Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo, the Lagos state Commissioner for Education has applauded some media houses for providing free airtime for school lessons conducted by the Lagos State government which helped the programme reach thousands of pupils who would have been left in the lurch during schools closures.
Adefisayo said the state needed partners who could run the programmes for primary and secondary school pupils free of charge.
There are 764,979 pupils attending 1,017 public primary schools and 598,779 pupils in over 300 secondary schools run by the Lagos State government. The Wazobia Media, Television Continental (TVC), and the state-run media station, Lagos Television (LTV8), were some of the stations that helped broadcast lessons accessible to the pupils, many of whom could not afford devices or data cost to access online classes.
“They have been playing a good role. We did not pay anything. They gave us free airtime on Wazobia, one FM station and TVC. We could not work with anybody who charged us because we just did not have money,” she said.
Moreover, she said,: “When it was clear that we had to lockdown schools, discussions commenced with various stakeholders within the educational sector in the state. The private schools talked about setting up online learning system for their students. However with an understanding of our demographic in the public sector and the challenge faced by most students in having access to the internet, data and devices for online learning, we began to explore alternative channels to help the students learn seamlessly.”
Mr. Jude Anakwe, a staff of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, Alimosho Local Government Area, acknowledged how the programme has helped his students and his children.
“I think the programme has given more students access to learning during the lockdown, especially since it is targeted at students in public schools, who are more in number than those in private schools,” he said.
Tatiana Moussalli Nouri, Co-founder / Chief Executive Officer of Wazobia Media, reiterated that Wazobia Television and Wazobia FM have aired lessons every weekday, since March 30, 2020 in Mathematics, English Language, Chemistry, Physics, Financial Accounting, Biology, Economics, Yoruba and Literature in English.
Tatiana said that the firm partnered with the government because of its commitment to education at such a difficult time.
“The educational broadcast by the Wazobia Media Brand is one driven by the commitment of the organization in adding value through investments that are incalculable in educating students and members of the society,” he said.
