Technology can raise education standards in Nigeria, Multichoice says

“Building resource centers across the country is one of the ways of promoting the use of integrated and communication technologies to raise the standard of education.”

[su_quote cite=”MultiChoice”.”]Due to the continuous advancement in technology, decoders, like other electronic goods, such as computers and mobile phones become outdated and incompatible with new technology after a few years. The old legacy decoders are not able to “run” the latest software used for the DStv signal to be delivered, and hence will no longer be able to receive a signal once the software upgrade is implemented[/su_quote]

Those were the views of John Ugbe, Managing Director of MultiChoice, the pay TV service provider at the launch one of its resource Centres in Lagos.

The company now has 18 of such facilities in Lagos, MultiChoice says explaining that in the eighth phase, the project has grown from four centres at inception in 2004 to 312 across 29 states by 2014. At inception of the project, Lagos got three centres with an additional five in 2013.

According to the company, each beneficiary school receives a TV set, high definition personal video recorder (HDPVR) decoder, generating set, complimentary subscription to DStv education bouquet, which contains BBC World, BBC Knowledge, National Geography, Animal Planet, National Geography Wild, History Channel, Learn and ED channel, as well as facilities such as chairs and tables, among others.

“At MultiChoice, we have a strong conviction that the technological, economic, social and political advancement of any country has a direct correlation with its level of educational development and that the future of a country is intrinsically tied to the quality of education that the youths are exposed to” according to Ugbe.

Aderonke Bello, Managing Director, Innovative Technology Literacy Services Limited (ITLS), the implementing partner for the Multichoice Resource Center (MRC)  project, said that technology investment in schools is on the increase and the deployment of satellite television to enhance learning is one key initiative that has helped to bridge the digital divide in rural communities.

According to Bello, “while technology will not replace teachers and textbooks, research has shown that technology-mediated learning environments provide immense opportunities for learners and lead inevitably to better teaching and learning outcomes.”

According to Bello, ITLS trained 50 teachers, five each from the beneficiary schools as MRC coordinators. The teachers are expected to in turn train their colleagues and ensure effective and efficient use of the resource centres.

Also commenting is Mary Oyetunde , Director, Co-Curriculum, Science & Technology, Lagos State Ministry of Education, thanked MultiChoice for the MRC initiative, describing it as complementary to Lagos State’s effort to provide improved facilities for enhanced teaching and learning.

“MultiChoice Resource Centre project facilitates e-learning, as our students can now utilize the satellite TV technology to obtain relevant facts and latest development in subject areas that have hitherto proved difficult to understand,” she said.

In another development Multichoice says it has enhanced its service delivery following an upgrade for subscribers’ decoders from old legacy decoders to new secure DStv decoders

The company said the swop was to ensure continued delivery of the latest technology and also add more useful content for its subscribers.

According to the pay-TV provider, subscribers can swop out their legacy decoders with advanced decoders by taking them to their nearest MultiChoice office before 30 November 2014 for single view and dual view decoders before 28 February 2015 for SDPVR 3001 decoders.

‘’Due to the continuous advancement in technology, decoders, like other electronic goods, such as computers and mobile phones become outdated and incompatible with new technology after a few years. The old legacy decoders are not able to “run” the latest software used for the DStv signal to be delivered, and hence will no longer be able to receive a signal once the software upgrade is implemented’’, the company said.

The company said that the swop can be done at all MultiChoice Nigeria branches and accredited dealers across the country noting that, “With the swop out project old legacy decoders will be phased out and subscribers with non-compliant decoders will experience a loss in signal.”