With lockdown in Pakistan and the closing down of schools for the sake of curbing the spread of the virus, had some people wondering about the academic loss endured during this period – after all, it happened in the middle of a school term. As a result, the Prime Minister has launched a Teleschool, a dedicate TV channel that will be broadcasted from 8am to 6 pm. It is aimed at students ranging from the ages of 1 to 12 as formal education has been suspended till further notice due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan has said TeleSchool Channel will help promote literacy in the country. This channel will enable students to get an education, while staying at home. However, this is also a great step for those children that are out of school due to any other reason – be it health or poverty or simply the lack of parental approval of formal education. She said its transmissions can be viewed through satellite and antenna from eight in the morning to six in the evening. Moreover, children of far flung areas and students can benefit from this teaching and learning source.
Will this Teleschool continue even after the Coronavirus Pandemic?
The PM also said that no one could predict when Covid-19 would be eliminated, as it could take two, three or six months. And therefore, this project was highly productive in the given circumstances. The PM was of the opinion that this project should continue even after the pandemic was over and reopening of schools. He said it would help promote education in remote areas while the concept could also be used for telemedicine.
The education ministry has been trying to find a link between education and technology for a while to further improve the literacy rate of Pakistan, which currently stands at only 60%. Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood education ministry are also thinking about developing an app to benefit over 20 million out-of-school children and promote adult literacy.
Joint Secretary (Education) Syed Umair Javed thanked the people responsible for putting together this project of Teleschool “The credit of making this project possible in less than a month goes to unsung heroes: content developers, teachers and staff of Federal Directorate of Education, editors, techs and producers of Allama Iqbal Open University and PTV,” he said.