Editorial | PBCJ, Newstalk 93 must deliver on education

In the ongoing scramble to adequately deliver education to students in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the effort by the authorities to employ all practicable vehicles is worthy and logical. But that raises questions about apparent gaps in the facilities the education ministry has at its disposal; and if this is the case, why it has failed to utilise or commandeer systems eminently suitable to the enterprise.

We refer, in this case, to the potential radio broadcast capabilities of the Government’s Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ), and the radio station, Newstalk 93 FM, owned and operated by The University of the West Indies (UWI) from UWI’s Mona, Jamaica campus.

The crisis in education since the first case of COVID-19 case was confirmed in Jamaica in March is well documented. More than 3,000 public education institutions were forced to close, and then go on extended summer breaks, as part of efforts to slow the spread of the virus. The greatest impact, perhaps, has been on the more than half a million students enrolled in over 1,000 government’s early-childhood, primary and secondary schools. Their late post-summer attempt at a return to virtual classes has hit a myriad of snags.

By some estimates, more than half of the over 500,000 students have either not logged on to classes or have done so only intermittently. Mostly, these students lack computers or smartphones, or if they have these devices, Internet or data services are not consistently available. That is despite a still-unfolding government project to provide 40,000 tablet computers to students enrolled in its social safety net programme, PATH, as well as a J$20,000 subsidy to an additional 30,000 to help with the purchase of computers.

Even as they pursue online teaching and push plans for the physical reopening of some schools, the education authorities have also opted for the delivery of lessons on broadcast services, buying time on commercial radio and television for the project. This is sensible. The effort, in a way, mirrors the old but now defunct education broadcasting service, yet poses questions about the mandate of the PBCJ and its role in the current circumstances.

The PBCJ was formed on the basis of a 1997 law, as the Government exited commercial broadcasting and divested the state-owned Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) to the Radio Jamaica Limited, now part of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group, of which this newspaper is a member.

As a public broadcaster whose mandate, by law, includes the “encouragement and propagation of positive values and attitudes within the society”, the PBCJ is also charged with airing programmes for “the development of education and training”.

The delivery of the education ministry’s school curricula falls easily within this framework. Indeed, at the time of the JBC’s divestment, one of the declared plans was the retention of a JBC Radio 2 frequency to be used by PBCJ for a radio education broadcasting service. That, obviously, has not happened. Neither has there been word from the PBCJ about the scheme, or from its oversight ministry or the spectrum regulators about whether that frequency is still available, and if not, where it is now. Perchance it is still available, it should be urgently activated for its intended role.

NEWSTALK’S MANDATE

With respect to Newstalk 93 FM, this newspaper has long been surprised by the misuse by an academy of this potentially valuable asset. Formerly Radio Mona, the station was conceived as a community broadcaster that would provide training to students at the university’s institute of media and communication. That never quite worked.

The university subsequently went into a deal with private commercial partners, who, for a time, focused the station on public policy discussion. That was not sustained. Apparently, the station is now fully back into the hands of the university, delivering programmes lacking either the quality, innovation, depth or ingenuity expected from an institution connected to a world-class academy.

In this environment, and as a substantially publicly funded body, Newstalk 93 should be substantially reformatted as an outlet that supplements UWI, Mona’s online and in-class lectures, as well as a forum for other student-centred services. Slots should also be available on the station to support the education ministry’s broadcasting efforts.