By Landing Colley
The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education has assured that its new learning project which allows students of lower grades to receive lessons through radios and televisions will continue after the coronavirus pandemic.
The electronic learning class project come as a result of government declared State of Public Health Emergency in March 2020 to curb the contact and spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Speaking to coordinator of the project Momodou Ngen at the project center in Kanifing, he said “the purpose of the lesson is to engage learners, and contain them at home in period of coronavirus pandemic.”
He disclosed that there is no way the ongoing electronic classes will replace what schools is doing.
According to him students are occupy with something related to their curriculum and this will help to keep them meaningfully at home.
“This is to provide for students to enable them access their curriculum and not to select a topic because it is a general lessons and every lesson broadcasts will be a revision to some of the students and also new lessons to some of them,” he observed.
Mr Tamba a physics Teacher said the electronic classes cannot be a substitute to class activities “but it can serve as supplementary activities for the students at home doing nothing.” He stressed that leaving students for this whole period of State of Emergency caused by the pandemic will make them lose a lot of contact hours.
He added that “this is not a replacement of the actual classes but supplementary for students due to the declared State of Emergency but a respond from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to help students.”
He said the classes are interactive it provides social media platform for students to use and give feedback to their teachers, though it is not face to face interaction.
Among challenges of the project he said include insufficient material in terms of recording and also to get students to sit at home to listen and watch the lessons as deliver by their teachers.
“The role of the Ministry is to provide this service but to watch and listen to it is the responsibilities of the parent,” he said.