By Lamin B. Darboe
Information Officer, MoBSE
As part of the effort to contain the spread of the covid-19, schools were closed down; both the students and some officials within the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) were asked to stay at home in order to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, thus encouraging social distancing.
The pandemic has anegative impact onthe ministry because the wide spread nature of the COVID-19 pandemic affected all schools through-out the length and breadth of the country.
At the Basic and Secondary Education level alone, about674, 300 students from Early Childhood Development (ECD) to senior secondary schools were affected due to the pandemic. These affected students mentioned above are the ones directly under the purview of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education(MoBSE) and the said numbers excludes tertiary institutions like GTTI, UTG, Gambia College just to mention few.
This made impossible for schools to achieve 100 percent school contact hours but “Bringing Lessons at Home” by MoBSE through various mediums minimize the school contact hours lost due to the pandemic.
In response to the school closure, MoBSEhas is conductingdistance learning programs that schools and teachers can use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of education.
The MoBSE current online learning has had disadvantage for some students in the remote part of the country as access to network coverageforboth the TVs and Radios and other social media is questionable couple with poor networking services compare to the urban area.
According to UNICEF recent study conducted in the country, “10,000 students out of which 1,470 students across the sixth educational Regions didn’t have access to Television and Radio in orderfor them to get their lessons through MoBSE ongoing online learning process due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The surveyed I conducted in Region One as an Information Officer (IO) at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education few weeks ago, revealed that some students attending Basic and Secondary Education level can be spotted at Sere-Kunda main carriage pretending to be apprentice to commercial vehicles plying Sere-Kunda to other carriage destinations.
Those students are now involved in daily pickpocketing at the aforementioned carriage which waseven the headline news inone of the local TelevisionStationlast week.
This has inflicted negative impact tothose students’sacademia which also shows that they lack parental careat home. Instead of staying at home getting their lessons from MoBSE ongoing online learning process, they are engaging themselves into dubious act in the name of school lockdown.
The unit called “Science and Technology Directorates” under the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education developed online learning curriculum materials that were related to the students through various media platforms while children are staying at home.
The spread of the coronavirus does not encourage gatherings and this gave birth for MoBSE to enter into agreement with various partners and media houses to “Bring Lessons at Home” through online learning platforms.
The officials at MoBSE do all they can to ensure that students at Basic and Secondary Education level continue to receive their lessons while they are at home during the emergency period.
The online learning process doesn’t leave out students with special needs and during this trying time, media houses including MoBSE TV called (The Gambia Education TV) are broadcasting lessons targeting all levels of Basic and Secondary Education including Arabic Schools.
The closure did not only have serious negative impact on students, teachers, and families, but have far-reaching economic and societal consequences and the impact is more severe for disadvantaged students and their families, causing interrupted learning for them.
MoBSE believes that using media of all forms to broadcast lessons would help reduce the impact of the 72 contact hours that would be lost within the lost school days.
The ministry’s online learning process was not intended to replace the National Curriculum Delivery Plan (NCDP) but instead was created to supplement the approach. Anytime schools resume they will follow the normal school curriculum coverage.
This situation was meant to provide an alternative for parents to engage and support their children while they are at home during this critical period. Coming up with “Bringing Lesson at Home” through online platforms would keep children in contact with their lessons.
Social distancing, discouraging public gatherings of any forms among others were the measures MoBSE adhered to during the period and all these are geared towards the containment of the spread of the virus while students continued their normal classes through online platforms.
West African Examination Council (WAEC) on 20th March 2020 issued a press statement through its Nigerian Head, Patrick Areghan on the postponement of the West Africa Senior Secondary School Examination (WASSSE) for 2020 across all member countries due to health guidelines on social distancing to contain Covid-19 pandemic.
The entire MoBSE family is proud to express their sincere thanks and appreciation to the patriotic Gambians, teachers, staff more especially those who volunteered to work with the “Science and Technology Directorates” under MoBSE to make sure studentsreceive their lessons through various online platformsdespite the risk involved.