Courtesy PID
Four-hour daily transmission to help provide primary education to children impacted by COVID-19 restrictions
The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation on Monday announced it would launch a four-hour daily RadioSchool transmission from today (Tuesday) to help provide education to students impacted by restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In a ceremony on Friday, Radio Pakistan and the Federal Ministry of Education inked a Memorandum of Understanding to promote distant learning nationwide. Signed by Radio Pakistan Director General Ambreen Jan and Education Additional Secretary Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, the MoU requires the federal Ministry of Education to provide primary schooling content for transmission on the radio.
Under the plans announced, Radio Pakistan would broadcast educational programs on its medium-wave and FM networks from 10 a.m. to 12 noon daily, followed by a repeat broadcast from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.
RadioSchool is part of a distance learning initiative backed by Prime Minister Imran Khan as a means to impart education to children of far-flung and backward areas, as well as address the issue of providing education to children whose educational institutions have been shut due to the pandemic. It also seeks to help provide education to underprivileged children and girls.
The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation has said that Radio Pakistan covers every nook and corner of the country, and would help educate children from Gilgit to Gwadar.
In addition to the radio broadcast, the educational programs provided by the RadioSchool would also be available on mobile apps for both Apple and Android devices. According to Radio Pakistan, the service is available in the following cities on the specified frequencies:
- FM93 – Rawalpindi, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit, Skardu, and Gwadar
- FM94 – Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi
- FM101 – Faisalabad, Sialkot, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Quetta, Multan, Kohat, Mirpur, Khairpur, Bahawalpur, Abbottabad, Narowal
For medium-wave transmission, it is also available in Islamabad on a 585KHz frequency; Dera Ismail Khan on 711KHz; Quetta on 1134KHz; Turbat on 981KHz; Khuzdar on 567KHz; Loralai on 1251KHz; and Larkana on 1053KHz.
The RadioSchool follows the government’s TeleSchool initiative, which was launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan in April to aid in the online education of children who could not attend school due to shutdowns during the first wave of the novel coronavirus.