-Luncheon
The government is moving to establish a 24-hour educational channel as part of a scheme under its Educational Sector Strategy Plan to use technology to push distance education countrywide, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon says.
Speaking at his post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President, Luncheon said the design of the “Learning Channel” was approved on Tuesday by Cabinet. The design for the project was conceived as part of the Education Ministry’s Educational Sector Strategy Plan, which aims to exploit Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in distance education.
The design, Luncheon said, “would initially see state media, on a dedicated television channel, offering 24 hours a day TV-broadcast programme for the public of an educational nature.” He added that the initial geographic roll-out would cover the coastal regions where television signals are already being received. Luncheon explained that the content of educational programmes would be developed by the National Centre for Educational Resource Development’s recently-created multi media unit, which is targeting nursery, primary and secondary levels. He added that the distribution of these materials would rely on the assets of the National Communications Network (NCN).
Asked about the role of the private sector in the initiative, Luncheon said there may be a place for them to advertise, particularly since the channel may not run for 24 hours initially. “Initially, before production of content and delivery mechanisms mature, one can anticipate significantly less than all 24 hours being dedicated to educational programming,” he said. “Conceivably, those unused hours should/could be made available to advertisers, [the] private sector to provide a revenue stream for the educational TV hosts and planners,” he added.
Luncheon said too that “the intention is to have each transmitting station utilize a new and a dedicated frequency.” He said that “thought is being given, in the context of modern technology, to have one frequency covering the entire length and breadth of Guyana, adding that “this TV learning channel would have its own frequency, independent of all of the other TV frequencies…that currently exist.”
Luncheon said too that the channel is only the first part of the initiative. “The next planned phase would see the internet, through web-based portals, offering the same or similar content to educational institutions and home-based individuals, it is said, from anywhere and from anytime,” he explained.
President Bharrat Jagdeo had recently hinted at the establishment of this station. During an informal press conference at the International Conference Centre, Jagdeo said he did not see the need for the establishment of a new television station, except for the establishment of a country-wide 24-hour education channel, with programmes focused on Mathematics, the Sciences, English, among other educational content.
