Students

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Kenya: NGAOs directed to ensure 100pc secondary school transition

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Africa/Kenya/02-02-2020/Author: Hunja Macharia/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

The Government will conduct a head count of last year’s KCPE candidates who have joined form 1 in line with the 100 percent transition policy.

Speaking in Vihiga County Interior CS Fred Matiangi warned that National Government Administrative officers will be held personally liable for the absence of these learners from school.

“Despite our progress in transitioning from primary to secondary school education we’re still holding out for 100% of last year’s KCPE candidates. Chiefs & Asst. Chiefs must comb through villages & account for these learners within their areas of jurisdiction.” Matiangi said.

The same was replicated in Kilifi County where Senior Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission officials embarked on an exercise to ensure the 100 percent transition to secondary school policy is complied with.

This follows revelations that the County had achieved a transition rate of 86 percent with the other students unaccounted for.

The senior officials led by Education Chief Administrative Secretary Mumina Bonaya together with administrative and security officers went on a house-to-house mop up exercise and forcefully took parents and their children who were still at home to nearby secondary schools where they supervised the admission of the children.

The team also included Deputy Director of Education Hassan Duale, Coast Regional Director of Education Hussein Osman, TSC Coast Regional Director Victoria Mvoka and Kilifi County Director of Education Eunice Khaemba among other government officers.

Ms Bonaya said less than 60,000 students were yet to join form one in the Country as efforts to attain 100 per cent transition reach top gear.

Kilifi and Tana River Counties are said to be the Counties with the highest number of students who are still at home with the CAS saying the Ministry remains committed to ensure full compliance with the policy.

“We are just following up to ensure that we do not leave anyone behind as it is now a government policy to ensure 100 percent transition from primary to secondary school,” she said.

Bonaya however acknowledged that some parents or guardians had failed to take the students to school due to financial constraints.

“Some of the children are total orphans while others were abandoned by their parents and are living with their elderly grandparents. Others are not aware that government secondary schools do not charge school fees, but we have advised them accordingly,” she said.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/ngaos-directed-to-ensure-100pc-secondary-school-transition/

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Kenya: 73 students taken to Bahati hospital following night fire

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Africa/Kenya/20-01-2020/Author: Christine Muchira/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

73 students were taken to Bahati Sub-County Hospital Saturday night following a fire incident at Bahati PCEA Girls School.

All have been discharged apart from three who were admitted while two were referred to Nakuru Provincial General Hospital.

The source of fire is unknown.

More to follow…..

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/73-students-bahati-hospital-night-fire/

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United Kingdom: Holy Trinity Gravesend school to fine late parents

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Europe/United Kingdom/19-01-2020/Author(a) and Source: www.bbc.com

A primary school is to fine parents who are late to pick up their children.

Holy Trinity in Gravesend, Kent, will issue a £1 charge per pupil every five minutes after 15:40.

Social services will be contacted if a child remains uncollected at 16:00, according to a policy that was introduced earlier this month.

The National Education Union fears «punitive» fines and «threats» of social services would «undermine positive relationships with parents».

The school said paying staff overtime to care for uncollected children had become unsustainable and would impact other aspects of school funding.

Head teacher Denise Gibbs-Naguar said it was increasingly common for a «significant number» of pupils to remain uncollected 30 minutes after the school finished at 15:30.

She said pupils who are collected late often «exhibit signs of anxiety and distress» and «worry that something may have happened» to their parents, adding: «Clearly this is not something anyone wants a child to experience.»

Parents at the school gate had mixed views of the fines, with one mother-of-four saying she understood the school’s move when it came to persistent offenders.

A father said he did not understand why people would be that late to pick up their children but another parent she said thought the move was «a bit petty».

‘Unnecessary threat’

The school’s new policy says fines will not be issued when there are «reasonable circumstances» for lateness, such as car accidents, illness and flooding.

Parents will be given three warnings, but thereafter will be charged £1 every five minutes per child.

Jerry Glazier, of the NEU, said the union did not think «fining parents is the right way to engage in the issue».

He said it was important «parents understand why particular actions are detrimental to the school, but the best way of doing that is through proper meaningful engagement, not by punitive actions like fining».

He added: «I don’t think there’s any legal power that enables a school to fine parents and that’s probably the end of it.»

