Kenya's Education Ministry Turns To YouTube amidst Covid 19

The Cabinet Secretary(CS) for Education in Kenya, Professor George Magoha has announced that the government will facilitate learning through Radio, Television, YouTube and the Kenya Education Cloud starting March 23, 2020.

This action follows the fact that 15 million learners are home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The severity of the coronavirus pandemic has caused a change in the routines of people across the various systems and the education sector is not an exemption.

Early this week, the government directed that primary, secondary and tertiary institutions to be closed by Friday this week to prevent the spread of the deadly Covid 19.

This move has disrupted the legacy system of students interacting with their teachers in physical classrooms and has warranted them to seek alternative means.

It is perceived that schools in the country suffer the burden of congestion causing 100 percent transmission, and poor hygiene that could catalyze the spread of the virus.

However, the education ministry has partnered with the state broadcaster, the Kenya Broadcasting Services, to broadcast radio programs daily from Monday to Friday through their Radio Taifa and English Service so that students don’t miss out on the educational curriculum.

Broadcasts will also be available on Iftini Fm and Transworld Radio in Garissa, Mandera and Wajir counties.

Radio Taifa lessons will run from 10 am to 11 am whereas the English lessons will run from 9:15 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 4 pm.

The CS further stated that for television learning, the lessons will be transmitted on the Kenya Institute and Curriculum Development (KICD) Edu-Channel TV. This content will be uploaded to their YouTube Channel.

Professor Magoha also opined that students can also access content from the Kenya Education Cloud website which has KICD approved materials.