We felt the tremors of Covid-19 when all the schools in Dubai were asked to pre-pone the spring break and shut down the premises for a month’s duration. As time passes and the virus spreads rapidly Ministry of Education decided to activate remote learning program, or e-Learning, and extended it till June 2020 for the safety of the students. 

The whole concept of fully remote e-Learning is new to the schools, teachers and students. It has already started taking toll on the parents, especially where both the parents are working. On one hand it is a brilliant way to keep the students engaged in the learning process so that they don’t miss out on the education but, on the other hand, it requires more involvement of the parents during the day. The pandemic has also affected many people financially with cuts in salaries and exposure to high living cost.

Since parents role in the e-Learning education has increased, and the reduction in job security, there is a demand by most of the parents to reduce the third term fees as the only resource school is engaging is teachers. Many premium education groups, like Al Najah and Taleem group, have already slashed the fees. However, there are still many schools which are offering case to case fee reduction and don’t want to apply the same relief for all the parents as they are sustaining their entire staff with no salary cuts.

When we hear both the sides, the reasoning from both sounds quite logical and valid. What’s important to realise is that no one was prepared for this crisis situation. We need to understand that the full remote learning program will fall into place very soon and the students and teacher involvement will be more on a day to day basis where they can independently handle the process. Where as the school needs to understand that we all appreciate their academic as well as administrative efforts in running the entire scenario in such short span of time, but they also need to address the anguish and anxieties of parents. Case to Case basis slash in fees might be de-meaning for many parents. Instead, they can probably order fixed amount of fees reduction for all. We need to be together at this hour of crisis, rather than against each other, for the sake of our children's happiness and smooth learning.

Stay Safe and Stay Happy.