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By Young Erhiurhoro, Warri
The president general of Unenurhie community, in Evwreni kingdom, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, Mr. Peter Maison, has said that the e-learning programme designed by the state ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to engage school children during the period of lockdown, occasioned by the ravaging coronavirus pandemic, was limited by epileptic power supply and poor environmental conditions of many citizens, especially those in rural areas.
Maison, who is a security expert, made this observation recently at his residence when he played host to a reconciliation meeting over a ravaging crisis in his community.
Speaking to our correspondent on the above issue of the e-learning programme during a media chat, the community leader said, “In the first place, I must commend the Delta State government for initiating this e-learning programme on the television and radio to keep our children busy, especially those of them about to write external examinations.
“The government has tried in this regard. But my point of argument here is that, the government refused to understand that so many people in the state, especially those in the villages have no access to power supply from BEDC. These people are not connected to the electric power at all. This might be as a result of poverty amongst the people or poor terrain of their villages. Secondly, they can’t afford to run generators as well. These are people that can’t afford three square meals a day. How will they be able to pay light bills or buy fuel to run generators? Then, you should know that the children of these people are already cut off from watching or listening to the programme. They can’t follow the programme up easily again.
“Another challenge facing so many people from enjoying the programme is the poor environment. People in the villages are mostly affected by this challenge. You will agree with me that there are many villages that are not connected to the GSM network and to the internet, even in Delta State here. Without this, it won’t be possible for the people to enjoy the programme, even though there is stable power supply. For instance, in this our community, we have no single GSM mast to be able to have a stable network supply for mobile communication. This has already placed us in a tight corner. We can’t make stable conversation without breaking here. This will also affect the search for a stable network for the programme to be watched on the television by our children. This is badly affecting those in interior villages and riverine communities across the state,” he said.
The community president general however appealed to the Delta State government, especially the ministry of Power and Energy to boost power supply to the various rural communities and connect those communities without electricity to the national power grid.
He also appealed to both the federal and state ministries of education to look into the opening of schools as the lockdown is already affecting the academic calendar and also killing the educational interest of our children. According to him, many of the children in the villages are now roaming about, doing nothing since there was no formal learning programme for them as it was in the urban areas.
