COVID-19: Kaduna, Ekiti introduce educational radio, TV classes for students | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
6th April 2020
The Kaduna and Ekiti state governments have introduced educational radio and television programmes for students during the lockdown period, occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic.
Permanent Secretary in the Kaduna state’s Ministry of Education, Phoebe Yayi said that of the state would commence on 6th April.
According to her, the digital lessons programme would focus on senior secondary school students preparing for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations.
She said that the programme was aimed at preventing students from being idle at home while on lockdown, which, according to her, might affect their academic performances.
“This is part of the state government’s efforts in deploying digital platforms to improve teaching and learning in public schools,” she said.
“You are aware that senior secondary school students will write WAEC and NECO examinations as soon as the Coronavirus crisis is over.
“We are trying as much as we can to ensure that the lockdown does not affect their performances in the examinations.”
The permanent secretary said that the programme would be aired on all major television and radio stations in the state, between 9:00 am. and 11:30 am., adding that it would cover all the subjects.
She said that the lessons would be 20 minutes per period and two times in a week, with the exception of Mathematics and English Language, which would be three times in a week.
She also said that the contacts, names and phone numbers of the teachers would be provided for the students to ask questions.
In Ekiti State as well, the government had introduced educational radio programmes during the period of school closures.
Broadcast of programmes for primary school pupils had begun on Ekiti FM 91.5, the state-owned radio station.
Francisca Aladejana, chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), disclosed this in a statement last week.
She said the educational session will proceed via a daily 30-minute programme which has been named ‘School on Air’.
Kayode Fayemi, governor of the state, had earlier ordered the closure of the state’s borders while imposing a 14-day curfew towards containing the spread of the coronavirus.
Aladejana said the educative programme comes as part of efforts to minimise the disruption caused to the school calendar by lockdown that has since followed the outbreak.
She said primary school pupils would, on each weekday, be taught one subject out of English Language, Yoruba, Basic Science, Civic Education, National Values, and Mathematics.
Aladejana stressed that the programme, which was designed to positively engage school-age children, would be interactive so as to facilitate the proper appraisal of its impact.
She urged parents to take advantage of the new initiative by ensuring that their children actively participated in the programme to be held between 3:10 pm and 4:00 pm daily.
According to her, there would be a phone-in segment at the end of each edition of the programme which would allow for questions and answers on the topic of the day.
EduCeleb.com had earlier published a list and schedule of educational radio and television programmes across Nigeria. Most of these were introduced as alternative learning platforms during this period of school closures.