COVID 19 | Tips to keep your children engaged at home

– online resources, television, radio and more

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, March 25, 2020

With the closure of schools by the Minister of Education to facilitate sanitization exercises parents and guardian may be wondering how to keep their children occupied, productive and engaged.

A routine will keep you and your children feeling as normal as possible. Whether its breakfast time, study hours, outdoor yard activities, homework or bedtime, keeping routines help children to cope well during this time and lower their levels of anxiety.

The Ministry of Education has put measures in place to ensure students can continue learning while ay home.

Persons can visit the Ministry of Education’s website at education.gov.gy to access NGSA Practice Test Papers in the four core areas. You can also tune in to Guyana Learning Channel (Channel 42/Cable 29) to access the following programmes:

• • Nursery-level programme which runs from 06:00hrs – 09:00hr.
  • Primary-level programmes from 09:00hrs – 12:00hrs.
  • Documentaries from 12:00hrs to 13:00hrs and.
  • Secondary-level programmes from 13:00hrs – 15:00hrs.

Parents and children can also to listen to the radio broadcasts of the Interactive Radio Instruction for Grades 1 – 3 dailies. The timings are:

• • Grade 1- 09:30h – 10:00h.
  • Grade 2-10:30h – 11:00h.
  • Grade 3- 13:00h – 13:30h.

These are also aired on the following Radio Stations: Radio Mahdia, Bartica, Essequibo, Mabaruma, Lethem and Radio Paiwomak. Parents and children can also continue to listen to Broadcasts to schools for Grade 3-6 at 13:00hrs daily on NCN Radio.

There are several online resources for students with internet access which provide fun learning in areas such as STEM, reading, fine arts, Social Studies, History, Spelling and Grammar, foreign languages and other study areas.

All of these services have been made free and easy to use with you in mind. A few of these online resources available for your children are www.amazingeducationresources.com, www.storiesaudible.com and www.  and www.pbslearningmedia.org.

For those children who love coding www.freecodecamp.org is the site for you and if you are looking to learn a new language or improve your skills, visit www.duolingo.com to get started for FREE today.

Some apps that promote online file sharing, assignments, tests and virtual classrooms include Edmodo, Zoom and Moodle, already in use by the University of Guyana.

For more educational resources and information on delivering education in emergencies and crises, visit unesco.org.