The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Obeng Fosu has revealed that the ministry has launched a free to air terrestrial television station to provide continuous teaching and learning opportunities for school kids at home because of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to him the Ghana Learning (GL) Television is to supplement the e-learning platforms and provide access to education for students in rural areas without internet access and mobile devices.
Speaking in an interview on Happy98.9FM’s ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show, the ministry’s PRO said, “with the outbreak of coronavirus in the country, we had to close down schools for the safety of our kids. But we couldn’t allow the system to come to a standstill and had to think about how education would continue whilst the virus is still around. As a proactive person, the Minister of Education met with stakeholders and identified that not every Ghanaian could have access to the e-learning platforms. But a common denominator in every Ghanaian home was a television set. With this in mind, the ministry came up with a 24 hour free to air educational channel for the sake of those in the rural communities”.
Kwasi Fosu explained that the roll out of programming on the GLTV station will start with education for students at the pre tertiary level. And that the time table for students has already been published. He stated, “we have educational categories from tertiary to pre tertiary. But for now, the station is starting with education for the pre tertiary students and Senior High Schools. We are now preparing the plan to put in place studies for the primary and Junior High Schools and will soon air that too”.
On his authority, some Ghanaians have already scanned and accessed the station, giving their kids the opportunity to catch up with their studies today. “People are learning and it’s really helpful”, he stated.
With the outbreak of the coronavirus in Ghana, the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, directed all schools to close down to prevent the spread of the virus.
The Ministry of Education has since then rolled out a couple of interventions from the e-learning platforms for TVET and tertiary students to the GLTV station for pre tertiary students.
By: Joel Sanco