Radio School
The Zambian Ministry of Education’s highly successful Learning at Taonga Market radio distance education programme – now in its 12th year – has reached hundreds of thousands of children. The initiative delivers a high quality, basic education based on the Zambian national school curriculum. It uses effective interactive radio instruction (IRI) methodology and programmes are broadcast over community radio stations across Zambia.
Let’s look at the economics. A classroom in Zambia can have 50 students. The delivered price of our solar and wind-up Prime radio is $50. That means for just $1, a child can receive a high quality education via radio. That’s less than you’d spend on a cup of coffee!
Why we support Learning at Taonga Market
Better results: A 2008 survey by the Zambian Ministry of Education showed tha students taking part in the Taonga Market programme performed better than conventional schools in reading, numeracy and life skills. Their overall performance was also considerably better.
: Importantly, teachers and mentors who participate in the programme are all trained. This is in contrast to a 2010 survey which found that a large percentage of teachers in other Zambian education programmes had no formal training.
Education access: The success of the IRI programme is its ability to reach the poorest and most disadvantaged children fall outside the formal conventional school system.
– The programme reaches children in rural areas, close to where they live
– 35% of children enrolled are orphaned
* Taonga Market at present is only being broadcast on community stations. Due to budget constraints, the Zambian National Broadcasting Company is temporarily ceased airing the school lessons. This makes our Lifeplayer MP3 the ideal learning tool for those classrooms who don’t have a community radio station in their area.