From the article:
“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.
Lessons cover subjects from literature to maths and science to social studies, interspersed with health tips and messages promoting the wellbeing of students and their families.
Many of the lessons feature the now ubiquitous sound of President George Weah's coronavirus awareness song, in which the head of state informs listeners about the symptoms of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the pathogen, and measures to prevent its spread.
‘What makes a good distance learning programme will vary from country to country,’ said Susannah Hares, a co-director for education policy at the Center for Global Development. ‘The 'right' technology will be the one that the most people can access and already know how to use…’”
