Earth has been facing coronavirus (covid 19) which led to a paradigm shift for education. Education moved from the physical school chair to the virtual environment.  On Tuesday, July 23^rd 2020 His Excellency Mr. Husain Alhammady, Minister of Education announced, through media, that there have been three scenarios for education; school learning, distance learning or hybrid of both. It was a starting point for a new era for education in UAE and a unique experience in spite of the similarity of circumstances all over the world in general and in the Arab peninsula in particular. Education in UAE has never stopped. UAE proved its competitiveness ahead of countries of the world which reflects its readiness against crises and disasters. UAE provided students with learning tools such as programs, tablets and laptops, so, students can enjoy quality of life and continue their education. UAE has encouraged philanthropist institutions and communication sector to adopt its methodology and provide distinguished services in this difficult time. Therefore, education system continues to progress smoothly and qualitatively, thanks to those who are in the field of education.

Education sector main challenges are: reaching every student with a minimum number of teachers and equipment; facilitating all resources at student disposal by turning physical books into electronic ones and virtual programs; help students who have access to spelling-and-grammar check programs to master hand writing and dictation; failing to communicate thoughts through writing because virtual learning facilitates communication through various programs; dealing with a huge number of students in widespread areas; and managing examination virtually. On 16 March 2020, seventy-three countries announced the closure of schools, total closure in 56 countries and partial closure in17 countries. School closure affected 421m student all over the world and partial closure jeopardized 577 students.

 UNESCO stated on March 10^th that school and university closure drove one out of five students away from school as a result of the spread of coronavirus (covid19) worldwide. By contrast, UAE start to apply distance learning system for students all over UAE. UAE planned and executed programs for student education and laid out training programs for more than 25000 education staff in public schools in addition to 9200 teachers and principals of private schools.

Ministry of education established two developed operation centers to monitor distance learning to realize best performance. Both centers have modern systems to enable School Operation Department to equip teachers and students with IT resources for accessibility and active communication. Ministry of Education inaugurated two operation centers one at Emirate school in Abu Dhabi and the other in Teachers Training Institute in Ajman. UAE has implemented ambitious plans to shift traditional learning to virtual one which made the UAE a model of in this field. Shifting to distance learning may have a negative impact on student's personality for student can't interact directly with people but rather uses the virtual world. Distance learning can cause loneliness and solitude which may prevent student from positive interaction with others. Students' passion for their devices can limit their connection with their families and therefore, cause family disintegration regardless of their house bond. Students could limit their communication through social media and smart application; hence, they may violate Islamic and cultural values by neglecting interaction with their relatives. These esteemed morals may fade away and lose their merits and values. Many researches warned from the detrimental impacts of social isolation and indicated that they can bring about a serious public health issue. An increase in senility rate has been recorded in some countries. Royal College for General Practitioners, in the UK, states that isolation has resembling risks to that of diabetes in causing sudden death. Strong social bonds are essential to cognitive performance, motor functions, and immune system. There have been claims that solitude has some benefits such as feeding creativity.

  However, social isolation can be exhibited in three forms: shyness resulting from fear or tension, avoidance or lack of interest in socialization, and natural tendency to solitude. To sum up, we expect a shift from the physical world to an immersion of virtual reality.

The state is required to act proactively and purposefully to extract students from their isolation and keep them away from the virtual world. This can help forming reliable and well‑developed personality. The state would be better off adopting initiatives and signing agreements to involve students in fieldwork at a young age; that can start from the age of four until graduation from college. Certain proportionate of curriculum can be allocated to fieldwork bearing in mind student safety by setting conditions for their protection. Students can be assigned to fieldwork in all areas (governmental, semi-governmental, private sector, or schools of technical occupations). Students should be paid evenly regardless of their occupation; for example, AED 500 per student working in the field to realize the concept of equity, cherish psychology, prevent jealousy, and suppress the feeling of inferiority. Certain type of fieldwork should be designated to every stage of education. Students are required to deliver a presentation exhibiting their experience, lessons learned, skills obtained, and the vocation acquired during fieldwork. Schools can design an extracurricular program for physical education so students can practice sport along with distance learning in line with their individual limits of age and health. Students are graded and passed to the next level while enjoying healthy bodies and quality of life. Otherwise students can gain weight, which will have negative impacts on their lives and physique. Some schools allocated proportionate of their curriculum to physical education during the phase of distance learning, yet most schools did not follow this pattern. The state is required encourage all students to use virtual reality and join programs of physical education with professional trainers; state is also requested to assign monitoring systems to oversee the performance of trainers and students. Students' physique is evaluated within a set of standard so they can be able to pass to the next level. Alternatively, the state can assign gymnasiums all over the country and disseminate public parks in residential areas everywhere in country on the model Abu Dhabi so children can mingle and acquaint. The state can also pave the way to enhancing initiatives that aim at developing skills of reading, writing, presenting, and interactive cooperation. This can be realized by utilizing a hybrid version education (physical and virtual education) from the age of four to grade six. Students learn writing, reading, presentation and the direct interactive learning. It is a developing phase for children; therefore, they can be provided with physical education, life skills, planning, programming basics, and loyalty. Once again, I reiterate the importance of involving students in fieldwork as a prerequisite of passing to the next level of education.

The most dangerous risk facing future generations is losing religious scruples due to their affection of instruments and immersion in virtual reality. Lack of parental supervision while children are using their instruments for long hours can lead to sexual or psychological abuse and they may be manipulated by detrimental concepts on various field, most importantly in the political arena. Therefore, state should set policies and regulations to protect children's safety from any negative impacts posed by social media, programs, games that can deviate them away from the right path hoped for by families and the government. Government and families are eager to help children become active members of society and serve their country in the most loyal manner and serve whoever on its soil both residents and locals.

The state should legislate policies and procedures to regulate remote teaching and training for students, teachers, and staff responsible for workshops that have been spreading in a frightening way. The state should organize a central body under government supervision to monitor these courses. Forming a central body that control distance education, training and development will protect thoughts of service recipient's, develop skills, form personality, utilize efforts, help build a coherent society, and preserve its identity. It is important to have a curriculum rich with information, and application. It is also important to have policies that ensure curriculum adaptability to governance for a future human to communicate and understand. That is to teach internet of things, 5G technology, quantum computing, blockchain, dealing with digital currencies in various levels. This process aims at providing students from an early age to acquire skills that empower them when they leave school and join society. It aims also at reducing the likelihood of failure when joining the workforce or building their own private activities. Students and the country can benefit from that process. We can then invest in children from their childhood through laying out policies, curriculums, and activities that enhance future human quality of life. This should be applied to all emirates of the state in public and private schools.

Huda Al Shehhi

Director of The Strategy and Future Office -Zakat Fund