São Paulo – The Islamic education sector was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Kamola Bayram, from KTO Karatay University (Turkey), spoke on the impacts of the pandemic on the Islamic economy and financial education this Monday (6), in the panel “Overview of the impacts of COVID-19 in the main markets and assessment of competitiveness and innovation in halal,” on the first day of the Global Halal Brazil (GHB) business forum. It is the first halal forum in Brazil, organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) and the Federation of Muslim Associations of Brazil (FAMBRAS Halal).
Kamola Bayram said among halal and Islamic finance educators, the level of anxiety rose sharply during the pandemic. “Around 75% of educators had difficulty reconciling personal and professional life amid the pandemic, and 70% had never taught online classes before. The same percentage, 70%, said they would not want to continue teaching online after the end of the pandemic,” said the professor in her presentation. In addition, 83% of teachers said preparing for online classes was more time-consuming than traditional classes.
Among the factors that made education more difficult in the period, Bayram also brought other data. According to the Ph.D., educators were discouraged by online classes, having less interaction with students, technical and infrastructure struggles, and much less student participation and involvement in the classes.
“We verified 90% of teachers believe students are more likely to miss online classes, compared to in-person; 88% believe students cheat on online tests; 85% believe information technology (IT) should be included in the school curriculum in Islamic finance and economics, and 84% believe in-person classes are more efficient,” added Bayram.
For the panel moderator and manager of International Integration Policies of the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI), Fabrizio Sardelli Panzini, it was vital for her to touch on this topic of introducing IT into the curriculum. “I wanted to highlight the importance of IT, which is crucial right now. Brazil, Arab and Islamic countries have the same challenges, and we need to be bringing forward this issue,” he said.
Students
As for students, Bayram presented other damages the pandemic caused in education. “There was a reduction in employment opportunities for graduates in the labor market; there is a greater chance for delays on payments of tuitions or students simply not being able to pay for college; governments have failed to commit to public institutions at the desired level; and there are changes in the behavior of students concerning teaching programs,” she said.
Bayram provided data showing, among students, 52% had never taken pre-pandemic online classes; about 60% indicated strains in focusing in classes, mainly due to distractions such as cell phone notifications and issues related to the family environment; 42% found it difficult to concentrate in class due to lack of interaction; 40% did not have adequate infrastructure at home to take classes online, either because of the internet connection or the absence of a personal computer; about 14% said they felt isolated during the pandemic, and the biggest downside to this was their inability to discuss classroom topics like they used to do in face-to-face classes.
“On the other hand, COVID-19 brought opportunities for Islamic education, such as having joint programs with other universities, having exchange students in online classes, among others,” said Bayram.
The ABCC Marketing vice president, Riad Younes; the CEO and co-founder of OneAgrix, Diana Sabrain; and the head of Serunai Halal Centre of Excellence, Mohamed Jabal Bin Abd Rahim; also participated in this panel. The forum has the sponsorship of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), BRF, Pantanal Trading, Portonave, and Iceport.
Follow the complete forum coverage:
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- Apex-Brazil wants to take halal to small enterprises
- Ready-to-eat foods are trend in halal
- Post-pandemic world to invest in public healthcare
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Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro