Overcrowding of virtual classrooms may reduce effectiveness, 47 schools without Wi-Fi in Bahrain

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune –www.newsofbahrain.com

Overcrowding of virtual classrooms might reduce the effectiveness of the central virtual classrooms, said the 18th National Audit Office Annual Report 2020-2021.

The report points out that the number of students in the central virtual classrooms for the second and third preparatory grades exceeded 6,000 students.

The report also finds a shortage in the devices available in schools compared to approved standards, which constitutes an obstacle for employing technology in the educational process. “The ministry covered forty-five schools with wireless network until the 7th of December but had no plans to cover the remaining 162 schools,” the report adds.

“Out of the 162 schools, 47 do not have wireless internet networks, and the service available in them is limited to the information technology centre.”

MoE responds The Ministry of Education said the pandemic made electronic transformation a necessity, and the central education included hundreds of teachers carefully selected to address all challenges.

“Starting from the 2021- 2022 school year, all schools are decentralised and are completing all requirements for IT devices.” The ministry also announced it had launched a tender to connect schools wirelessly according to the budget available for digital empowerment in education.