COVID-19 Surge Challenges New School Year as Distance Learning Concerns Grow

Primary, middle, and high school students, as well as those in specialized technician classes, will return to school on September 10, informs Medi1news, adding that the 2021/2022 school year is placed under the theme "for an educational renaissance with a view to improving the quality of education". For first-year students, brand new to the university world, and who will study in distance mode, particularly in the Bachelor system, it will not be easy, as the ministry is concerned, as it requires more autonomy and organizational skills.

About fifty Bachelor’s degree programs, across all disciplines, are open within both public and private universities, the department reports, specifying that the launch of these programs, which will be generalized from the 2022 school year, calls for a profound modification of the pedagogical model, with the adoption from now on of hybrid teaching, flipped classrooms and interactive pedagogy.

The Bachelor system, the ministry continues, aims to train a new type of student, endowed with soft skills, proficient in foreign languages and digital technology, and ready to understand the world of work to succeed in their professional integration.

Thus, to guide young people towards vocational training, a new orientation system is being put in place, with more collegiate vocational training programs and vocational baccalaureates, not to mention the increase in the number of scholarships granted to post-baccalaureate trainees.

Given the potential and opportunities of the job market, higher education and vocational training are undoubtedly a necessary step for the promotion and fulfillment of young people, the department concluded, aware that its "challenge is both to better train young people, but also to create growth, in order to multiply employment opportunities".