The scale includes 38 criterion standards under six main areas

DUBAI, 22 August, 2021: The Ministry of Community Development completed the evaluation process of the quality of distance education at the People of Determination Centres based on a quality scale of distance education. The evaluation process was developed by the Department of Welfare and Rehabilitation of People of Determination targeting the UAE government and private centres in the UAE.

Nasser Ismail, Assistant Under-Secretary of Social Welfare at the Ministry of Community Development said, “The results of the educational process for the 2020-2021 academic year are characterised by many achievements despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The Ministry of Community Development has benefited from the outcomes of the virtual education experience, as well as the challenges facing people of determination and their parents during the pandemic in developing the virtual education system for them.”.  

The Assistant Under-Secretary talked about the development deliverables of the educational process at People of Determination Centres, which ensured the system’s success, along with the launch of digital programmes such as ’Khetta’ and ‘My family with me’ smart applications. He also reviewed the technical support provided for parents, the staff guidelines and training programmes, such as specialised training workshops on virtual education for people of determination, the virtual meeting guide for these categories and other mentoring initiatives that have contributed to the success of the distance education plan at the centres.

Talking about the standardisation of the distance education quality scale for people of determination in the rehabilitation centres, Wafa Hamad Bin Sulaiman, Director of Welfare and Rehabilitation Department for People of Determination, stated that the blueprint tool has been distributed to a pilot study that consisted of special education teachers in both the UAE government and private centres.

Furthermore, Bin Sulaiman explained that the participants gave their input on the tool, which was modified and reformulated based on their feedback. The quality distance teaching scale at People of Determination Centres ranged from 87.1% to 95.6% where 204 people of determination teachers at government and private centres were included and 38 criterion standards within six main areas of quality distance teaching for people of determination – educational plans and their formulation context in accordance with the abilities of students, virtual configuration applied with students, virtual education environment and suitability for students, distance education methods used with people of determination, follow-up with the family at their home environment and natural surroundings, and evaluation and outputs achieved from virtual education and its relevance to educational plans developed for students.