Private schools use WhatsApp to teach students in Kaduna

Some members of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Kaduna State chapter, now use the WhatsApp platform to keep students engaged while on coronavirus lockdown at home.

The Secretary of the association, Mr Philip Iorhena, made this disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Tuesday.

Iorhena explained that some of the schools used the WhatsApp platform to send assignments to parents weekly, as part of the efforts to keep the students academically busy.

He said the parents were expected to guide their children to solve the assignments and file them, pending when school resumed.

According to him, the measure is in compliance with the Kaduna State Government’s directive against conducting any form of academic activities or gathering in school.

He lauded the state government for organising television and radio teaching programmes, particularly for students preparing for their final examinations.

This is particularly commendable because the programmes benefit students in both public and private schools across the state.

“On our own part, some of us have decided to utilise available digital platforms, particularly WhatsApp to send assignments to students with a view to keeping them learning,” he said.

The secretary also called on the Federal and the Kaduna State Governments to extend some form of palliatives to private school owners, whom he said, were huge employers of labour.

According to him, many private schools in the country cannot afford to keep teachers on salary for months while schools remain closed.

“As such, private schools need all the support they can get from the federal and state government to prevent a looming disengagement of teachers due to redundancy, occasioned by the lockdown,”

(NAN)