"This article was written originally in arabic, and below is an automated translation".
“When … will you give me an iPad?” … a question that seemed funny to the attendees, directed by a child who appears in the elementary stage to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – may God protect him – during the government summit, which His Highness used to answer citizens’ questions directly In front of a large crowd of the most prominent leaders of the first ranks in the country. Three words from a child who did not exceed the dream made His Highness stand from his chair and call the competent minister: “Where is the Minister of Education? They gave him a microphone. “
The response of His Excellency Hamid Mohammed Al Qatami, Minister of Education at the time: “Long life … after Your Highness launched the Mohammed bin Rashid initiative for smart education on April 10, 2012, and your insistence at the time was that the application should start in the same year .. We formed technical teams between us and all our partners. The strategists and the team looked at the best practices followed in the countries that implemented the project .. and this project on the idea is the first of its kind in the Middle East region .. The long-lived team visited Australia, Korea and Turkey .. within 4 months .. the infrastructure was prepared to accommodate This technology and schools have been equipped .. We chose 16 schools to start implementing the program and started with four basic materials .. Teachers were trained in these schools .. The required environment, technology and networks were provided .. Currently there is a plan to add 100 more schools .. Within 4 years each will be linked Schools in the country and, God willing, the smart education program will be a smart model in the country.
In response to the questioning child, His Excellency added: “I tell the student this that we have provided 11 educational content in the system..and God willing, an iPad will connect it as he requested from the Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Education Program.”
With this great transformation in the field of education, the United Arab Emirates is experiencing a new phenomenon that is one of its most important historical leaps towards progress and the advancement of mankind. A new kind of suspense for the student and the educational institution as a whole, in terms of moving away from the usual routine that successive generations have become accustomed to from books, notebooks, pens and chalk! It is also a serious step towards strengthening the pioneering role of the community of the United Arab Emirates towards achieving leadership in various levels, and to produce a new generation that emulates modern civilization and technology and is educated from a young age to keep pace with everything that hovers around it in the vast and evolving digital space every day.
Despite all the positives and numbers that are in favor of the heavier palm than the scale, the issue, like other different human industries, is not limited to a positive without a negative, as even the most important inventions that we “do not imagine living without” such as airplanes, cars, air-conditioning, etc. have environmental negatives I warned Including many international bodies and associations, such as the phenomenon of the “famous” ozone hole or air and water pollution, and thousands of tons of harmful gases and wastes resulting from these industries, in addition to their various negative aspects at the individual level.
And speaking of the star of recent years technology, the most widespread and influential “the iPad”, it is like other devices a double-edged sword, consistent in some of its environmental problems with its peers from the devices, and if we try to shed light on its negative effects on the level of students in schools and universities, we draw important points that must be taken With it in mind, as researchers at the Sinai University of Ophthalmology in New York have noted that people who read messages and browse the Internet on their mobile phones or tablets such as the iPad and others tend to bring devices closer to their eyes than books and newspapers, which forces the eye to work more tired than usual. . The scientists said that the proximity of devices to the eye in addition to the small line in modern electronic devices increases the fatigue of people who wear glasses or contact lenses, which may result in symptoms such as headache and eye fatigue. Not only that, but the addiction to the use of these devices may expose the human body to electromagnetic radiation, which may cause chronic headaches, tension, terror, abnormal emotions, increased sensitivity to the skin and chest, arthritis, and osteoporosis, and long sitting with these devices may result in lower back pain and pain. Neck, weakness in the bladder muscles, bedwetting, weak nerves, lethargy and laziness in the muscles. In addition to psychological risks to children, such as mental illness, sleep disturbance, anxiety, stress, depression, social isolation, introvertedness, and individualization of the apparatus, and the child’s isolation from his family.
A psychologist commenting on this topic, the specialist, Dr. Ali Al-Harjan, said that electronic devices have many benefits despite the assertion of their damages. He said: “The negative effects of technological devices and their misuse are common in our society, which leads to causing many psychological and organic diseases, but We missed that technology devices have greater benefits that may be used positively in guiding the child and developing his mental awareness properly, and we must have sufficient understanding and awareness to exploit these devices positively, by providing laptops to every student in the school, and using them in education and entertainment also while creating an educational atmosphere My directive to these games is that the child needs less than an hour of mental exercises that contribute to the development of his mental cells, and using these devices in education and providing them in schools may contribute positively to the development of the child. We do not deny the negative effects of technology devices, and the psychological diseases that it causes affect the child’s daily and study life.
It is only a year or two, and this system will be fully implemented, and it will be circulated to all schools. And then we must be certain that we will enter a new era of education, for how much will we be “bred” by the form of the student whom we used to imagine pulling a bag that sometimes weighs twice his weight or more, and contains books, notebooks and a pencil case full of varied contents of colored pencils, erasers, sharpeners and a ruler, no more than a month passes by. So these tools shrink to sometimes reach a single pencil that its owner hides in his pocket and keeps throughout the school year. How much we will miss the story of “bookbinding”, that annual story that parents have become accustomed to and which generations of generations have mastered and practiced until we thought that the “binding” competition would soon be sponsored by the Ministry of Education!
We do not mean to neglect the book or notebook or confiscate the pens, as it has been and will remain a symbol of knowledge and learning throughout the ages. However, the “iPad” and its companions constitute the new civilized face of the book, as there is no need annually to print millions of paper copies. Rather, the world will suffice with electronic copies that will contain The same doses of knowledge and knowledge that the book contains in his arms.
Reading has evolved over the ages
The “iPad”, gentlemen, is a contemporary tool that has been provided to be used for our benefit, develops our skills, and strengthens in extracting our talents and latent creativity. The government has incorporated it into the educational process to develop it, and the rest is on schools, universities, parents and all concerned in the matter to direct the new generation towards the optimal use of the device, Challenging the negative aspects and diverting their path from negative to positive conducive to the public good. How much electronic research saves us a large part of the research and investigation time amid these books and documents. So, it is a different way of display, no more, and the actual value remains in the knowledge and knowledge that this device contains, not in its appearance, color, and technical characteristics. As for the responsibility .. it is everyone’s responsibility.
In conclusion, it took hours to get this work sitting on the chair facing the computer screen, and now I feel pain in the neck, laxity in the bones of the man, fatigue in the eyes, and a headache that I had for an hour or more. In addition to my feeling that I did not want to talk to those around me because I prolonged the silence and became accustomed to it during these hours. As the popular saying goes, “Ask an experimenter and do not ask a doctor.” Here, I had a simple experience with health and psychological negatives, but on the other hand, the positivity was taking out this article that might remain immortalized in the corridors of the World Wide Web.
