By Edith Igbokwe
The State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has complained that irregular power supply is undermining its online and TV/Radios teaching programmes.
Despite the claim by Ikeja Electric that there was consistent power supply during the lockdown, the Education Board stated that power supply in some areas including Oshodi-Isolo was not encouraging, making some of the students unable to be part of the programme.
Due to the lockdown of schools as one of the measures to curtail the spread of the deadly coronavirus among the children, the Lagos State Government had ordered the Board to commence online and TV/Radio teaching programme for the students to keep academic activities going.
With this programme, the pupils can watch or listen to learn from the comfort of their homes without physical contact while feedback is provided to the appropriate quarters.
The programme was organized for the pupils within the primary school age that are residing across Lagos State every Monday to Friday in the morning.
Speaking with ECHONEWS, the Education Secretary (ES), lkeja Local Government Education Authority (LGEA), Hon. Aleem Amosu disclosed that irregular power supply was one of the factors that almost affected the programme in some areas.
He said: “To the best of my ability and experience with the parents and pupils so far, power supply has been a challenge to most of the students. But the issue of epileptic power supply could be solved by the government, by providing stipends to purchase battery to their radio or better still procure the batteries for them to come and collect at our various LGEAs.”
Amosu noted that parents were carried along through the creation of platform where questions were addressed with the provision of more sensitization as regards the online programme for the pupils.
Commenting on the number of pupils who keyed into the programme, Amosu said: “I may not know the factual figure but there is a conscious effort on the part of the SUBEB to project the programme through our HOS in their areas of influence.”
He therefore assured that as soon as he gets information from the SUBEB website that he would get them across to the necessary platforms and the public awareness could be carried out at all levels.
Some of the parents who spoke to ECHONEWS confirmed that they were aware of the programme but their children missed it on TV most of the time due power failure.
One of the parents, Mrs. Fatimah Aregbe said: “Yes, we know that government has such programme for our children on television and radio but we don’t normally have power supply here and many children prefer television to radio. How many children can sit with radio to learn, but if it is television, they will sit and learn especially as the lesson is visual. But our children miss the programme most time since there is no light and not every parent has generator.”
