Gaps in radio, Tv lessons project
Among the measures adopted by countries hit by Coronavirus include the closure of all education institutions.
Radio & TV classes
In an effort to keep the children busy and productively engaged, a number of media houses in Uganda (notably, radio and television), have come up with academic programmes, majorly focusing at those students in the candidate classes (P.7, S.4, and S.6).
It is against this background that government through the Ministry of Education and Sports wants to formally launch radio and television lessons, especially during this lockdown period.
While conducting lessons via radio and television is indeed a brilliant idea, formalising the exercise, moreover, by government, is not.
According to the Education Minister, Janet Museveni, the ministry plans to officially identify selected media houses, where formal teaching will be conducted by selected teachers. Before coming up with this idea, did the Minister take keen note of the following questions:
Points to note
(1) To what extent has the ongoing teaching programme on radio and television benefited its target audience?ment?
(2) Preparation of schemes of work and lesson plans is a principal requirement, if any teacher is to conduct an organised and meaningful lesson; so, in this case, how possible will it be for teachers to come up with these two basic tools? Besides, to whom will the teachers present those tools? That is, who will be in charge of monitoring and supervising the teaching-learning process?
(3) What group is the Ministry targeting? Assuming they are equally focusing on students in the candidate classes, then, what plans do they have for those in non-candidate classes?
Nursery school, tertiary institution
(4) What plans does the Ministry have for nursery pupils (who also have a right to education), despite their age/level of education?
(5) What is the Minister’s plan for students in tertiary institutions and universities? Is the minister aware that just as a P.7, S.4, or S.6 candidate is adversely affected, so is a final year student in a tertiary institution and university?
(6) Does every student, regardless of the level of instruction and location, have access to both radio and television?
(7) Is the Minister aware that many households, including those in urban areas like Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono districts can no longer afford to buy even a single unit of Yaka during this lockdown period, due to lack of income? So how does she expect the teaching-learning process to go on as planned?
(8) Is she aware that many households, despite government’s intervention, are food insecure? Do we expect a child to follow what is going on television or radio, on an empty stomach? Besides, do we expect a parent who is thinking of how to go through this lockdown period to remind his/her children of the ongoing radio and television lessons?
Power cuts
(9) There are several places within the country that lose power on a daily basis, as a routine; what arrangement does the Education Ministry have for students residing in such areas?
(10) Is the Ministry aware that over 80 per cent of Uganda’s population survives on agriculture? So, do the officials at the Ministry expect farmers to leave their children studying on radio or television while they (farmers) go out to cultivate?
(11) Are we aware that many students will not go back to school, after this lockdown, due to loss of employment by many of their parents/guardians? So, does the Ministry expect a person, who is on the verge of losing their education to study on radio/television?
(12) For any teaching-learning process to be effective, efficient, and productive, the teacher-student centred approach of teaching must be applied; in this case, according to the Ministry, how will students interact with their teachers while on radio/television?
(13) How will practical lessons in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Foods and Nutrition, Principles and Practices of Agriculture, Fine Art, Music, and Information Communications Technology, among other subjects, be conducted? Besides, how will the teachers of German and French, specifically, conduct their oral classes? How possible is it for a teacher of Literature in English, Technical Drawing, or Arabic to conduct an effective lesson on radio or television?
Pace
(14) Is the Education Ministry aware that different schools cover the teaching syllabus differently? In other words, do we expect a student who has already covered, say, “Ecology” in Biology, in their school, to follow up on what is happening on radio or television about the same, yet he/she still has “Reproduction” unattended to?
Interruptions
(15) Under normal circumstances, the teaching-learning process must go on uninterrupted; officially, a lesson lasts 40 minutes; however, we all know that the main source of income for radio and television stations is advertising; so, with this arrangement, how is the Ministry going to conduct radio and television classes, exclusive of the advertisement messages?
Priorities
(16) Already many of us whose children attend first-class schools are already receiving plenty of work for them to do during this lockdown period, via our different communication channels, particularly our mobile phones; but, the question is, how effective is this? Besides, how many of us can afford to equip our phones with data and OTT, especially during this time where we must priotize between data and food?
(17) Supposing the same lesson is going on, on two or three different radio/television stations, which lesson must a student attend to? Assume that a Chemistry lesson is going on, on a given radio/television, English Language lesson, on another, and Geography lesson, on the third, at the same time, of the three lessons, which one must a S.4 student attend to?
(18) How is government going to ensure that students with special needs, particularly the deaf and blind, are not left out of the whole arrangement?
Assesment
(19) Assessment, specifically formative assessment, is a key ingredient in the teaching-learning process; this, as a routine must be accompanied by timely and constructive feedback. How will learners be assessed via radio/television? Who will conduct this assessment? And, to whom will the learners’ marks be submitted?
(21) Aware of the fact that according to the Uganda Communications Commission, locally/manually established community “broadcasters” are operating illegally, why does the ministry go ahead to think of opting this avenue, as one of the ways through which the teaching-learning process can be formally conducted?
Segregative
Unless answers to the above questions are provided for, whatever move that the Education Ministry plans to take under the guise of keeping learners busy academically, by formalising radio and television lessons is unjust, unrealistic, and entirely uncalled for, for besides the many flaws of the whole arrangement, the exercise is very segregative, since it is likely to benefit only students in the urban setting, leaving out those in the rural setting.
Interaction
For the teaching-learning process to be effective and meaningful, there must be that physical interaction between the teacher and the learner, as this helps the teacher to place emphasis on the student and learning in individual classroom sessions.
Equally important, is that, it demonstrates how one of the teaching-learning strategy’s principal themes, “constructive feedback”, can be used to bolster the learner’s progress.
Conclusion
It is crucial that teaching takes into account the learning that will be essential for youngsters who will live, and work in a rapidly shrinking world and changing society. At any eduction level, the two goals considered include learning with understanding and understanding learning.
The first goal focuses at enabling learners understand a wide range of phenomena through the identification of essential interrelationships between different situations, while the second places emphasis on the development of awareness of the teaching-learning process.
However, to successfully achieve these goals, physical interaction between the teacher and the learner is ideal, and this is not possible with radio and television classes.
Mr Kivumbi is an educationist.
