COVID-19 Lockdown: Delta Students continue classes on Radio, TV

By Freedom Okpubeku,

Students in Junior Secondary School (JSS 111) and Senior Secondary School (SSS 111) in Delta State have continued their special distance learning classes over the radio and television in anticipation of their external examinations whose dates may be fixed as soon as the coronavirus lockdown is over in the various states of the federation.

The teaching programme which started on Monday, April 6, 2020, requires the students to tune their radio and televisions sets Mondays through Fridays at 9.00 am to the designated broadcast stations and listen to a tutor who teaches a particular topic in a given subject, the lesson spanning 20 to 30 minutes each for the JSS and SSS classes.   The first part of the teaching session is devoted to JSS 3 class and their subjects while the second part is for SS3 class with a different teacher for each class.

According to reports, the broadcast teaching is an initiative of the state Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in conjunction with the state Ministry of Information meant to meaningfully engage the certificate students, teaching and revising different topics in selected subjects as a way of helping them to prepare for their certificate examinations while the lockdown lasts.

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Speaking on the development at Ughelli, headquarters of Ughelli North Local Government Area, Mr Kelvin Akpochafo, an economist, commended the effort of the education ministry, adding that it would help the students’ memory to be fresh and updated in preparation for their exams.  “It is a good thing that the Ministry has done.   It will help the children a lot,” he stated.

In her contribution, Mrs Grace Eturhoma, a headteacher, said, “The idea to arrange this radio/television class for the students is a very good one.   The government has done well here.  But let them increased the teaching period to at least, 40 minutes for each class in order to carry all the children along, both fast and slow learners.   They should also intensify publicity on it so that every family in the state would hear about it and benefit from it.”

The designated stations for the broadcast classes include Radio Delta (Melody FM), Warri; Delta Rainbow Television (DRTV), Warri; Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS), Asaba; and Crown FM, Warri. (On Crown FM, the broadcast lesson starts at 2.00 pm.)

For the JSS classes, subjects taught so far include “Binary System,” “Right-Angled Triangles” (Mathematics); “How to Answer Comprehension Questions,” and “Descriptive and Narrative Essay” (English Language); “First Aid,” “Food” and “Diseases” (Basic Science); “Conflict,” “Human Trafficking,” “Negative Behaviour,” “Human Rights” and “Functions of the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police”  (National Values)  while “Skeleton” and “Transport Systems in Living Organisms (Biology); “AC Current” (Physics); “Matrices” (Mathematics)”; “Types of Chemicals” (Chemistry); and “Summary” (English Language) are some of the topics already covered for SS3 students