National TV, radio channels not giving enough coverage for education programmes: IUSF Convener

Prioritise vaccinating school teachers, principals, university students, academic and non-academic staff in universities, distribute of printed study material to all students via post, allocate more time for educational programmes through national television and radio channels, conduct classes in small village groups in community centres, expand hostels and lecture halls in universities are among a list of suggestions recently forwarded by a group of university lecturers and education sector unions.

The list consisted of suggestions for both secondary and tertiary education in the country and was handed over to the Education Secretary this week, the Inter University of Student Federation (IUSF) Convener Wasantha Mudalige said.

“The Government should either come up with a strong online education platform or the opening of schools and universities should not be delayed. It was observed that about 24.1 percent of houses have laptops and computers, while 72.2 percent used smartphones for the internet. The country’s digital literacy is about 46 percent. Most school students do not have laptops or smartphones, no network coverage, and are unable to afford the monthly internet charges,” said Mr Mudalige.

He said national television and radio channels are not giving enough coverage for education programmes during the pandemic, and there is no support from private television channels.

“Teachers send learning material via WhatsApp or Viber and students have no way of getting the material printed or storing it on their phones. Therefore we have suggested printing study materials and distributing them to school students,” he added.

Mr Mudalige also suggested introducing voluntary support groups consisting of retired educationists, teachers and principals, trained graduates before beginning village or community centre level teaching centres for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

He said a study conducted in the Sri Jayawardenapura University found that an average student can afford about 400 rupees per month for internet. A different study conducted in the Arts Faculty of the Colombo University, revealed that out of the 1349 students who took part in the survey, only 376 have laptops while others use their phones for studies.

“University education should not be delayed. Students can’t do research, and study using their phone for several hours. Only 26 percent of the university student population have good internet coverage,” Mr Mudalige added. (NF)