By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Teaching Service Commission (TSC) has announced a new plan to teach children whiles they are at home. The plan which is expected to come into effect next week, comes amidst the early closure of schools to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak in the country.
The chairperson of the commission, Dr Staneala Beckley, announced the plan on Wednesday at their monthly press briefing.
“We are not going to let them (pupils) seat at home idly. We have big plans for them. We have already met with subject specialists to design a program for them,” Dr Beckley said.
“We are going to use all the medium to reach them,” she added.
Schools and colleges were ordered to be closed on the 31st of March, at least a week or two earlier than they were supposed to.
The move is part of a raft of measures that had been announced by the government of Sierra Leone, through the ministries of Basi and Primary Education and Technical and Higher Education.
No date has been announced for the reopening of schools. But authorities say it will depend on the number of infection (s) and the risk associated with reopening schools.
As of Wednesday, Sierra Leone had recorded two cases.
There were concerns now that this will shorten the school year, which will affect pupils. TSC said the program is designed to fill in that gap and make sure time is not lost.
“Lesson plans have been developed, training has been done and we are going to use all forms of media to reach out to the pupils,” Beckley said.
A total of 12 subjects have been listed to be thought on various platforms. TSC said the program will first start on radio and possibly rolled out on other mediums.
The subjects to be taught include Mathematics, English, Economics, and Social Studies.
Teachers have been drawn from private and public schools to teach some of the courses.
Radio teaching program became popular in the country during the Ebola outbreak in the country.
The mobile teaching initiative is going to be crucial especially for pupils who are preparing to take public examinations later this year.
School pupils in class 6 are expected to write the National Primary School Examinations in May, which is like an entrance exam in to secondary school.
The West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) has postponed the WASSCE exams which is for pupils who are preparing to enter university.
No announcement has been made concerning exams like the NPSE or BECE.
The TSC said in the long run they also planned to empower teachers.
Director of Teacher Development and Performance, Sylvie Risch, said: “We have plans for teachers to develop themselves online. They can develop themselves even when schools are closed.”
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