FEDERAL Ministry of Education and Pakistan Television surely deserve appreciation for promptly responding to the situation arising out of closure of educational institutions for a longer duration due to instance of Coronavirus. They launched a national broadcast education channel to mitigate the loss faced by the students due to the closure of educational institutions till 31 May.
Education Ministry, ably led by innovative and hardworking Minister Shafqat Mahmood, has done its part by offering an opportunity to students to make amends for the loss of studies due to force majeure and it is now for students and their parents to take advantage of this valuable opportunity as time waits for none. The dedicated educational channel will beam out special packages from class one to twelve on a daily basis from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Its broadcast would be available on satellite, terrestrial and cable networks so that it would be accessible to most parts of the country, including hard-to-reach remote areas, ensuring equity in learning. Going by the fact that different schools and chains of educational institutions follow their own syllabus in the absence of a uniformed curricular, it has to be seen whether or not the lessons prepared for different classes cater to the needs of all students irrespective of their affiliation with any school or system. This is a major handicap but hopefully the lessons would fulfil needs and requirements of the mainstream students of all classes especially those following government approved syllabus/books. In fact, these are the students who are feared to suffer the most in the case of continued closure of educational institutions as mostly students of these schools hail from poor and middle class families who cannot afford special tuition during these trying times. Educational channel offers opportunity for productive use of forced vacation and we hope all students would benefit from a project launched at significant cost to secure their educational career.
