Ithra prepares students, families for ‘challenging’ school return

Students, teachers and parents are getting an extra learning boost for their children’s start to the new school year with Ithra’s “Back to School” program.

The King Abdul Aziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) program aims to prepare students, parents and educators for a productive learning experience amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The program will teach those involved how to deal with the pandemic in terms of personal, emotional, physical and social development and will include virtual, on-site and mixed courses from Aug. 24 to Sept. 19.

Noura Al-Zamil, Ithra’s head of learning, told Arab News that while some students are hesitant to return to school following the pandemic, the program will help them overcome emotional turmoil and learn in comfort again.

“After the lockdown, we all know we have been affected emotionally,” Al-Zamil said.

“There are a lot of emotional challenges now; children are not comfortable, some are traumatized about going back to school or going out and parents are worried. We are trying to touch on that to make them emotionally prepared,” she added.

Ithra launched their “Back to School” program in 2019 which focused on going back to school as a family and learning together. This year, Al-Zamil said it is focusing on parents and teachers, helping them to support children through virtual learning and home study.

“This year, we offered virtual and hybrid experiences where we invite speakers from the Gulf to offer workshops and talks at Ithra and broadcast it through YouTube,” Al-Zamil said.

The workshops will help parents create study places at home and routines for their children.

“We are also offering family experiences where we get to have the family as a whole experience learning together and give them a taste of how it could be fun and engaging,” Al-Zamil said.

For teachers, the program is offering new techniques like play-based learning.

“You can have students in control and ask questions to make them more engaged. It is possible to make the virtual experience more interesting for students and teachers so they can both have fun virtually,” Al-Zamil said.

The program will feature a range of experts and education specialists to help students customize their new school year with ease and understand and face the challenges that lie ahead.