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Amid Mid-East Unrest Schools Cope with Closures and Uncertainty

By Cynthia Nagrath
10-Mar-11
Amid Mid-East Unrest Schools Cope with Closures and Uncertainty


Look for our full report in the April issue of The International Educator.
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As pro-democracy movements spread across the Arab world, international schools in the region have been faced with responding to the constantly changing situation. Safety has been the primary concern of school administrators as they decide when, and for how long, to close their schools.
TIE conducted a survey of nearly 3 dozen school heads in hot-spot countries throughout the Mid-East, the details of which will be published in the April issue of The International Educator. The following is a brief synopsis of what’s going on in each of the countries covered.
Tunisia
The first country to experience a revolution this year, Tunisia seems to have settled down recently and after closing for 5 days amidst the events, the American Cooperative School of Tunis has reopened and returned to relative normalcy.
Egypt
In order to maintain safety, Egypt’s Ministry of Education ordered schools closed for 3 weeks. On Sunday 27th February the Ministry allowed schools to open for Primary and Intermediate students and on 3rd March, Kindergarten and High Schools were allowed to reopen. Most international schools opened on 20th February.
Events are still unfolding, and while many expats have returned to Egypt to resume business and attend school, a significant number have been unable to return. International schools are, therefore, dealing with declines in enrollment, and the challenges of implementing e-learning programs for students who have not returned to campus. Some schools have been forced to reduce staff due to the events, while others are waiting to see what happens in the coming weeks and months before making any changes. All schools in the country have been finding ways to get their school calendar back on track and some have cut their spring break while others are considering implementing Saturday school to make-up for lost time.
Bahrain
Fueled by a wave of pro-democracy unrest that has swept across the region for weeks, anti-government protests in the Shiite-majority country have been going on sporadically since February. Despite news reports of protests and strong crack-downs by government forces, international schools in Bahrain have reported that its life as usual in the Kingdom. In fact, we are hearing that there has been little or no disruption to the daily routine. Dawn Lee, Head of Al Hekma International School reported that only on the first day after demonstrations was attendance at 50%, but after that everything went back to normal. This is echoed by other schools who have reported into TIE from the island nation.
Jordan
International schools in Jordan have so far, not been adversely affected by recent events. The country has been largely exempt from the vocal and sometimes violent protests occurring in other nearby countries. According to Stuart Bryan, head of Amman Baccalaureate School, “We are all fine and more or less as normal here in Amman so far.”
Morocco
Like Jordan, the schools that we interviewed in Morocco concurred that they were not directly affected by any of the recent uprisings in the area. “Our school remains open and we have no plans to restrict or alter our regular school calendar,” stated Mark Lee, Director of Casablanca American School.
Paul Johnson of the Rabat American School also reported normalcy on their campus, and no other schools reported problems or disruptions to date.
Yemen
Since February 11th, anti-government protests in Yemen, have been occurring on and off. Inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, protests have become more vocal and angry as tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators took part in a “Day of Rage” on March 1st. Protestors are calling for an immediate end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year authoritarian rule.
Sanaa International School’s Director, Mart Avelsgaard, reports that to date, they have not been closed and have so far enjoyed full attendance. We have received no other reports of disruption affecting schools in that country.
Libya
Conditions in Libya have been most dangerous with Qaddafi cracking down hard on protestors with a level of force unseen in the other uprisings. Tripoli is a stronghold for Qaddafi’s government and residents have been scared to leave their homes or walk the streets for fear of reprisals.
Judith Drotar, Director of the AS Tripoli, tells of a harrowing account of getting out of the capitol. Teachers, students and staff were evacuated and the school has been closed until further notice. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of Libya’s civil war, AS Tripoli is making arrangements for students to find alternate placements and conduct virtual learning for students to keep up with their studies. Drotar’s experience and the ferry ride from Tripoli to Malta on stormy Mediterranean seas, was reported on NPR and CNN.
We at TIE are happy and relieved that our friends and colleagues are safe and sound. We will be keeping our readers up to date of events as they unfold and be sure to look for our full report in the April issue of The International Educator.




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