ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION DURING CRISIS.
Teaching students through low tech solutions (radios and television) are one of the ways to respond to learning during this lockdown.
However, here are some of my thoughts as regards these low tech solutions.
The stakeholders need to understand that education media is different from classroom education. Teachers need to be trained on how to communicate with students through the media.
Teachers need to be trained on how to give illustrations and organize lessons that the viewers( students will feel connected to.
Solutions like radio education where students only listen, I believe teachers should be trained on how to be more creative with illustrations and ways to increase the imaginative capacity of students.
In other words, there must be a proper intersection between media and education for us to get the desired result.
Asides these low tech solutions, our stakeholders in education can also explore other solutions that are being practiced by some countries.
Some of the solutions we can explore as a nation include:
Making a partnership with telecommunications companies in making digital learning platforms internet free. This kind of partnership can be seen in the ENACOM partnership between the government of Argentina and telephone companies. Telecommunications companies were also compelled to increase their internet bandwidth.
For children without access to technology and connectivity, their learning should be supplemented with "notebooks" packed with learning resources. These notebooks should be delivered to communities that are facing these challenges.
I am of the strong belief that there should be a toll-free line for children to ask questions on subjects and topics that they don't understand. This would also be a way to engage many teachers.
No country has experienced this particular pandemic before. Nations are trying to explore solutions to engage students and I believe Nigeria can adopt some of these solutions and contextualize them to meet our realities.
These are my thoughts, I'd like to know your thoughts too.
