Keywords: Kazakhstan, coronavirus, education, distance learning exam
December of 2019 became the beginning of an outbreak of an epidemic that was later named as coronavirus Covid-19. Several citizens of Wuhan (located in Hubei Province of China) were found to have the first cases of pneumonia of unknown origin associated with the local market for animals and seafood. According to data provided by the World Health Organization, December 30, the first infected with an unknown virus were discovered in China in Wuhan. It took some time before the authorities of China and WHO finally decided to recognize the emergency in the field of public health conservation, which is of international importance.
Starting in February 2020, foci of the disease appeared in the USA, Europe and other regions of the world, and the number of infected people doubled in a matter of days. Media portals around the world every day began to inform the world about the huge number of infected people. Media portals around the world every day began to inform the world about the huge number of infected people. It seems that the situation began not so badly. But after only six months, the number of patients will shock the entire planet. As reported by www.rbc.ru media portal, according to the World Health Organization, on the evening of April 8, the number of infected people exceeded 1.436 million.
On March 13, 2020, Kazakhstan announced the first cases of coronavirus infection. These were the passengers arriving from Germany and Italy. The world is actively fighting for life on the planet. Already, scientists from around the world are trying to find a vaccine for the virus, but until they find it in such a short time, doctors managed to create a test for the determination of the virus in the blood.
Despite the fact that Kazakhstan is not included in the red or orange zone, a strict quarantine regime on the territory already exists today. One of the main news portals of the country Tengri News reports on every important decision of the government. So, for example in one of the news on March 15, the President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev signed a decree announcing a state of emergency for the period from 8:00 a.m. March 16 to 7:00 April 15, 2020 [1]. The following measures and time limits were introduced for the duration of the state of emergency:
− Strengthened the protection of public order, the protection of especially important state and strategic special regime regimes, ensuring the livelihoods of the population and the functioning of the transport;
− Strengthened the protection of public order, the protection of especially important state and strategic special regime regimes, ensuring the livelihoods of the population and the functioning of the transport;
− There are restrictions on the entry of the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as on the exit from its territory by all means of transport, with the exception of the staff of the diplomatic service and members of international delegations;
− Prohibition of classes in school and preschool institutions.
All classes were transferred to an online or remote mode in schools and universities due to the fact that the virus took a huge turnaround. The country's chief sanitary doctor emphasized that the introduction of distance education for students would be successful with proper technical equipment. But how effective will the distance learning be in preparing for the Cambridge Council International Exam that students in grades 10 and 12 of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools must take? And what methods should be used in the exam preparation?
The Cambridge Council International Exam is an external summative assessment that determines the level of knowledge and training skills at the completion of elementary, primary and high school, in the humanities (English, Kazakh, Russian, History of Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan in the modern world), mathematics and Premises of the natural direction of choice (chemistry, physics, biology and computer science [2}. Since the introduction of the state of emergency throughout the country, the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools department decided to introduce distance learning on April 6 this year [2]. All students were enrolled in the Teams platform, developed by Microsoft. This platform allows students to communicate with teachers, thereby conducting distance learning lessons to learn new school material.
Additionally, students have the opportunity to use educational materials on the BilimLand platform. The Khabar news portal «Khabar 24" has listed one of the young but already demanded platforms education called BilimLand. According to the portal, where there was a list of educational platforms of Kazakhstan, it is said that this platform was founded in 2014 by Kazakhstani developers where more than 70,000 students throughout Kazakhstan have already been registered. The platform provides material not only for high school students but for elementary students too.
An important step on the part of international organizations also mitigates the situation in preparation for the exam during epidemic. Recently, The Steppe made it clear on its blog that the international organization The Cambridge is contributing to global quarantine. As a proof of this, the Cambridge University online library have provided all publications that are available in the university’s library for free. The library is striking in its scale: more than eight million books and periodicals, one and a half million maps and thousands of manuscripts occupy more than one hundred kilometers of shelves and the free access will be open until the end of May 2020. About 700 published books are already available throughout the Cambridge University curriculum in physics, earth sciences, natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, social sciences and humanities [3]. Most importantly, many of the tutorials including additional online services and resources to further meet the needs of both teachers and students around the world.
Pupils of the school where I study have encountered this situation. At first glance, learning from a remote system seemed unrealistic. However, the management of the autonomous organization NIS together with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan decided to use the Teams platform for online classes. That is, we were able not only to receive and fulfill the tasks, but also to conduct lessons at a distance. But the expression that each medal has two sides fully represents the situation that occurs during the distance learning. Since the network of our country is not designed to connect a huge number of people, during the lessons there are Internet outages. As a result, it’s a little difficult to hear the teacher’s voices and answer their question sometimes. However, despite this, teachers are actively trying to prepare students for the exam. Additional classes were organized, and a huge amount of materials were provided. The most important part is psychological support.
How long the emergency worldwide will last is still under the question and it should be admitted that distant from the outside world and society we can go through physical and phycological problems. Despite this, it is important to think about one thing — to support not only a person who is close to you, but the whole world. It’s important to follow simple rules of personal hygiene, stay at home during the quarantine period and think about what you can do today. Only then the world can win this problem.
References:
1. Госкомиссия по обеспечению режима ЧП при Президенте РК ввела режим карантина в городах Нур-Султан и Алматы с 19 марта т.г. https://primeminister.kz/ru/news/goskomissiya-po-obespecheniyu-rezhima-chp-pri-prezidente-rk-vvela-rezhim-karantina-v-gorodah-nur-sultan-i-almaty-s-19-marta-tg-172930
- Итоговая аттестация https://atr.nis.edu.kz/soderzhanie-obrazovaniya/itogovaya-attestatsiya/
- Коронавирусная халява: Кембридж дал всему миру доступ к своей онлайн-библиотеке https://the-steppe.com/novosti/koronavirusnaya-halyava-kembridzh-dal-vsemu-miru-dostup-k-svoey-onlayn-biblioteke
