{"id":23687,"date":"2023-01-06T10:14:57","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T10:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials"},"modified":"2023-01-06T11:06:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T11:06:08","slug":"the-new-self-learning-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials","title":{"rendered":"The new self-learning materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>How do you get learning to proceed during an unprecedented pandemic when the entire school system has been shut down and students are not coming to school?<\/p>\n

That was the big question that UNICEF had to deal with when Covid-19 struck in 2020, paralysing the entire education sector. \u201cWe are not used to an education sector that delivers learning in any other way.<\/p>\n

We need teachers to come to school and learners to also come to school. That was the challenge,\u201d says Umasree Polepeddi, the Chief Basic Education, Adolescent Development at UNICEF in Lesotho.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat meant we had to think differently,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Would the solution lie in radio or television programmes or online learning? That did not seem feasible given the issues of network reception and the hassle of preparing radio lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure continuity of learning, we looked around at what the country had in terms of building blocks. We were looking at whether the country had any kind of radio programmes which we could use to get learning across to children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked at television programmes and we also looked at connectivity in terms of mobile phones,\u201d she says. Eventually, UNICEF opted on creating self-learning materials working in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Training.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought they would be the best, where some guardians or parents would easily look at them and guide their children through what they had to learn,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She says they came up with learning materials in printed form that were based on the school curriculum \u201cbut was much simpler\u201d. She says they also needed to send a message to \u201cconvince parents and everybody that it is safe to come back\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA whole plan was worked out on how to communicate that schools were safe and that they can come back,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a whole provisioning of masks for teachers and children so that no child would not come to school because they did not have a mask.
\nShe says UNICEF donated masks to the Ministry of Education and Training and installed hand-washing stations at about 740 schools around Lesotho to ensure that \u201chygiene measures were in place\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt every primary school we had a minimum of at least one teacher who understood what needed to be done on issues of distancing, washing of hands and maintaining hygiene.
\n\u201cWe worked with the ministry to make sure that all the masks were supplied to children and teachers. We supplied the hand hygiene material like hand sanitisers.<\/p>\n

We also installed 740 hand washing stations because hand-washing was one of the critical elements,\u201d she says. While Covid-19 had a devastating impact on learning, Polepeddi says they as UNICEF, were able to pick important lessons during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest lessons is that learning does not have to necessarily happen in a classroom setting. \u201cThe biggest lesson is that we don\u2019t have to learn in a four-wall classroom,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can learn while using lower-end solutions, high technology solutions and self-learning packs. All of these can come together and show us that this is the way to go. \u201d The pandemic, she says, gave them an opportunity \u201cto re-imagine how learning should be in the 21st century\u201d.<\/p>\n

She says there were some radio lessons that were aired and learner packs which were delivered to some schools in Mohale\u2019s Hoek and Quthing which were very useful at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did help, at least we could give them something to use when schools were closed. Even when the schools were re-opened, they still found them useful as something that supported their textbooks. \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs UNICEF we are working with the Ministry of Education and Training to come up with a comprehensive learning strategy to broaden how learning should happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. How do you get learning to proceed during an unprecedented pandemic when the entire school system has been shut down and students are not coming to school? That was the big question that UNICEF had to deal with when Covid-19 struck in 2020, paralysing the entire education sector. \u201cWe are not used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":23686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,7,8],"tags":[233,246,270,245],"class_list":["post-23687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-covid-19","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nThe new self-learning materials - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you get learning to proceed during an unprecedented pandemic when the entire school system has been shut down and ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The new self-learning materials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How do you get learning to proceed during an unprecedented pandemic when the entire school system has been shut down and ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-06T10:14:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-06T11:06:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1672987674.88.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"The new self-learning materials\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-06T10:14:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-06T11:06:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials\"},\"wordCount\":642,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1672987674.88.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"COVID-19\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-new-self-learning-materials\",\"name\":\"The new self-learning materials - 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