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Africa: Participacion el snte en encuentro internacional de maestros en africa.

Noticias

África/Ghana/29.11.2016/Autor y Fuente:http://www.snte.org.mx/

Una delegación del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE) participó en la 10ª Conferencia  Internacional sobre Educación Postsecundaria, Educación Superior e Investigación, organizada por la Internacional de la Educación (IE), en la ciudad de Acra, Ghana, del 14 al 16 de noviembre.

La comisión estuvo integrada por los profesores Alejandro Garduño López, Secretario General de la Sección 60, y Carlos Arturo Méndez Chaparro, integrante del Colegiado Nacional de Asuntos Laborales y Negociación, quienes refrendaron la postura del SNTE, que coincide con el magisterio mundial, acerca del rechazo a cualquier intento privatizador de la educación y la investigación.

Durante la reunión, se llevaron a cabo plenarias con diversos temas, en los que el gremio docente, incluida la representación de los maestros mexicanos, también externó su preocupación por la tendencia internacional a destinar un menor presupuesto al sector educativo.

Al asistir a la plenaria denominada «Juntos más fuertes, revisión del programa de trabajo de la IE”, la delegación del SNTE advirtió que existe inequidad en el trato a las instituciones de educación superior, ya que no se otorgan los mismos recursos económicos a todas, y aquellas que se encuentran en desventaja presentan rezagos en la calidad de sus servicios.

Señalaron también que el incremento en cobertura ha llevado a contratar docentes por honorarios, y el hecho de no abrir más plazas para atender al número creciente de alumnos es una forma de privatizar la educación.

A lo largo de los trabajos en el país africano, los sindicatos de la IE destacaron que la educación postsecundaria, superior e investigación debe contar con el apoyo de organismos internacionales para revertir las tendencias privatizadoras, y afirmaron que las políticas de financiamiento a la educación han fracasado.

Los integrantes de la IE propusieron realizar una campaña de respuesta mundial para la educación postsecundaria, superior e investigación. La intención es elaborar un mapa de condiciones sobre este tema en cada país afiliado, para que a más tardar en cuatro años, la Internacional de la Educación ofrezca sus conclusiones.

Otros de los desafíos expuestos en la Conferencia fueron: la explotación del personal docente y la precarización del trabajo de los maestros, además de la bivalencia en el desempeño de los profesores; es decir, aquellos que laboran en la educación pública y privada con el fin de incrementar su salario.

En la visita a Ghana, la delegación del SNTE compartió experiencias con docentes de diversos países, especialmente de Argentina, Canadá y Suecia, y con la especialista Nelly P. Stromquist, expositora del tema Oponerse a la Privatización.

Fuente:http://www.snte.org.mx/2015/vernoticias/14380/433/participa-snte-encuentro-internacional-maestros-africa

Imagen:http://www.snte.org.mx/images/big/20161117/97918827.jpg

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Ghana: Free Education – Praiseworthy but Not Feasible

Noticias

Ghana/28 de Noviembre de 2016/Allafrica

Resumen: La educación puede ser vista como una fábrica donde los seres humanos son refinados y enviados al mercado de trabajo. Los seres humanos no nacen en blanco como expresó John Locke.

Education can be seen as a factory where human beings are refined and sent out into the labour market. Humans are not born blank as John Locke expressed.

Rather every individual is born raw. This implies that an individual is born with certain concealed abilities.

These endowments of humans are also referred to as inborn potentialities. Human abilities are blunt not blank and need analogous devices to sharpen them.

It is these fundamental principles that informed great philosophers and educationists from the classical orientation to stress the importance of education.

In fact, education has ranked as the best legacy any conscientious leader, government or parent bequeaths their wards and people.

But in all these quality education determines the standard of growth achieved by any society.

Some erudite philosophers such as John Stuart Mill, Alfred Marshal, Karl Marx, among others had succinctly argued that state investment in education is the most costly of all capital input in human beings.

Likewise, a Nigerian political genius and educationalist, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, opined that if Nigerians wanted to modernize and live in peace, free education at all levels must be provided for all the citizens (Awolowo, 1968).

This was strongly supported by Fawehinmi (1974) who maintained that free education at all levels in Nigeria would save the country from slow, lopsided economic development and other socioeconomic ills that plague an illiterate society. In Ghana, some political parties have promised to provide free (progressively free) Senior High School education.

