Radio Lessons are the Most Scalable Option for Distance Learning in Liberia

The same students whose entry to secondary school was delayed by the 2014-16 West African Ebola epidemic now find their final year disrupted by the pandemic. But education officials in the country say they have learned from Ebola and are now able to deliver better content, faster. Indeed, soon after schools across Liberia closed on March 16, when the country’s first coronavirus case was confirmed, authorities launched a radio schooling initiative to bridge an education gap. Within two weeks, the first lessons were aired on radio stations nationwide. Today, some 32 stations now broadcast several prerecorded lessons a day, each lasting half an hour, catering to different educational levels. It is a hands-on venture, with senior officials from the Ministry of Education devising and recording their own lessons. Other classes are produced by private education providers, including Rising Academies, which manages a network of some 140 schools in Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA