Accessibility
Amal is built Arabic-first. That phrase has a specific technical meaning: the visual direction, the typographic choices, the layout logic, and the screen-reader support all treat right-to-left Arabic as the primary orientation. English is supported, but it is not the baseline from which Arabic is adapted. Everything from button placement to icon direction is designed to work correctly in Arabic without requiring overrides.
Right-to-left layout
The interface runs in right-to-left mode throughout. Text begins at the right margin. Navigation menus open from the right. Progress indicators run right to left. Icons that imply direction (an arrow pointing forward, a chevron for next) are mirrored so they point in the direction a right-to-left reader expects.
Layout rules use logical properties rather than physical ones. A margin that should be on the reading-start side of an element uses a logical value rather than “left” or “right,” so it behaves correctly regardless of text direction. This approach means that if a future wave adds a parallel English interface, the layout adapts without duplicating style rules.
Arabic typography receives specific care. Arabic text is set in a font that handles the ligature and joining rules of Arabic script correctly. Initials in avatars and name abbreviations are spaced to prevent unintended ligatures where letters that should appear separately run together. Screen readers receive correctly ordered text in the language the content belongs to, not a transliteration.
Audio-first for early grades
Grade 1 students are typically at the early stages of written Arabic literacy. Requiring them to read interface text in order to navigate would contradict the purpose of the platform. The student-facing interface for Grade 1 is designed so that every instruction and piece of feedback a student needs to hear is also spoken aloud. A student who cannot yet read the on-screen instruction can still follow it.
This extends to the task items themselves. For Grade 1 and Grade 2 tasks where the item type supports audio, the audio is available by default rather than as an accessibility option. The assumption is that a younger student may need it; older students who do not need it ignore it without any effect on the experience.
Task instructions are kept to a single step for all grades. An instruction that requires a student to parse two actions before responding is an unnecessary barrier; a single-step instruction keeps the focus on the reading skill being measured.
Device and screen diversity
The platform runs on the web and targets a wide range of hardware: phones, tablets, laptops, and classroom projectors. No single layout suits all of these. The interface adapts fluidly to the screen size and orientation available.
Projector use is supported specifically for the synchronized lesson mode, where a teacher displays shared content and students respond on their own devices. The projector view is a distinct layout that works at the distances typical of a classroom, with text sizes and contrast ratios suited to a projected surface.
Low-resource devices receive the same full feature set. Performance-intensive visual effects are avoided or made optional. The platform does not require a recent device or a high-resolution screen to function correctly.
Low-bandwidth and unstable-connection resilience
Pilot schools in Jordan and the West Bank operate under varying connectivity conditions. A student who loses connection mid-session, closes the browser tab accidentally, locks their phone, or switches apps must be able to return and continue without losing progress.
The platform achieves this through persistent session state. When a student begins a session, the server records the current position. The browser also stores the current state locally. If the browser state is more recent than the server’s last recorded position, the local state takes precedence on resume. If the browser state is unavailable (cleared storage, different device), the server’s last known position is used.
This resume behavior is tested against five types of disruption: mid-session browser closure, device lock, app switch, connection loss, and page refresh. The student resumes at the exact task they were on, not at the start of the session, and not at some earlier checkpoint that represents a data save interval.
The warm-up has its own resume path. The reading check has its own. Each resume is deterministic: the exercise or item the student sees on return is the same one they would have seen had there been no interruption.
Reading-support display options
Students who benefit from visual accommodations can have their reading experience adjusted. The available settings include:
Font size. Three sizes are available. A teacher or administrator sets the initial value on the student’s accessibility configuration. The setting persists across sessions.
Dyslexia-friendly font. A font designed to improve legibility for readers who find standard typefaces difficult is available as an option. When enabled, it applies to all student-facing text.
Audio availability. For students who benefit from having text read aloud beyond the default Grade 1 audio policy, audio assistance can be enabled at the individual student level.
These settings are stored on the student’s profile and apply whenever that student signs in, on any device. A teacher adjusts them from the student management view and the change takes effect immediately.
Compliance target
The platform targets WCAG 2.1 Level AA. This includes sufficient color contrast on all text and interactive elements, keyboard navigability for the teacher and admin interfaces, screen-reader compatibility with correctly labeled elements and sensible tab order, and the typographic and directional requirements specific to Arabic script.
The student-facing experience has additional requirements specific to early literacy: no timed tasks that penalize slow readers except where measurement requires timing, no flashing content, and no interface elements that require a level of reading ability beyond what is being tested.
Where to go next
- Language Safety covers how the text a student, parent, or teacher sees is filtered and why.
- Cognitive Warm-Up describes the pre-session exercise and its own resume behavior.