These promises are confirmation of the position above. But, realistically, can education actually be free? It is to provide some answers to this question that this piece posits that however praiseworthy the idea of free education is, it may not be feasible.

 The concept of free education is a very intricate one.

The concept ‘education’ itself is so complex that it has no universally conventional definition. According to Nwagwu, «free education» entails so many things.

In other words, free education means the removal of every constraint to sound and quality education. It means the establishment of various kinds of schools and expansion of school curriculum to ensure that each child develops according to their ability, age, interest and so on.

It means the establishment and provision of library facilities, technical and vocational equipment, recruitment and retention of qualified and adequate manpower. It means tuition free; free feeding, free books; free accommodation, free transportation, free uniform and other personal uses of the learner.

Free education also means the removal of every socio-cultural impediment to the child’s education. Only when these impediments are totally removed can we talk about education being free.

The partial implementation of the above can never qualify the system as free because the presence of any one of the above constitutes a critical constraint to the child’s access to education (Nwagwu, 1976).

 In Ghana the argument has reigned for sometime now that free education is a feasible option to ensure that those who cannot afford education can also have one.

And that, it is disingenuous for people who benefited from free education to now oppose one meant for the unfortunate poor.

 In fact, Nana Addo and the NPP, in the run-up to the 2012 general elections in Ghana, argued that less than one percent of Ghana’s GDP, which translates into about 78 million Ghana cedis at the time, could be used for the first three months of their free SHS implementation in 2013, if they won the December 7 polls.

Assuming without admitting that this calculation was right, it will mean about 234 million Ghana cedis of our GDP would have to be used every quarter for the project. What is even not clear was how much of the proposed expenditures would take care of household average spending on education.

Households on average spent GHC88.65 on a household member’s education, according to Ghana Living Standard Survey 2010 report. So, the argument is whether the economy can absorb the cost of free education or not. To that extent one would not be faulted to argue that the idea is praiseworthy but not feasible.

Rather than commit such an amount to just one sector of the economy, we need to grow the economy where jobs will be created to absorb the masses, especially, the unemployed graduates as well as the skilled ones.

When the economy expands and grows and people have gainful employment with well measured incomes, they will be able to afford high school education on their own without guaranteed financial support from the government.

Not only will this boosts consumption, it will in turn spur more investments. It will also help alleviate poverty and lead to improvements in the standards of living for the ordinary Ghanaian. Enhanced incomes will also result in savings, which savings the banks will make available as loans for more business growth.

The expedient thing for our politicians to do now is to make sure that the requisite infrastructure is in place to encourage the private sector to set up businesses by creating more jobs. Government has to make sure that the country has adequate and unlimited, uninterrupted 24/7 energy supply; adequate water supply for consumption, sanitation, and industrial purposes; more good roads to move goods and people faster; a fair legal system; a robust banking sector; small and medium enterprise/business development agency; investment tax incentives, modern communication and ICT systems to mention but a few.

How can we industrialize when the above are wanting? It is just simply impossible to achieve industrialization of the economy without needed infrastructure in place.

What we need is concrete and sustained efforts to move the economy to its fullest development.

Instead of free senior high school education, what we need to do in terms of education is to resource the schools adequately and restructure the education process to make it relevant to the development of the economy.

We need to produce graduates with the requisite knowledge and skills suited for employment or continued education to the tertiary level.

Our educational system needs to be retooled to produce entrepreneurs who would start their own businesses. Ghanaians need jobs in order to enable them to pay their own bills, including the cost of senior high school education.

Our schools need better classrooms, well equipped science and computer laboratories, well trained, better remunerated, and highly motivated teachers, and above all, relevant development oriented curriculum suited for the 21st century.

We must, therefore, be careful not to reduce education to mass literacy and mass copying or even mass certification.

Fuente: http://allafrica.com/stories/201611251009.html

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Ghana: College Of Education Holds New Year School