Mr Glazier said the «unnecessary threat» of contacting social services would potentially antagonise people.

The school said a letter would be sent to parents requesting the amount due, which will be followed up with a phone call.

It is not clear what action the school would take if a parent refuses to pay.

Source and Image: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-51126559

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Schools urged to capture learners’ details on NEMIS platform

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Africa/Kenya/26-12-2019/Author: Rose Welimo/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha, has directed all schools to ensure that details of their learners are captured under the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) platform.

Magoha says a total of 9,112 public secondary schools and a further 3,915 private schools have been captured under the NEMIS system.

Speaking during the announcement of this years KCSE examination results in Nairobi, Magoha added that 3  million  learners  from public secondary schools had enrolled in the NEMIS data while 112,032 have been enlisted from private secondary schools.

“At the primary school level, 23,705  public  primary schools have been enlisted in the platform data. We have enrolled a combined 6.5 million primary school learners. I wish to ask all parents and teachers to take advantage of the simplified system of issuing birth certificates,” the CS said.

Magoha said NEMIS system had helped in administering the medical insurance scheme for secondary school students, popularly called EduAfya. The system is now critical since the entire Form One admission process is conducted through the platform.

“In January, we expect to capture daily real-time data on Form One reporting and enrolment thanks to the NEMIS system,” he said.

The CS said the Ministry of ICT is upgrading the  internet  bandwidth  from  1  GBPS  to  10 GBPS  that  is  supported  by  the  Government  Common Core Network (GCCN) to enhance the capacity of NEMIS.

He directed the Kenya  Universities  and  Colleges  Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to immediately put in place mechanisms to start  placing the 2019 KCSE Examination candidates in the various courses they are qualified for.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/schools-urged-to-capture-learners-details-on-nemis-platform/

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18,000 needy students to benefit from government scholarship

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Africa/Kenya/15-12-2019/Author(a): Christine Muchira/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

By: Christine Muchira

Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof George Magoha, says 9,000 Form One Students to benefit from Elimu Scholarship Programme in 2020.

The Ministry of Education has opened applications for the inaugural 2020 Elimu Scholarship Programme targeting 9,000 beneficiaries.

Eligible 2019 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) Examination candidates have until December 16, 2019 to apply for the scholarships that are funded by the Ministry of Education with support from the World Bank. They will be implemented through the Equity Group Foundation.

The Elimu Scholarship Programme, funded through the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQIP), will benefit candidates from 110 targeted Sub-Counties and fifteen urban centres with informal settlements.

Announcing the start of the Elimu Scholarship, Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha said the programme will boost the Government’s 100 per cent transition policy that was introduced last year.

“We are determined to utilize the Sh3 billion scholarship programme to further ensure that all the needy and vulnerable 2019 KCPE candidates are supported to gain admission to schools of their choice,” Prof Magoha said.

Equity Group Foundation Executive Chairman Dr. James Mwangi said the Foundation will ensure the selection is thorough and based on merit.

“Equity will deploy its massive infrastructure and its technical capacity to successfully implement the Elimu scholarship programme on behalf of the Ministry of Education in the selection of 18,000 needy beneficiaries of the Elimu Scholarship Programme over the next two years,” he said.

This year, Dr.  Mwangi said 9,000 Elimu Scholarship Programme beneficiaries will be selected while 1,125 beneficiaries will be picked under the Wings to Fly Programme, bringing the total number of scholarships to 10,125 this year.

“We welcome the Elimu Scholarship Programme as it widens the opportunities for more children to access secondary school education and increase their opportunities of a better future for themselves, their families and communities. We have seen the tremendous transformational opportunities that the Wings to Fly program has had on the beneficiaries with majority transitioning to universities locally and across the world including Ivy League schools.”

Under the programme, poor and vulnerable children from financially constrained backgrounds and who attained 280 marks and above in 2019 KCPE, will be considered. For affirmative action, candidates who are Orphans and/or from Vulnerable Communities and those with special needs and disabilities who attained below 280 marks may be considered.

Only candidates who sat for KCPE examinations in 2019 from public primary schools in the targeted areas will be eligible to apply for the inaugural cohort of 9,000 scholarships tenable in 2020.

