Muscat: Oman's Education Ministry has announced that students who wish to continue online learning once schools in Oman re-open may do so.
“The epidemiological indicators currently show a rise in the numbers of deaths and cases of infections, so the ministry is thinking of an alternative scenario for students, which is e-learning,” said education undersecretary Dr Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi.
“This decision will be taken by the Supreme Committee to deal with COVID-19, and the Ministry of Education will implement these decisions."
“The ministry will not sacrifice the health of its students, so if there is any risk to their health, the option of e-learning will be made available to them,” he told Times of Oman's sister Arabic publication Al Shabiba.
He requested citizens and residents to not exaggerate the current situation, saying that now is the time for people to come together and support each other.
“The ministry did not take the decision of reopening schools until all the options were presented to the committee.
“The directives to return to schools in this manner came from the highest decision-making authorities in this country.
"The decision was made to plan for this return in November, so that we could assess the epidemiological situation. We will not expose our students to dangerous situations.”
Parents and guardians of students had the right to not send them to school if they felt they were in danger of being exposed to infection, he added.
However, they must undertake certain obligations with the ministry towards ensuring their child is able to receive the appropriate standards of education.
“The guardian must sign an undertaking which says his son or daughter aims to study through e-learning, and the student must commit to taking the exams designated for the subjects he or she is studying,” Mr Ambosaidi said.
“The first working day on which teachers returned to schools went well, and additional efforts to spread awareness of the measures required right now were taken by some directorates of education.
“We noticed some teachers holding small celebrations marking the return to schools, so we will issue a circular to school administrators asking staff to remember to maintain physical distancing and pay attention to the rules currently in place.”