Muscat: As low as 16 students per classroom could be the new norm when schools in Oman reopen, the country's education ministry has revealed.
Schools across the Sultanate will employ blended learning, which will combine online learning with physical teaching in classrooms, Times of Oman reported.
“The application of blended learning varies from one school to another, according to the student population of each school, so that the number of students within a class does not exceed 16, to ensure physical distancing,” education ministry undersecretary Abdullah Al Busaidi said.
All schools aim to achieve a physical distance of 1.5 metres between students with all core academic subjects taught in the classroom while other subjects will be taught remotely.
Schools also have the flexibility to adapt to the physical presence of students at school and strict health protocols will be applied to ensure the safety of all.
“We have about 40 to 45 students per class, so we will be splitting these into two batches of students," Steering Committee for Pakistan Schools chairman Mohammed Zia Ul Haq said.
"The first batch of 20 will come in the morning, and the second will arrive in the afternoon. We have planned to cancel recess for the students so that they can have a straight learning shift, say until 11 am, after which the afternoon shift comes in around 2 pm.”
“Only our basic subjects such as English, maths and science will be taught physically. The rest, such as Urdu, religious studies and social sciences will be learned online.”
As part of this, teachers will also work in two shifts, with their timings dependent on when they need to be at school for their lessons.
“If a teacher has his final lesson of the morning at 10 am, then we will make sure he gets a break and comes around, say, 3 pm, whereas if a teacher has taught his last class of the morning at 11 am, then his afternoon shift will accordingly begin later. Our teachers have been coping well with adjusting to online education.
“I know these times are not ideal, but we all have to adapt to the current conditions,” Siddiqui added.
Indian schools in Oman have also been preparing to reopen under the guidelines of the ministry.
“We have been preparing internally for the eventual reopening of schools,” Indian Schools in Oman board of directors chairman Dr Baby Sam Saamuel.
"A blended learning model with an increased focus on physical distancing, sanitisation and disinfection measures are definitely to be expected. We hope to receive these guidelines shortly and inform our parents and students accordingly.”
Al Busaidi said the pandemic had forced the Sultanate to adopt this type of education in schools, in light of global trends regarding education.
“Traditional education is currently prevalent in our schools, and this depends on direct contact between the teacher and student.
“But this type of education no longer keeps pace with the current era. This is what led us to search for another way of education, which is electronic education, which in a broad sense, means education based on technology, distance-learning or learning by using the internet.”
He said that teacher training would behin once teachers returned to schools on September 17 to prepare for the upcoming academic term.
“Resources will be made available from the ministry,” he said.
“These are divided into educational content for teachers, as many are still learning to use e-learning across the governorates, and digital platforms such as Google Classroom, or those that are already employed by schools. We are close to finalising these. There is also a digital library and a special platform for teachers to learn and exchange knowledge with each other.”
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