Band 5+: Some people say that television is useful for education, while others say it is useful only for entertainment. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

While some may argue that television plays a crucial role in educating children, others find it to be just a source of entertainment. This essay agrees that the television is indeed a great source for recreation, but it is more inclined to the fact about television being more beneficial for educational purposes than just mere entertainment because of the influence it has on people.

After the television became vastly popular among the mass people, it immediately became a great source of entertainment. Till this day, people, after a hectic day, prefers to sit in front of the television to enjoy their favourite programme and it is the most common scenario in most households. Moreover, most programmes that are broadcasted on television are of the entertainment genre, which makes it as a source of recreational activity and an excellent excuse to spend time as a family together. For example, most children in Bangladesh prefers to spend their time watching Doraemon, a Japanese anime broadcasted television, after coming back from school.

On the other hand, educational programmes that are shown on television play a pivotal role in educating children, as well as the adults. Television programmes, being always of a great interest to the children, help them to reason properly if the programmes have some educational content included in it. For example, at the beginning of the 21st century, a cartoon programme named “Meena” gained a lot popularity and it played pivotal role in educating the children the importance of washing their hands properly, created awareness against dowry and child marriage, as well as necessity of education for girls. While, for adults, in the early 21st century, television programmes with educational values tried to educate them about effects of using polythene on the environment and the campaign became hugely successful because of the way it was presented on television.

To conclude, despite being an excellent source of entertainment, television can also serve as educational tool through its educational contents because people tend to get more influenced when something is shown on television.