EWB Hold "Post Covid-19 .. Challenges Facing Less Educated Societies"

Educators without Borders (EWB) organized, on Tuesday April 28^th 2020, an online panel discussion titled "Post Covid-19 .. Challenges Facing Less Educated Societies", hosting researchers and academics specializing in educational affairs.

The panel discussion hosted a group of educators; Dr. Nasr Aref, Advisor to President of World Council of Muslim Communities, Dr. Simon Evans, Principle Lecturer at Faculty of Business and Law at Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom, Dr. Ahmed AlDaoudi, Legal Adviser in International Humanitarian Law at Red Cross, Dr. Philip Milton, Director of the Four Abu Dhabi Vocational Education and Training Institutes, Dr. Hanadah Taha, Endowed Professor for Arabic Language at Zayed University, and Member of the Board of Trustees of EWB, Dr. Abdel Hamid Abdel Hay, Advisor to Sheikh Zayed Foundation for Humanitarian Work, while the seminar was hosted by Dr. Malika Shatnawi.

The speakers mentioned that Covid-19 pandemic has become a milestone in the history of many societies, as the virus brought radical changes in different areas of life, of which education was the most affected, which represents the most crowded and dense community activities, while the opportunity for the spread of disease and transmission of infection increases. So countries started to take its first precautionary measure in the educational field.; schools and universities were closed, and a new education system was imposed, which is “Distance Learning”.

EWB believes that although distance learning has existed for more than two decades, it was limited to certain societies in the most advanced countries and to higher educational levels represented in postgraduate studies and the undergraduate level, stressing on that general education stages before university did not know but the traditional school system or home school education, which adheres to a specific school curriculum, and that Cvoid-19 pandemic has forced most countries of the world to suddenly apply distance learning system in pre-university stages, so the application here is limited to the most developed countries.

The seminar discussed several axes, including the implications of international crises on less developed societies in the field of education and its systems, and the use of advanced technology and its applications to provide quality remote education to millions of children and youth in countries and societies that lack the most basic materials to obtain the basic right from education, as well as offering innovative technological solutions.

It is worth mentioning that Educators without Borders is an international organization based in Geneva, concerned with providing educational services for children in affected regions, and improving training services in crisis areas.