Radio broadcasting is a powerful tool
that enables communication to many isolated rural villages and towns
in developing countries. For many of these rural communities, radio
broadcasts are often the only effective way to solicit important
information to a large audience.
Most recently in Uganda,
community operated educational programmes are being broadcast to
remote localities in an effort to reach students that have limited
access to educational resources.
Since its establishment in 2003,
Nakaseke community radio has served as a forum and knowledge portal
for poor rural communities in Nakaseke, a newly created district
located 75km north of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Nakaseke
radio operates in the Nakaseke Community Multimedia Centre (CMC), and
is part of a piloted series of Multipurpose Community Telecentres
(MCT) established by the African Information Society Initiatives to
test and assess the impact and viability of MCT’s in rural Africa.
Education is one the station’s main
programme foci and recently Nakaseke Community radio, together with
primary teachers from government and private schools, started a
special programme called The Radio Quiz Competition as a challenge to
students to perform better and hopefully raise the low literacy
levels and poor academic performance of students in the impoverished
district.
The programme targets all schools in
the district, which has a total of 95 primary schools (both
government and private), and 13,401 pupils, with a 1:75 teacher –
pupil ratio.
These schools are scattered in
different localities, thus making transport to the radio station
difficult and unfortunately limiting participation, but the radio
broadcast bridges the geographical gap and helps educate the students
who are unable to compete.
Radio Quiz Competition runs live every
Sunday over the community radio. Three schools are hosted, with each
school represented by two pupils in a live question and answer
session that is conducted by a panel of teachers from local schools.
These teachers set the questions and also provide answers and
explanations if the students are incorrect – for the benefit of
listeners.
Winning schools are often awarded
prizes, mostly scholastic materials, donated by the radio programme’s
listeners (parents), NGOs/CBOs and some local leaders. The successful
school advances to the next round and this process continues up to
the final stage.
Further details
(Source: eLearning Africa)