Ghana and Nigeria : TV and Online STEM Learning Challenges

As schools across Ghana closed their doors from 16 March 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, Right for Education (R:Ed), an NGO based in Ghana and Ireland, joined forces with Crystal Television and The Learning Partnership, both private organizations, to help children and their families develop their STEM education from home. They partnered with World Challenge Club, a worldwide, home-centered and media-driven Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) competition to provide African students in Ghana, Nigeria and beyond, with STEM challenges through television (and online through social networks). The first television episode aired on 13 May 2020, taking only two months from ideation to delivery, and enabling young students to receive quality, practical, achievement-orientated STEM education at home. A commitment to equitable outcomes also informs Right for Education’s primary objective, which is to bridge the media-disenfranchisement felt by African adults who’s academic and knowledge-seeking needs are not being met. Thus, aside from the World Challenge Club, R:Ed’s audience is predominantly African adults ranging from 18 to 25 years, recently employed or self-employed and living in urban localities. They reach their audience through Facebook primarily, as well as through their website. The aim is not to teach adults to read, but rather to give them content that meets their social and academic needs and, where necessary, helps them upskill and improve literacy skills gradually.