TV, radio offer classes amid Covid-19


By Content Nigeria reporter
April 21, 2020

News

The Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) are planning to start radio and television broadcasts for pupils as a result of the closure of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Adam Adamu

According to the ministry, the broadcast classes will begin in May if the education ministry, the FRCN, the Nigerian Television Authority and the National Broadcasting Commission are able to finalise plans for  operational licences and the purchase of transmitters.

Classes to be aired would follow a timetable, after which examination may be conducted.

The minister of education, Adamu Adamu, had earlier said that the government will begin basic primary school classes on the national media to enable pupils to learn during the Covid-19 pandemic break.

Ben Goong, the director of press at the ministry, said: “We are taking the next step between Friday and Tuesday. There will be a radio component and a television component. We plan to create a different network on the FRCN so that we don’t break into the established listening schedules.

“The broadcast will run from morning to night, covering all subjects such as mathematics and English. We will segment the programmes into classes. What we plan is to bring the best hands from our schools to take the subjects. We will use the best in specific subjects. The issue of inability to deliver well will not arise.

“Two, the broadcast will be uniform. What is being taught in Jigawa, Sokoto will be watched in Lagos. There will be series of subjects in a day for different classes. There will be nothing like, ‘Our teachers didn’t come to school today.’

“When it is time for exams, you register in the centre nearest to you and you write your exams, class by class. It will be impossible with these broadcasts for children to still be regarded as out-of-school children. We are likely to bring the request letter formally from the ministry in the coming week to FRCN. Due process must be followed.”

He added that this would eradicate the problem of rising out-of-school children, currently put at about 10.2 million, as well as bridge the gap created by the closure of schools during the pandemic.

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