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The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is committed to ensure learning continues, despite disasters with the printing of more 26 000 school booklets.
The home-school materials will be pre-positioned in the two provinces, ready for distribution when the need arises.
Director General of MOET, Bergsman Iati, said, “We are happy that at least in this Covid-19 context, the Ministry is prepared with materials. If a lockdown incident should arise, educating our children can continue.
“It is the purpose of MOET to provide education to any child anytime and anywhere, whether in a disaster or pandemic.”
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, MOET’s main goal was for schools to remain open and operational for as long as it was safe to do so.
The education system responded to the pandemic in ways that were unprecedented in the country.
As schools went into lockdown in SHEFA, SANMA and TAFEA due to Covid-19, and schools in PENAMA and MALAMPA closed due to the devastating Tropical Cyclone Harold, teachers throughout the country were forced to prepare for learning at home by developing materials with very little notice.
With the reopening of schools just two weeks later, Kolisen Blong Leftemap Edukesen (KoBLE) was quick to assess the effectiveness of the home learning materials and provide a detailed report with recommendations for future home learning options. Looking forward, the MOET’s main goal is to adequately prepare for future school closures by ensuring students’ learning is not interrupted.
According to KoBLE’s report findings, most teachers found it difficult to produce home learning lessons with such short notice, most schools found it difficult to print the home school learning materials due to photocopying costs and most materials were not produced in a consistent learning format.
The most resounding recommendation from this report was that standardizing the home-schooling package to accommodate the most vulnerable communities can be a step towards addressing the gap in learning created by the lockdowns.
In 2020, MOET embarked on designing and developing a standardized Home-school Package for ECCE, primary and secondary students to ensure quality learning was safe, accessible and would continue for all students during future disasters. With funding support from UNICEF and Global Partnerships for Education (GPE), and facilitated by Save the Children Vanuatu, the MOET ‘s complete Home-school Package includes an engaging student activity booklet, parents’ guidance posters and corresponding radio broadcast lessons.
Photo supplied Caption: Minister of Education and Training Samson Samsen signing the Home School Package contract with Colorite Graphics Printers.
