The Saudi Education System and the New Normal: The Saudi Education System’s Response Readiness for Covid-19

Abstract

Covid-19 has presented multiple challenges for various social institutions, with the most affected being the educational sector (Mahmut, 2020). The current study aims to investigate the response readiness of the Saudi education system and the measures taken by schools and other educational organizations to ensure the continuation of the learning process for the students. The main focus of the research is on exploring the strategies implemented by the Saudi educational authorities to fill the learning gap created by the absence of a physical classroom environment. The study hereby implements quantitative research methods based on a survey questionnaire designed under the TOE (Technology-Organization-Environment) framework to accomplish its research objectives. Sixty respondents were chosen from a sample population comprising different educators, students, and administration from seven schools in two different cities (four schools in Riyad and three in Jeddah) using convenience sampling. During the process of data collection, the communication between the researcher and the participants took place via email. The data were analysed using a chi-square test. The results show that the strategies implemented by Saudi schools and the Ministry of Education (MOE) are mostly recognized by the analysed groups of students, teachers, and administrators. The responses received for 33.3% of the questions were dependent on the roles of the respondents in an educational institute. However, a fair number of responses, nearly 66.6% of the total questions, were independent of the roles of the respondents. The current study utilizes the answers for independent categories of items to answer and analyse the research questions. Despite all the benefits of online learning, the current study has found that the majority of students (50%), as well as some teachers (35%) and administrators (30%), agree that online study causes a loss of instructional time.