Noticias

África/Ghana/Noviembre de 2016/Fuente: Ghana News

RESUMEN: La Escuela de Educación Continua y de Educación a Distancia (SCDE) del Colegio de Educación de la Universidad de Ghana anuncia la 68ª Conferencia Anual del Año Nuevo que tiene como tema «Promover el Desarrollo Nacional a través de la Modernización Agrícola: El Rol de las TIC». La Escuela Anual y la Conferencia de Año Nuevo se han convertido en un importante evento en el calendario de la Universidad de Ghana, donde cada año personas de todos los ámbitos de la vida se reúnen para deliberar sobre temas importantes de interés nacional e internacional. Habiendo discutido varios temas que han cubierto prácticamente todos los aspectos de la vida ganesa, la Escuela en 2014 decidió centrarse en la Política de Información y Comunicaciones (TIC) para la Política de Desarrollo Acelerado (ICT4AD) de Ghana y cómo las TIC podrían desplegarse y utilizarse para transformar Ghana en Una sociedad basada en el conocimiento rica en información. Aunque la política ha estado en vigor desde 2004, los organizadores de la Escuela Anual del Año Nuevo y la Conferencia piensan que la política de ICT4AD ha sido relegada a un segundo plano y su misión y objetivos han sido descuidados en los enfoques de desarrollo nacional.

The School of Continuing and Distance Education (SCDE) of the College of Education, University of Ghana announces the 68th Annual New Year School and Conference which is on the theme “Promoting National Development through Agricultural Modernization: The Role of ICT”. The Annual New Year School and Conference has become an important event on the University of Ghana’s calendar, where every year people of all walks of life meet to deliberate on important topics of national and international concerns. Having discussed various topics that have covered virtually every aspect of the Ghanaian life, the School in 2014 decided to focus on Ghana’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy and how ICT could be deployed and utilized to transform Ghana into an information-rich knowledge-based society. Although the policy has been in existence since 2004, the organizers of the Annual New Year School and Conference think that the ICT4AD policy has been relegated to the background and its mission and objectives have been neglected in national development approaches.

In order to raise awareness about this policy, the Annual New Year School’s themes have in the last three years focused on ICT and Education (2014), ICT and Governance (2015) and ICT and Health (2016). As we launch the 68th Annual New Year School and Conference, the organizers have identified agriculture as one of the critical sectors that can spur Ghana’s accelerated development because of its links with industry, as the focus of this year’s theme. The agricultural sector is one of the important sectors in which ICTs could be deployed and utilized to support activities including production, processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural products and services.

In spite of Government’s effort to improve the agricultural sector, it continues to decline steadily in terms of its contribution to Gross Domestic Product. The decline, which has been attributed to perennial problems facing the sector, is a source of worry since the agricultural sector employs about 44% of the Ghanaian population. There is no doubt that the challenges facing agriculture could be addressed significantly by using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), as ICT has been recognized as a key development enabler.

Recently, much attention has been paid to the ICT in agriculture under the rubric, e-agriculture by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and other international organizations. ICT in agriculture is about design, development and deployment of innovative ways of using ICT tools with the primary focus on agriculture in the rural development domain. The ICTs used in e-agriculture include, mobile phones, internet, geographical information systems (GIS), social media tools, global positioning system (GPS), radio and television. Today, some efforts by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture with support from the World Bank and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have shown that farmers in Ghana can use ICT tools such as mobile phone and SMS messages to improve their livelihoods. ICT solutions in agriculture are helping small scale farmers and fishermen to become more efficient and effective in their vocation.

Effectively harnessing ICTs has the huge potential of modernizing Ghana’s agricultural sector and transforming the livelihoods of the men and women who work tirelessly in the sector. So, the major question which the 68th Annual New Year School and Conference seeks to address is: ‘How can we integrate ICT effectively within the agriculture sector to overcome the perennial challenges and to increase productivity in the sector?’

The objectives of the School among others are to provide the platform for sharing of best practices among Political Leaders, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, Farmers, Civil Society Organizations, NGOs and Religious Groups on how to create a Community of Practice (CoP) among various institutions and individuals who have a role to play in integrating ICT in agriculture.
It is also to raise public awareness of the provisions in the ICT4AD Policy on the strategies to be adopted to modernize agriculture through the development of a national e-agriculture policy.
It is also to bring together e-agriculture solution providers and share knowledge on innovative e-agriculture solutions and identify ways to scale up some of the e-agriculture solutions at the national level.

Finally, to build the capacity of Extension officers in the rural areas to be able to effectively disseminate relevant messages to small-scale rural farmers using ICT tools.

