Repercussions of the Continuous Instability for the Quality of Education in the State of Libya: An Investigational Study within the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi (UoB)

Abstract

Many confirmed negative signs and facts point to the general deterioration of the quality of Libya’s entire education system, with serious consequences for the future of the state of Libya. This deterioration is due to countless factors, such as ongoing political and militant conflicts, semi-paralyzed educational administrations, a lack of continuing professional development (CPD), and insufficient awareness within the Ministry of Education (MoE) of the state of the education system. Other contributing factors are the inefficient educational legislations from the parliament and the poor desire of policy makers to empower profound research, teamwork, reform ideas, or any suggested transformational strategies. Furthermore, the Centralized Management System (CMS) has detrimental effects, along with official reports on corruption issues in the MoE. Parallel to these causes, other circumstances impact the quality of the input and output of the Libyan education system (LES), such as the prevailing culture, beliefs, and attitudes on how education should be, whose most significant features are memorization and indoctrination. Such challenges have produced unqualified leadership and a huge number of decision makers who have harmed the LES instead of supporting it. Moreover, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and various suspensions (strikes/wars) of basic, secondary, and even vocational university education, several classes were postponed, canceled, or disrupted, which led to a great loss of knowledge among both teachers and learners. Correspondingly, Elabbar’s ([1], p. 121; [2], p. 19) studies have raised the warning indications to the highest level for the government, parliament, and all education authorities in the state of Libya, stating that the whole LES “may collapse very soon” if they do not adopt serious steps and fundamental measures “before it is too late.” Thus, this research study attempts to investigate such impacts on the quality of the education process and knowledge management (QEPKM) among students, teaching assistants, lecturers, and administrators at the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi (UoB), with a special focus on the English Department. To closely classify the scale of impacts on the LES, this study uses four qualitative tools to collect and analyze data gathered from a wide range of participants: official documents, authentic academic reports, and experimental face-to-face interviews. The study recommends adding bridge programs for present and new students at the Faculty of Education, besides returning to the annual system (for at least 8 years) instead of the existing semester system, in addition to endorsing Elabbar's [2] proposed seven years of connected gradual reform phases for the reform strategy of the entire LES; otherwise, if all leading authorities do not seriously act toward reform, the whole education system in Libya will face major failings.