COVID-19: Parents embrace virtual classes during school closure

Parents of pupils in primary and secondary schools have embraced virtual classes to keep their children engaged during the period of COVID-19 lockdown.

Recall that the Federal and some State Governments have announced school closure for an initial period of 14 days to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic in the country.

In an interview with our correspondent, a mother, Mrs Kofoworola Akosile, said the only option for parents during the lockdown period was to enroll their children in online classes to keep them busy.

She said, “Since the beginning of the lockdown, my children do wake up around 8:00 am, they do their morning devotion for like 30 minutes, they have their bath and get dressed. The younger one do participate in online classes via WhatsApp conducted by her school which involves my full participation, her sister gets involved too, and this always last for like two hours or more depending on the school exercise.

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“Various links have been posted by the school to enhance free online teaching, so I engage them with some of these links.

“And of course they eat up to five times before the day is over; so while I do the cooking they watch carton network on television to keep them busy or play with their other toys.”

Another mother, Mrs Adenike Gbolade, said she has downloaded educational applications on her mobile phone to keep her children busy during the lockdown period.

“What my children do most of the time is to play with their toys, ride bicycle, watch cartoons and rhymes on television. I have an educational application for them on my phone and they enjoy it. Their school also gave them loads of assignments to keep them busy,” Gbolade said.

Another parent who preferred to be anonymous said data prices was a challenge for her in accessing online classes, but the knowledge shared via the platform was worth it

Source: PUNCH