Educational institutions in the Middle East are currently closed as part of social distancing measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus but learning does not stop.
Schools, colleges and universities are making use of new e-learning tools and technologies to ensure that studies continue for students at all levels.
"Millions of students across the region are learning from home in the wake of Covid-19 … their ability to do so is the result of quick thinking and collaborative action between the region's private and public sectors," Zubin Chagpar, Middle East and Africa head of public sector at Amazon Web Services, told The National.
The US cloud computing giant has been working with governments and education technology providers to make sure the necessary infrastructure is in place for e-learning courses to continue.
The Middle East e-learning market is expected to grow to a value of more than $1.5 billion (Dh5.5bn) by 2023, growing at a compound rate of 15.2 per cent a year from $558.3 million (Dh2.05 billion) in 2016, according to Research Nester.
The UAE is expected to lead the growth due to the presence of a large number of private schools, almost 65 per cent of the total in the Middle East, the New York-based research company said.
Currently, more than 1.5 billion students worldwide – more than 90 per cent of the total - are stuck at home due to school closures in about 190 countries, according to Unesco estimates.
While education technology platforms have seen demand pick up over the years, the pandemic has increased the load significantly as lessons shift online.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Education and the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) restructured its existing EduNet portal over a seven-day period to enhance its capability.
"The nationwide adoption of remote learning meant that it was now required to scale EduNet … to accommodate a larger number of users," Khalid Almutawah, director of governance and enterprise architecture at iGA told The National.
Since the activation of the overhauled portal on March 9, visitor numbers have increased by over 600 per cent. The portal is currently being used by more than 146,000 students and over 18,000 teachers in Bahrain.
Parents can also use the portal to keep a tab on school activities, while school administrators can use it to monitor the progress of students and teachers.
In Jordan, Arabic content publisher Mawdoo3 has established an e-learning platform - Darsak.gov.jo - in collaboration with several entities including Jordan’s Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and AWS.
Jordanian content providers including online video platform Abwaab, e-learning company Jo Academy and non-profit online course provider Edraak have also taken part.
"Built in just a week ... it provides free lessons in Arabic and English for all public school students from grades one through 12," Rami Al Qawasmi, chief executive of Mawdoo3, the largest Arabic-language platform in the world, told The National.
It has received more than 35 million views since it went online on March 22. Lessons are uploaded daily between 6am and 4pm, and cover subjects including Arabic, English, science, mathematics, arts and computers.
Meanwhile, other companies have rapidly rolled out planned e-learning services before their scheduled date and also merged different applications to meet demand.
Microsoft launched a new smart e-learning programme for the UAE Ministry of Education on March 22. It was originally scheduled for a September launch to coincide with the launch of the new academic year, but was brought forward to offset the current disruption.
“The programme aims to enhance safety for students and society at large … as a set of precautionary and preventive measures with the ongoing challenges yet ensuring smooth flow and completion of the curriculums,” the company said in a statement on its blog.
Google, meanwhile, now has more than 100 million students and teachers globally using Classroom – a free web service that aims to help create, distribute and grade assignments in a paperless way.
"To make it easier to have classes remotely, we are integrating Classroom and Meet (a video conferencing app), putting both tools in one place," Tarek Khalil, head of Google Cloud in Middle East and North Africa, told The National.
Using these tools brings greater administrative efficiency, making collaboration and the provision of individual feedback easier, helping teachers to "focus more of their time on coaching and guiding students”, added Mr Khalil.
With 22 million students in 50,000 schools, Egypt – the region's most populous country – has the largest student community in the region.
Teaming up with AWS, its Education Ministry has deployed the Egyptian Knowledge Bank site along with an existing e-learning platform, CDSM Thinqi, opening access for all students in the country.
“These are exceptional times we are living through and the challenges for educational institutions are substantial,” said Nik Goile, head of technology at UK-based Thinqi.
“We were able to scale up our system from two school grades to the entire estate in four days ... it’s been a crazy ride but I am glad that it has been able to do its bit to help people impacted by this global pandemic.”
The UAE-based education technology firm Alef Education is providing free access to its digital learning products to all students in the Emirates, and it is being used by more than 100,000 students from almost 300 schools.
"Our schools may be closed but education must go on," Geoffrey Alphonso, chief executive of Alef Education, told The National.
“Our artificial intelligence-powered platform is designed to help teachers manage their workload and personalise the learning experience [for students].”
The majority, if not all, schools need to implement distance learning as part of their offer “which means we will see a high percentage increase in numbers”, Mr Alphonso said.
To keep a check on the quality of e-learning, the UAE’s Ministry of Education and Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah's education regulators will be assessing public and private schools this month.
Schools across the country will be inspected to determine how well they are delivering e-learning classes, according to the regulator of Dubai's private schools, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
Switching%20sides
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ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars
- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes
- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Keita 5', Firmino 26'
Porto 0
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Scoreline
Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90 1')
Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
