JEDDAH: Remote learning will end and in-person teaching will fully resume in schools in Saudi Arabia on March 20, the Ministry of Education announced on Monday. From that date, students will be required to be present in class each day and there will be no more virtual lessons.
After two years of disruption to teaching and learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry has directed educational departments across the Kingdom to start applying updated school guidelines, including arrangements for the full resumption of in-person teaching at all levels from kindergarten up. Elementary students were already attending in-person lessons on a part-time basis, for two or three days a week.
Social-distancing measures will be scrapped and morning assemblies will resume. Other in-class and extracurricular activities will also resume and students will be able to pray next to each other once again.
Teachers will continue to make use of the remote-learning platform Madrasati (My School) to prepare lessons, assignments and tests. They are also asked to continue to make use of the educational resources available on the platform, as well as content on the Ain educational TV channels.
Other details set out in an infographic shared by the ministry on its official Twitter account relate to the skills enhancement program, which will continue during the third semester for elementary students, and the requirement for students under the age of 12 to be fully vaccinated if eligible.
About 6 million schoolchildren in Saudi Arabia used the Madrasati platform as the country battled the pandemic. Schools in the Kingdom closed on March 9, 2020, to to help control the spread of coronavirus. They reopened partially, with restrictions, on Aug. 29, 2021. In-person exams resumed on March 6 this year.