The 110 targeted Sub-Counties are as per the National Government Administrative areas that existed in the year 2015. The list of the targeted Sub-counties and the fifteen urban centres with informal settlements can be accessed through the Ministry of Education and Equity Group Foundation websites; www.education.go.ke and https://egfdmis.equitybank.co.ke/register_elimu

Applicants of the Elimu Scholarship Programme must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  1. Candidates with special needs and disabilities (Physical, Hearing and Visual Impairments, Autism, Albinism, Learning Disabilities and Others); or

Orphans and vulnerable children; or

Candidates from vulnerable communities in the target Sub-Counties; or

Candidates from urban centres with informal settlements; or

Candidates:

  1. whose parents/guardians are living with disabilities that have compromised their ability to meet the financial obligations of their children
  2. whose families are affected by HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses with debilitating effects that could render parents and guardians destitute and unable to fend for their families
  3. whose families are affected by extreme poverty rendering them unable to educate their children
  4. Who have suffered from neglect, abuse and have no support to continue with their education.

Interested applicants are advised to collect the scholarship application forms from the nearest Equity Bank Branch or Equity Bank Agent. Application forms can also be downloaded from the Ministry of Education and Equity Group Foundation websites; www.education.go.ke and https://egfdmis.equitybank.co.ke/register_elimu

Duly completed application forms and supporting documents should be submitted to the nearest Equity Bank Branch by 16th December 2019. Shortlisted candidates accompanied by parents/guardians will be invited for interviews which will be conducted by the Community Scholarship Advisory Committees.

The scholarship caters for School fees, transport to and from school, learning materials and School kit for the beneficiaries for the four-year education period. Please note that ONLY the candidates who meet the requirements will be considered for the scholarship. Members of the public are urged to share this information widely.

Any grievances regarding the scholarship programme are to be addressed to: elimu@equitygroupfoundation.com  or elimu@education.go.ke

While the Wings to Fly programme is targeting students who scored at least 350 marks in the 2019 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), the Elimu Scholarship Programme cut off mark is 280 marks except in regions with vulnerable and marginalised communities and for children with disabilities where the cut off can be lowered.

The applications will be reviewed, and only shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews by the respective scholarship selection boards. The number of boards has been increased to 207 from 119 to adequately cater for the increased numbers.

The boards comprise of at least 13 local community stakeholders including local administrative leaders, education officials, Equity Agent representatives, Vulnerable and marginalized communities representatives, religious and community leaders in the County.

Each board is chaired by the Deputy County Commissioner or the Sub-County Education Officer and coordinated by the respective Equity Bank Branch Managers.

Speaking on the application process, Dr. Mwangi urged administrative leaders and community leaders to use their offices to create awareness on the scholarships to ensure all eligible needy children take advantage of the opportunity. “I appeal to religious leaders to use church and mosque services to make announcements on the ongoing application process. Let all Kenyans of goodwill show their care by reaching out to potential candidates who can benefit from these scholarships,” he added.

The Wings to Fly programme which is now in its 11thyear supports bright but economically challenged pupils, who would otherwise not be able to join secondary school due to financial constraints. This is through funding from Equity Group, MasterCard Foundation and German Government through KfW.

The scholarship caters for tuition and boarding fees, books, uniform, and transport to and from school as well as pocket money for the four years of secondary school. To date, 16,168 scholars have benefitted from this programme.

Last year, the Equity Group Foundation received more than 26,000 applications from needy students who sat for their 2018 KCPE examinations and were unable to finance their secondary school educatio.

Source: https://www.kbc.co.ke/18000-needy-students-government-scholarship/

Image:  Rolf Dobberstein en Pixabay 

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Kenya: 31 student leaders of Pwani University expelled

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Africa/Kenya/17-11-2019/Author (a) and Source: www.kbc.co.ke

31 student leaders at Pwani University have been expelled from the campus following the October 14th strike that led to the closure of the institution.

Addressing the media on Thursday, a section of the student leaders led by their president Fikirini Jacobs promised to appeal against the Board’s decision.

The campus is set to reopen on December 2, 2019, while the Health department section opened on Monday this week.

Fikirini said among the students’ grievances that led to the closure of the campus were lack of chairs in lecture halls, poor hygiene, referrals, inadequate payment for trips and poor services offered at the campus hospital.

