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E-Learning in Saudi Arabia Shifts from Planning to Execution under Pandemic

Part of the activities of the first days of school in a school in Madinah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)
Part of the activities of the first days of school in a school in Madinah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)
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E-Learning in Saudi Arabia Shifts from Planning to Execution under Pandemic

Part of the activities of the first days of school in a school in Madinah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)
Part of the activities of the first days of school in a school in Madinah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)

At the start, e-learning in Saudi Arabia was considered the future of education in the Kingdom. However, the coronavirus pandemic made studying online a vital aspect of learning today.

The option of distance learning is now available for primary courses that will launch this school year online before students go back to attending their classes in person.

While many countries struggled with the repercussions of the pandemic in the past academic year, Saudi Arabia fell back on all modern tech means available and the Kingdom’s remote education infrastructure to allow its students to keep learning.

This prompted the Kingdom’s remarkable success in overcoming education challenges posed by the pandemic.

Muhammad Al-Hejailan, associate professor of information technology and e-learning management at King Saud University in Riyadh, explains that the Education Ministry’s response to activating e-learning was swift and efficient.

The ministry, according to Al-Hejailan, launched its e-learning department in alignment with the Kingdom’s national vision for transformation, dubbed “Vision 2030.” The vision promotes across-the-board digital transformation in Saudi Arabia.

“This move stemmed from Vision 2030,” Al-Hejailan told Asharq Al-Awsat, adding that the ministry’s administrative structure helped in planning and supporting the success of quality digital progress.

Despite all its negative fall-out, the coronavirus pandemic did manage to speed up digital transformation in the education sector.

“The pandemic abridged a multi-step process into a short step,” said Al-Hejailan, considering the matter positive for any future plans.

Al-Hejailan highlighted that high-quality Saudi human resources, compared to other countries, prompted this digital movement’s success.

Previous scholarship programs have created great potential in areas that help e-learning, from both the technical and educational aspects, added the academic.

Saleh Al-Atiwi, a professor of educational technology and software project management at King Saud University in Riyadh, confirmed that Saudi Arabia is one of the leading countries to apply information and communication technology in all fields, including diverse learning environments.

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Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
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Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)

Northern Ireland's Giant Causeway draws close to one million visitors a year but their habit of wedging tiny coins in cracks between the rocks -- to bring love or luck -- is damaging the world-famous wonder.

Now authorities are urging tourists to keep their coins in their pockets to preserve the spectacular landscape.

Some 40,000 columns mark the causeway, Northern Ireland's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Geologists say the natural phenomenon was created by an outpouring of basalt lava 60 million years ago.

Legend has it that the causeway was formed by Irish giant Finn McCool.

In recent decades, visitors have pushed thousands of coins into fissures in the rocks.

The gesture is "a token of love or luck", according to Cliff Henry, the causeway's nature engagement officer.

But the coins rapidly corrode and expand, causing the basalt to flake and leaving "unsightly" rust-colored streaks, Henry told AFP.

He pointed to streaks on a rock and gingerly prized out a US cent with a set of keys.

"We get a lot of euros and dollar cents. But coins from literally all over the world -- any currency you can think of, pretty much -- we have had it here," he said.

A report by the British Geological Survey in 2021 revealed that the coins were "doing some serious damage" and something had to be done about it, he noted.

Signs are now in place around the site appealing to tourists to "leave no trace".
"Once some visitors see other people have done it, they feel that they need to add to it," causeway tour guide Joan Kennedy told AFP.

She and her colleagues now gently but firmly tell tourists to desist.

At the exit from the causeway, a US couple said they were "distressed" to hear of the damage the metal caused.

"Our guide mentioned as we came up that people had been putting coins into the stones. It's really terrible to hear that," said Robert Lewis, a 75-year-old from Florida.

"It's kind of like damaging any kind of nature when you are doing something like that, putting something foreign into nature. It's not good," said his wife, Geri, 70.

As part of a £30,000 ($40,000) conservation project, stone masons recently removed as many coins as they could -- without causing further damage -- from 10 test sites around the causeway.

Henry said the trial was successful and is to be expanded across the causeway.

"If we can get all those coins removed to start with that will help the situation and hopefully no more coins will be put in," he said.

"If visitors see fewer coins in the stones and hear appeals to stop the damaging practice, the problem can maybe be solved.

"We know that visitors love and cherish the Giant's Causeway, and many form deep personal connections to it, so we want this natural wonder to remain special for future generations."