KUWAIT: Education Minister and Minister of Higher Education Dr Saud Al-Harbi affirmed yesterday that education during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had revealed the shortcomings and the required improvement of the learning process. Minister Harbi made that statement during a videoconference titled 'the Second International Conference on: Distance Learning: Coping with Covid-19 Crisis.' The event scheduled from November 30 until December 1st.

Dr Harbi pointed out that critical circumstances always delivered ways to update the educational system through innovation, which later contributes to sustainable development both on a national and international level. Closure of schools and resorting to distance education were an outcome of the pandemic with the latter process requiring tremendous amount of knowledge being transferred extensively to the digital domain, he added.

Despite all the efforts, there still challenges needed to be addressed, indicated the minister who urged for more development of education through adequate channels aimed at relieving social and psychological stress of students and educators. Dr Harbi commended the organizing of the current conference and hoped it will come out with recommendation pushing the educational process forward.

Meanwhile, head of the Gulf Arab States Educational Research Center (GASERC) Dr Suleiman Al-Askari said that the conference -- prior to COVID-19's spread -- was aimed at formulating a national vision for the development of education. He added that the pandemic had shifted the approach with most countries prioritizing health first to stop the spread of the viral infection.

It was not only education that suffered from lockdowns, business and other institutions had suffered losses around the globe, indicated Dr Askari who revealed that billions of students in the world had to do distance education to complete their studies in the summer. He went on to say that national entities had provide all of their assets to make sure that students were educated via digital platform through live class sessions and pre-recorded material.

The official indicated that though huge efforts were exerted, there were problems that went beyond the capacity of the system; however, the struggle continued to solve shortcomings. Researchers are assessing the positives and the negatives of distance learning to improve the quality of education, Dr Askari affirmed, adding that it was important to look at the data and use it in the future. - KUNA