Secretary for Education Dr. Uke Kombra has thanked Digicel PNG Foundation for continuing to support the development of education in Papua New Guinea.
The Foundation conducted a soft launch of the planned 24-hour education channel called Be Lit on Monday, September 13, 2021.
The soft launch will see the channel come on air with 3 hours of education programs for children in formal schools as well as FODE in Term 4 of this year. The launch of the 24 hours channel will be done at the beginning of the 2022 academic year.
The 24 hours education channel is free of charge and is based upon a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed between the Foundation and the Department of Education in May this year.
Under this MOU, Digicel PNG Foundation will partner with the Department to provide this platform that will increase quality educational outcomes for students in all grades through teacher training, improving classroom infrastructure and the roll out of Television (TV) learning.
“I would like to inform students and parents to make use of this channel. It is free of charge and it complements the lessons that the children are learning in the classrooms. Apart from other programs under the EQUITV and MyHomeStudy Application, teachers and students can also access this TV channel as an extra resource for teaching and learning.”
Dr. Kombra said that the national government welcomes collaborations like this and he is pleased that this channel will pave the way for the provision of a free-to-air Channel for education content only which is a first for the country to benefit from.
“This is exciting news for PNG as far as our education system is concerned because of the rising COVID-19 cases and deaths. Now we can ensure that our students do not miss out completely on any lessons when classes are suspended or when disaster strikes,” the Secretary said.