Folasade Adefisayo, the commissioner for education in Lagos state, says the state is giving out 10,000 radio sets to pupils in underserved communities to continue their schooling.
Speaking with TheCable via a live interview on Sunday evening, Adefisayo said the state government has been in conversations with telecommunications companies to give free or subsidised data to private schools to ensure learning continues from home.
Earlier, First Bank of Nigeria Limited had presented 20,000 units of e-learning devices to the Lagos State government for distribution to schoolchildren willing to learn from home since schools were shut down due to COVID-19.
Speaking on the learning process with the devices, the commissioner said: “We couldn’t have reached every child because not everyone has access to these devices but we are already working on getting across to them”.
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“I started crowdfunding efforts with our partners to buy radios and we will start distribution of 10,000 radios tomorrow so that the children can join radio lessons.
“So far, the children have been responding to their teachers on Whatsapp. As for the other devices, the devices from our partners, it has been programmed so that it is only the curriculum that is on them”.
When asked how soon schools were likely to reopen for the third term, Adefisayo said the state government was not the one who closed the schools, but the federal government and only the can open them.
She advised that the education system would change as a result of the pandemic, and there may be a need to rethink school terms to meet current realities.
“Private school owners should accept that school has changed. Learning has moved to another medium. The onus is on private schools to convince parents to join online lessons.
“They should start a subscription-based learning system. We are speaking to telcos on ways to subside data charges for education to help private school owners reduce costs”
The commissioner said the situation across the world is unprecedented and no one has all the answers, but the state has been doing all within its abilities to make life easier and safer for the citizenry.
NAN