Nowruz holidays. Percentage of educators received the first dose of corona vaccine, 90% of the second dose, and about 53% of teachers received the third dose, and compared to other groups, the community of educators were in the forefront; Also, 90% of students over 12 years old received the first dose and 80% received the second dose.
We have no right to deprive a student of face-to-face education
Sattarifard also participated in a live special news talk show on “Students’ face-to-face education and physical health” during the Nowruz holidays. Define an alternative to face-to-face training; In many parts of the country, we see that students do not have access to the minimum of face-to-face education, in which case “educational justice” is compromised. Therefore, we have no right to deprive the student of face-to-face education.
It seems that the main purpose of these words of the Deputy Minister of Physical Education and Health of the Ministry of Education was the need to hold face-to-face classes in schools of major cities, including Tehran; Because in sparsely populated villages and towns that have long been orange, white and corona; Schools had been in place for a long time.
The fact is that the benefits of face-to-face training can not be ignored. According to studies, distance and virtual education has never been a complete alternative to face-to-face education.
Saeed Sadeghi, a child psychologist, told Mehr about the need for face-to-face education: “It is true that parents have tried to raise their children during all this time in Corona; But it is important to have the discipline that the child needs to learn in school.
Sadeghi added: “Writing disorders, behavioral disorders and psychological disorders are among the disorders that many children face.” Or children with aggression or hyperactivity; The presence of the child in school has a greater and better effect in solving these disorders.