The Education Ministry has launched a new online resource site, teleskola.mt, for both educators and parents who are currently helping children with e-learning.
This was revealed by Education Minister Owen Bonnici and Parliamentary Secretary Frank Fabri during a press conference on Tuesday morning.
Bonnici said that, “from the first day of the temporary closure of schools, the Ministry made sure that online resources are provided to students and parents so that they can make use of them. Now this provision of resources is being improved, both in terms of interactive facilities and also in terms of content available. As a result to this, teleskola.mt was created.”
Director of the Department of Curriculum Management Gaetano Bugeja explained that teleskola.mt is an education resource hub for lesson plans which educators have curated for their students and their parents.
This portal includes 1,000 lessons and activities for students from early ages up till the end of Secondary school.
The aim is to facilitate finding lessons from each scholastic year and each subject for students, parents and teachers. Consequently, navigating the site is an easy process; first one must find the level of education, then the year and finally choose the subject so that the lessons would be suitable them.
It is also possible to leave a comment with a lesson in order to communicate with the teacher. One can find a wide array of resources to learn more in connection to the syllabus used by all schools; State schools, Church schools and Independent schools.
Bugeja explained that the material is curated by the teachers and once it is uploaded it is assessed by a board for approval so that it can then be published for public use. There is no need for anyone to login as the material is readily available for anyone to access it.
There are also activities under the name ‘Just for Fun’ which can be used to fill up time while isolating at home.
Bonnici also pointed out that parents whose children suffer from dyslexia can also make use of this portal in order to communicate with experts to help them in their children’s learning processes. Teleskola.mt also has easy tools in order to facilitate communication between students, parents and educators.
“We can see this as a historical moment for our country as it is this site is an open source meaning that everyone has the ability to access these lessons and also make suggestions for adjustment were they see fit.”
The Malta Independent pointed out that since eLearning was put in place, some parents whose children go to state school have complained that some teachers are not communicating with their students but simply sending notes and homework.
Bonnici said that the role of the task force that was created at the start of this pandemic was set up to give guidelines to educators. He believes that overall there seems to have been a really good feedback from both educators and parents. However, there are exceptions and the ministry is discussing these cases with the task force and adjusting measures or procedures accordingly.
Asked if he still stands by his decision to allow SkolaSajf this year despite Covid-19, he said that applications are still open for it, but he will make a definitive decision depending on how the situation is closer to the opening date.