SOME 96.4% of students have agreed that the educational television programme, TV Pendidikan, slot should be increased, according to a survey by the Education Ministry.

Senior Minister (Education) Mohd Radzi Jidin said the survey was conducted to determine the acceptance and effectiveness of TV Pendidikan among students, teachers and parents or guardians in rural and remote areas.

The survey involved 600 schools, 12,506 students, 17,665 teachers, and 14,786 parents or guardians in eight states, including Sabah and Sarawak.

“Apart from that, 98.7% of students, 98% of teachers and 96% of parents or guardians agreed that TV Pendidikan should be continued even after the movement-control order (MCO) period has ended.

“Based on these findings, KPM had increased the TV Pendidikan airtime to another four hours on Astro’s Tutor TV channels starting May 4, 2020. On November 23, 2020, the ministry started to broadcast a three-hour TV Pendidikan programme via NTV7,” he said during the Ministers’ Question Time session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a question from Teo Nie Ching (PH-Kulai) who wanted to know the effectiveness of TV Pendidikan and whether KPM had plans to increase the educational programme broadcast time.

TV Pendidikan was re-introduced via TV Okey for two hours a day beginning April 6, making its total airtime nine hours per day, including on Astro’s Tutor TV (four hours) and NTV7 (three hours).

On TV Pendidikan’s viewship, Mohd Radzi said the programme aired on TV Okey since April 6 has recorded cumulative audience of 1.8 million while the programme that broadcast on the Astro channels garnered 5.4 million viewers.

“It shows that TV Pendidikan has helped to increase students’ access to learning materials and improve their knowledge.

“The effectiveness of TV Pendidikan is seen its accessibility expansion, especially by students in areas that do not have internet access or appropriate devices,” he said. – Bernama, November 24, 2020.