It is well known that education in many Arab countries has reached its current state either due to stagnation in educational policies, their inconsistency, or due to the lack of a clear vision for the educational process and the absence or lack of clarity of its objectives. Therefore, without exaggeration, the challenge and risk in this area lie in the issue of the quality of available education, combined with the lack of studied attention to the educational system’s elements that critically and effectively influence its quality—for example, curricula, teaching methods, the teacher’s role, student assessment processes, and greater emphasis on foreign languages, among others. Moreover, the main pivot unifying all of this is our current teaching approach based on rote memorization and recitation, far removed from practical application and experimentation. I will not extend the list of negative diagnostics in the educational process, leaving that to specialists.
Regarding the media’s role in general, and the Iraqi Media Network in particular, in improving the reality of primary education, I would like, before discussing procedural proposals for advancing the educational reality, to pose the following question: To what extent can the media serve the educational and pedagogical process in Iraqi society? This question, as I see it, is of critical importance and urgency. An objective answer to it will achieve notable progress in advancing the educational process.
In the same vein, what can the Iraqi Media Network offer in this regard? To answer, the following points can be clarified:
- To achieve better education characterized by high-quality features such as creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, and deep analysis, we must develop media awareness among two sides of the educational triangle: the student, the teacher, and the family. This awareness should include all measures for filtering information, text, and images reaching the student. This goal can be achieved through producing a series of intensive video clips and promotional spots to be broadcast on the network’s channels, after agreement with the Ministry of Education regarding production and broadcasting mechanisms.
- It is well known that media includes multiple mass communication tools (Internet, social media, etc.), and it is also well known that educational curricula include educational objectives, content, teaching strategies, educational media and techniques, and learning activities. By integrating educational curricula with media, what can be described as “educational media” is produced. Accordingly, teachers should be trained for this type of education based on this integration, in order to enhance the educational reality.
- This confirms what was stated in Al-Kindi’s theory (Marshall McLuhan), which emphasized that in some aspects, the media process is educational, as it seeks to disseminate education and culture alongside various and diversified information. A practical example of this point would be a professionally designed and studied program by a cadre of teachers, aimed at encouraging students to engage with education through the Iraqi TV network, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, with a dedicated budget for this important program.
- Efforts should be made to make 2018 the year of educational advancement in Iraq, by adopting a decision submitted to the Council of Representatives, which allocates a reasonable percentage of financial appropriations from all ministries to a special education fund. An independent committee of specialists should be appointed to manage this file, taking into account the activation of educational media.
- Activate and support financially and morally the Sandabat channel of the Iraqi Media Network, dedicated to Iraqi children, so that it can play a clear role in advancing and improving the educational reality of Iraqi children.
Dr. Naji Al-Fatlawi
Director of the Media Training Institute
Representative of the Iraqi Media Network at the Conference
