Rwanda Education Board (REB) has said that it is working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other partners to deliver lessons, through radio and television, for students who don’t have access to e-learning platforms amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The response follows calls by activists calling on the Ministry of Education to put in place easy-to-use distance learning tools for vulnerable students with no access to the internet and smart devices such as smartphones and computers during lockdown.
Maggie Korde, Country Director of Save the Children Rwanda, said there is a need for inclusive remote learning since the closure of schools will hit the most marginalised children hardest.
“We request the Ministry of Education to ensure the technologies used aren’t excluding the poor, disabled or marginalised children,” she said.
We need to get creative, she added.
“In communities with little or no access to the internet, for example, radio programmes can enable children to continue their learning, or mitigate the consequences of not being in school.”
Speaking to The New Times on Thursday, Rwanda Education Board Director General Irené Ndayambaje said that they are working with UNICEF and other partners to develop Radio and TV programmes for vulnerable students who do not have access to the internet, smartphones, and computers to access e-learning platforms.
“We are working with different partners in the project aimed to develop lessons to be aired on Radio and TV which will start a few days ahead. The children who are not able to access other e-learning platforms such as YouTube and website will now be accessing the lessons on Radio and TV during the lockdown,” he said.
More than 120 countries have already introduced nationwide school and university closures affecting nearly three-quarters of the world’s student population — an estimated 1.2 billion learners — according to UNESCO and that number is expected to rise as the coronavirus looks set to spread further.