“I have been presenting the students’ complaints to the dean of students Ronald Juma on several occasions before the strike. Students have to sit on the floor of lecture halls during classes and despite promises by the authorities to address the issue, no action was taken,” he said.

He said the lecture halls were cleaned once after two weeks posing a threat to their health while students seeking medication at the campus could not access service after 5.00 pm.

He said students paid Sh12,000 for trips every academic year but it has been unfortunate that those going on trips outside were paid between Sh100 and Sh300

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/thirty-one-students-leaders-of-pwani-university-expelled/#

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Australia: Understanding China from seismometer by Australian students

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Oceania/Australia/10-11-2019/Author(a): huaxia/Source: www.xinhuanet.com

From umbrella to ship, from wood-block printer to brocade loom, from catapult to seismometer and even the ancient Chinese soccer, Australian students’ interpretation of «Chinese inventions» could even surprise some Chinese.

On Wednesday, 87 students from 15 primary and middle schools in Canberra received awards of the Panda Competition in the Chinese Embassy in Australia for their works.

Award-winning works by students are displayed in the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Australia, Nov. 6, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Tianzhou)

According to Carol Keil, president of the Australian Capital Territory Branch of the Australia China Friendship Society, the award winners were selected from about 500 candidates.

The number of participants could be higher, «because more put their entries and the teachers chose the best,» she told Xinhua.

This is the 25th year for the competition to be hosted. It was called Panda Competition because topic for the first year was panda.

«Every year we look at a topic, which need to be China-related,» she said. «This year it is inventions. I knew they should be more than just four, so it gave the kids scope to make different things.»

Nathaniel Sircombe, a Year-6 student from Mawson Primary School, made a block printer. Using his printer, he could print some Chinese characters saying «the block printing technique was invented by China».

At first he wanted to make some paper, but after research, he was fascinated by the printing technique.

«Research for the work took about an hour,» said the 12-year-old boy. «But I did a lot of waiting for the paper to dry (after printing).»

Sircombe told Xinhua that his interest in Chinese culture started about seven years ago when he was in the kindergarten. He also began learning Mandarin then.

«We thought it was best to learn a language at a young age,» said his father Keith. «The sooner you start, perhaps the better you get.»

Eight-year-old girl Samantha Gray’s work was a ship carrying silk and porcelain.

Award-winning works by students are displayed in the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Australia, Nov. 6, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Tianzhou)

«It took her almost a month to complete it,» said her mother Kanayo Gray. «She made it little by little every day.»

Kanayo Gray was from Japan, and she said that she learned a lot about Chinese invention with her daughter while she was doing research, including ship-building techniques and international trade of ancient China.

Her son, 12-year-old Kenneth Gray from the Mawson Primary School, grabbed the top prize at the competition by making a seismometer with a bucket, tines, pipes and paint. It works like the original one created by Chinese astronomer Zhang Heng about 2,000 years ago. When it was shaken, a ball would come out of the mouth of a dragon pointing in a certain direction, falling into the mouth of a toad beneath it.

«China is a country that developed very quickly, and it made many creations that are interesting,» said the boy.

«I have never heard of seismometer before,» said Carol Keil. «I learned from the students how it works to detect earthquake.»

She noted that learning about another culture «broadens your appreciation of how the world works.»

Award-winning works by students are displayed in the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Australia, Nov. 6, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Tianzhou)

«The competition has different topics every year, so they look at something different related to China and Australia,» she said. «In this way they could have a broader understanding of China. I think with the research they do, they will go and look out what the inventions were.»

Yang Zhi, minister-counselor for culture at the Chinese Embassy in Australia, agreed.

«From the works we could see that the children are very creative and full of imagination,» he said. «They searched online and read books. The process itself helps them understand Chinese culture better.»

During the past 25 years, the competition is getting bigger. «It could fuel the enthusiasm of Australian children to learn Chinese culture, and they then would influence their teachers and parents, and ultimately affect the education authorities and promote Chinese language as well.»

Samantha and Kenneth are learning Mandarin as well.

«Chinese is a language for the future,» said their father Collin Gray. He believed that learning the culture and the language would contribute to cross-cultural understanding.

Source and Image: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-11/07/c_138535473.htm

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