Covidian education: An enquiry into Arab culture

This article constructs a cultural framework for Arab education amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Such education occurs inside private homes, raising privacy-related methodological challenges to research. To bypass these, numerous researchers were recruited to collect qualitative data from within the homes of friends and relatives. They collected large-scale data (2304 observations and 1292 interviews) and examined 1422 initiatives taken to facilitate education during the pandemic. In addition, they scrutinised 1390 relevant witticisms, on the basis that the humour of a culture is an indicator of public feeling. Data analysis reveals the existence of ‘covidian education’; this is digital and, thus, less tangible than pre-covidian education, necessitating spatial and temporal rearrangements. It is parent-centred, adding educational responsibilities to parents' workloads. It undermines integrity, with parents taking examinations on children's behalf. Being home-based, it compromises the privacy of students' and teachers' residences. It modifies gender relations, eliminates existing actors and welcomes new stakeholders. Compared to pre-covidian education, it is culturally dissimilar and educationally inferior. It presents ‘façades’ of positive experiences that mask negative realities, and does students more harm than good. We find that unprecedented issues arise in relation to ‘covidian natives’ (whose education comprises solely the covidian form) and ‘covidian graduates’.