The government of Malawi through its ministry of education has launched a $10 million Emergency Radio Education Programme (EREP) to reach out to primary school learners who are in their homes in response to COVID-19.
Minister of education Dr. William Susuwele Banda made the remarks Wednesday in Blantyre during the launch that the programme will assists more children who cannot afford online learning that government introduced last month.
“We started by launching online materials but that was a bit limited because it was only for secondary school students. Looking at the technology that we have, we reached out to very few learners.
“Now that we have launched the EREP which we think that it is good enough in terms of coverage, we will also move on to print materials,” he said.
Country representative for United Nations Children’s Fund, Rudolf Schwenk, called on parents and communities to support the children in accessing the lesson through radio.
“This Programme offers an alternative platform for the millions of children currently staying at home in Malawi.
“It has the potential to serve almost six million children enrolled in primary schools across the country, with focused lessons in literacy, numeracy and science through Malawi Broadcasting Corporation,” he said.
The funds have been released by the Global Partnership for Education.
