Minister of General Education David Mabumba has said that all schools shall remain closed as directed by President Edgar Lungu.
Dr. Mabumba, however, stated that government has introduced measures to ensure learners continue to learn during this period when schools have been closed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Mabumba said this at a joint media briefing today with ECZ, ZNBC, Zamtel, and Topstar.
“My Ministry has put up intervention measures such as TV platform to show video supplementary lessons as well as radio-based supplementary lessons. These lessons will also be used in various community schools in underserved areas of the country,” Dr. Mabumba said.
The Education Minister disclosed that his Ministry has introduced E-Learning and Smart Revision platforms to provide supplementary lessons to learners and
self-instructional modules for junior and senior secondary schools in print format.
Dr. Mabumba reaffirmed that his Ministry realizes the various challenges faced by both the learners and teachers throughout the country noting that not all households have television sets in their homes.
He has noted with concern that some rural areas are not served with electricity and not all households with television sets have top star decoders.
Dr. Mabumba also noted that while ZAMTEL has zero-rated access to the E-Learning portal, most learners, especially in rural areas, do not have gadgets such as smartphones and computers to access education through E-learning.
He stressed that it is against this background that the Ministry of General Education has developed self-instructional study modules, the printing educational materials for all learners to enable them to access education.
“While we realize that there are some challenges in using technology in the teaching and learning processes, it is equally important to note that these problems are surmountable especially if we work together as stakeholders,” he added.
Dr. Mabumba has since implored parents and guardians to provide their children with the required tools and guidance to access education which the Ministry is providing.
He further implored other cooperating partners to come on board by addressing some of the challenges such as providing solar panels to rural areas, providing tablets to some schools, donating Topstar decoders, and printing of self-study modules.
Meanwhile, Zamtel Director-General Sydney Mupeta disclosed that 20000 pupils are currently accessing education through the ZAMTEL platform.
Mr. Mupeta has also pledged that his firm shall continue working with the Government by addressing any challenges that will come on the platform they are offering E-learning.
And Zambia National Broadcasting Cooperation Director General Mulolela Lusambo explained that with the coming of digital migration the national broadcaster has been able to facilitate the opening of the fourth ZNBC channel.
He said ZNBC 4 is an Educational channel that ran every day for free on Topstar from 7 hours to 20 hours to help educate the school children while at home when schools have been closed during this corona pandemic period.
And Topstar acting CEO Brooklyn Lui Yiugnan says that his firm will also continue to partner with Government to help provide services that benefit the country during the period.
He added that it is for this reason that Topstar has reduced the price of its decoders.
Government through the Ministry of General Education is providing the links and channels for accessing education on https//e-learning.co.zm https//www.smart revision.co.zm
channel 4 on ZNBC television
Very wise decision and the presidents directive should be respected as he sought advice and information from various specialists in various miniseries before making that decision. We all want our kids back to school and am sure just like me you have had enough of your kids are home. Mine keep me on my feet and are too hyper. However life is more important so let us just hang in there. Kz
But why are you only using the hated Top Star as the only channel of education, do we not have GoTv, Strong, Muvi and other decoders where this can be also be watched? Why are you politicising everything including the Pandemic to promote your illegalities with Bottom Star by imposing these useless decoder on Zambians? Are you normal?
Hitler was obsessed with racial purity too.Leading to the murder of eight million Jews.Peter Carlos Hinds.
kukopela bazungu and yet you dont have the means,,,,in the west students are learning doing online classes…this is what happens when you follow blindly….
Exactly my thought. Why forcing people to buy Top Star? Are we in the communist state or dictatorship state in reality and democracy by name?
50% Zambians leave in non electrical houses. Only 30% has got access to top star and in Zambia today 90% communities experience 15 hours load shedding.
Its the best idea with wrong implementation which will benefit few people especially the ruling party. The problem i have with PF now is that everything is POLITICS.
And why was ZESCO absent from this meeting? How can you do anything with about 10 hours of loadshedding every day? And MTN and Airtel???? Do we all have to use gova channels to access e-learning appropriately
Instead of politics E-leaning is the best that all schools can afford,I say this because a larger number of pupils country wide have phones in fact all homes can afford to buy at least a phone for pupils to access lessons.
Not only that now days it all homes with radios but with TVs it’s not easy
Open schools from grade 10 upwards as these candidate’s immune systems are stronger as long as face masks are emphasised. College and University candidates alike especially where practical classes are concerned. Hand sanitizing and other protocols being satisfied. We can’t wait forever for Zambia to open up.
Good idea, but what will happen to learners in far and hard to reach remote areas where there is no signal and even radio sets not available? This is an elitist approach in a very poor country.