Today’s home school trial was deemed a success by some primary, secondary, and tertiary students from the Tu’atakilangi area of Tongatapu, using the radio, TV, and internet delivery platforms.

The trial was set up by the Ministry of Education in case of an imminent school closure should CoVid-19 reach Tonga.

All students from Early Childhood Education, Classes 1-6, Forms 1-7, and Tertiary level were provided with learning material and a timetable to follow.

Science and technology

Four students studying mechanical engineering at the Tonga Institute of Science and Technology, gathered at a home to study together via the internet for the day.

Each of the students used their phones to login to the website for roll call at 9:00am, so the teacher could see who was learning online, and then used one of the student’s notebook to view the lessons.

They told Matangi Tonga they prefered learning online than going to school.

“The reason is because we can help each other and the teachers also help us online. If we were at school, there are students who play up, hindering students who are trying to concentrate.

“So here we can concentrate and learn together and when we ask for help, the teacher is focused on helping us. When we ask questions, we type it in the online chat room to the teacher, who then answers us.” 

However, the student mechanics admitted that while learning online is great, they also need to be able to perform practical work at school.

Meanwhile, primary and secondary school students in the same area used the radio, TV and the internet to learn.

One student said she really like learning via TV because she could see what the teacher was doing and it was easy to follow.

Another primary school student said he tried the radio in the morning but found it difficult to follow as he could not see what the teacher was doing and did not know what was going on. He then switched to the internet and found it easier to learn watching the videos.

One parent said she was happy there were a variety of mediums available so everybody could access it, but found that the internet was the best platform for her child to learn.

The Ministry of Education will collect the feedback from today’s home school trial to make further improvements to how home school is delivered.