UNESCO supports distance learning to implement the National Response Plan of the Ministry of Education in Palestine
In response to the current health crisis, the Palestinian Government ordered an immediate nationwide closure of schools on March 15, 2020, as an emergency measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Ministry of Education (MoE) estimated that more than 1.43 million children of school age were to be confined to their homes, which included primary and secondary students as well as preschool children. To mitigate the effects of the national lockdown and the disruption of education, new venues were explored worldwide including online courses delivered through the internet and TV broadcasts.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) in Palestine developed a National Response Plan to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on the students through distance learning to ensure the provision of education through TV broadcasts and the internet. The National Response Plan is currently being implemented with the support of the UNESCO Office in Palestine along with key education partners including UNRWA, Save the Children, and UNICEF.
To ensure timely implementation of the distance learning component of the National Response Plan, UNESCO supports the development of the e-platform of the Ministry of Education in Palestine known as “Tammal”, meanwhile upgrading of the Ministry of Education’s website in Palestine.
The MoE established Tammal as an interactive e-platform for children in April of 2020 to share information with them and to stimulate them intellectually, encourage them to reflect on several questions, and form ideas and opinions for self-reflection.
UNESCO supports the MoE to improve Tammal into a robust and user-friendly e-platform with enhanced features to ensure the interaction with students in both Arabic and English. The updated e-platform will enable students, teachers, parents, and school principals to post their feedbacks regarding the shared material, serve as a discussion space to all registered users, encourage positive thinking and innovation for the active episode topics, and allow users, mainly children, to express themselves.
UNESCO also supports MoE in upgrading its website with improved content and design, and ensuring better communication with students and other stakeholders in both Arabic and English interfaces. To ensure sustainability, UNESCO also provides capacity development to concerned officials of the MoE to handle adequately the programming needs, content management and to further develop the website.