Barriers to Employing E-Learning for Primary School Students in the COVID19 Pandemic from the Teachers’ Perspectives, and Ways to Treat Them (Published)
The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges of teachers of primary schools when using E-learning to teach students in Gaza Strip. The study examined 64 primary school teachers from 22 primary schools in 3 different educational areas in Gaza Governorate in Palestine to investigate their challenges that they faced while teaching students electronically during the lockdown due to COVID 19 crisis. Data were collected from an electronic questionnaire that was given to the teachers who were engaged in the electronic teaching during the second semester of the school year 2019-2020. The results indicated that teaching in Gaza Strip using E-learning had a variety of challenges including lack of technological competence, lack of Internet facilities, lack of technical support, lack of power supplies and lack of the community e-learning awareness. Consequently, relevant stakeholders in Gaza Strip such as the Ministry of Education, United Nations’ education department and other private sectors, and the language teachers themselves can consider concrete mitigating steps to overcome those challenges.
Keywords: COVID-19, E-learning, Primary schools.