translated from Spanish: CNTV asks open TV to broadcast educational programming: “They have the opportunity to provide public utility service”

The National Television Council (CNTV) convened a meeting with the open television channels, calling for them to broadcast educational content, following the suspension of classes originated to prevent covid-19 contagion, Emol reported. The call arises after a few days ago it was confirmed that there will be no classes until at least the end of April. In this context, the president of CNTV, Catailna Parot addressed the channels asking for responsibility for the content. “I want to ask you as individuals and as social media directors to commit to this task by opening their channels to educational content for children and young people who have seen their classes suspended and let’s help those parents who want be allies in the education of their children and they don’t have the tools for that,” said the president of CNTV. Thus, Parot emphasized that on CNTV there are series and programs that “stimulate, entertain and deliver knowledge”, and that they could well be part of the programming of the different channels. In this line, he stated that “Chilean television has a great opportunity to provide public utility service, because it is the most accessible medium in this context of health crisis, at a time when the population must remain in their homes”. Raúl Figueroa, Minister of Education, also referred to the situation, stating that channels could greatly help in contingency: “Today television is the main means of communication and its scope could allow, at a certain time, all children may be connected with some educational material, thus preventing the suspension of classes from causing a deterioration in their learnings,” he said, adding that on the part they would make available “a series of educational resources” to “equate learning opportunities,” the headline said. At the meeting, TV channels participated through their CEOs, who in a consensus agreed to create an educational space in all signals, thus generating a “student-friendly schedule”. It will feature “quality content illustrating the school curriculum”, however, we still do not agree on how it will be done, nor when it would begin to be broadcast.

Original source in Spanish