TV classes extended to remote schools

 By KARI TOTONA

ENHANCING quality in teaching through television in Port Moresby has extended its classroom programme coverage to six remote schools.

Provinces to benefit from this initiative include Central, Northern, Western, Enga, Manus and Madang.

The Education Department, through the media centre unit, will install satellite dishes to give excess to students in remote parts of PNG for the classroom programmes that come on air between 9.20am and 3pm on EMTV daily free of charge.

Media centre manager Hatsie Mirou said the schools were selected last year and there were five schools from Gulf, Chimbu, West Sepik, West New Britain and Southern Highlands already installed last year from 2009 selections.

Mirou said this not only benefited the students but also their teachers and the community.

“We encouraged teachers and the staff to have its doors open to the community to view programs on air so that everybody was benefiting from the program.

“This idea was also to give them something to look forward to and make it their own by safeguarding it.

“This has also given students the urge to go to school daily so that they don’t miss out on the class,” she said.

Mirou said that it had been tough but it was her dream to bring to schools in the remote schools the programmes needed to enhance and further students understanding of the subject studied and also keep them focused in school.

This year, they planned to concentrate on algebra in math’s and apparatus in science as recent studies had shown the lack of knowledge by teachers.

“Most of the teachers suffer from these two subjects because of our reform system in place of studies in general teaching and not specialised teaching,” she said.