The theme of the 68th Annual New Year School has been broken further into sub-themes which cover the following:
• National E-agriculture Policy and Strategies
• E-solutions and Agricultural Productivity
• E-extension Adoption in Agriculture
• Agricultural Financing and Insurance
• Integrating ICTs in the Agricultural Value Chains
• E-agriculture, Gender and the Youth
• ICT, Climate Change and Agricultural Production

Fuente: https://www.newsghana.com.gh/ug-college-of-education-holds-new-year-school/

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Ghana: Mahama lauds reduction in teacher absenteeism

Noticias

África/Ghana/Noviembre de 2016/Fuente: Pulse

RESUMEN: El presidente Mahama dijo que el desarrollo es una señal de que los estándares educativos están mejorando, instando al público a no ser engañado por las afirmaciones de que las normas están cayendo. Agradeció a los sindicatos de maestros y al Servicio de Educación de Ghana por reducir el absentismo de los docentes del 27% al 7%. «Quiero agradecer a los sindicatos de maestros, a la GNAT (Asociación Nacional de Maestros de Ghana) ya la GNAGRAT (Asociación Nacional de Maestros de Posgrado) y al Servicio de Educación de Ghana. Hoy en día, como en este año, el ausentismo de maestros es inferior al 27%, dijo en la comisión de la Escuela Comunitaria Frafraha. La reducción gradual del absentismo de los maestros se ha atribuido a medidas estrictas adoptadas por el Ministerio de Educación y otras partes interesadas para abordar la cuestión. Las regiones de Brong Ahafo y Upper East registraron las menores tasas de ausentismo de los maestros en el país. Las dos regiones registraron un 2 por ciento frente a la tasa nacional del 7 por ciento.

President Mahama said the development is a sign that educational standards are improving, urging the public not to be misled by claims that standards are falling.

He thanked the teacher unions and the Ghana Education Service for reducing teacher absenteeism from 27 percent to 7 percent.

«I want to thank the teacher unions, GNAT (Ghana National Association of Teachers) and GNAGRAT (National Association of Graduate Teachers) and also the Ghana Education Service. Today as I speak, as at this year, teacher absenteeism is down from 27 percent to seven percent,» he said at the commissioning of the Frafraha Community Day School.

The gradual reduction of teacher absenteeism has been attributed to strict measures put in place by the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders to tackle the issue.

The Brong Ahafo and Upper East Regions recorded the lowest teacher absenteeism rates in the country. The two regions recorded 2 percent as against the national rate of 7 percent.

The National Inspectorate Board (NIB) of the Ghana Education Service in 2013 mentioned teacher absenteeism as a major challenge for quality education in the country.

Fuente: http://pulse.com.gh/campus/education-in-ghana-mahama-lauds-reduction-in-teacher-absenteeism-id5746645.html

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Pulse Ghana in conversation with 2016 National Best Teacher

Entrevistas

África/Ghana/Noviembre de 2016/Fuente: Pulse.com

RESUMEN: ElReconocimiento al Mejor Maestro Nacional de este año ha sido otorgado a Rita Oppong, profesora de artes visuales de una escuela secundaria en la región de Greater Accra.Oppong, que ha sido una maestra durante 18 años, fue la ganadora  en una ceremonia en octubre en Sunyani a la que asistió el presidente John Mahama. Oppong es maestra en la escuela secundaria Nii Sowah Din 2 en el municipio de Adentan.La madre de cuatro niños asistió a la Agogo Presbyterian Training College y tiene una maestría en Artes y Cultura de la Universidad de Educación de Winneba.

Pulse: Congratulations Rita! Let’s start off with how you felt when your name was mentioned.

RO: It was a big surprise! Although we knew we are award winners, they will never tell you what award you have won or if you are the first runner up or second runner up. So I was excited when my name was mentioned. I shouted Awurade meda w’ase (Thank you God). I even thought it was for the vocational and technical category not knowing it was for the overall best teacher. I hugged my husband, who was just sitting by my side. Then I was taken up the stage to the president. I shook hand with the president and talked with him. I was just so happy.

Pulse: So what did President John Mahama say to you?

RO: The president asked me, ‘where is your school located’? I told him where he was. And then he said, ‘such as a small school with very good teachers.’ Then he said it was great that not only the big schools were winning awards, but a small school like mine could win such an award so we should keep it up. I also told him, I have recently been transferred to the new Frafraha community senior high school and he entreated me not to stop with what I have been doing and that I should do more things at my new school.

Pulse: Why did you become a teacher?

RO: I became a teacher because I wanted to impart on the next generation. I want them to acquire skills so that in future they may become professional men and women in order to help the nation and not to become a burden on society.

Pulse: Tell us about your first teaching experience?

RO: I have been teaching for 18 years. But my first teaching experience was in Akutuase, a village in the Eastern Region. I was married and my husband was in Accra. I had just had my irst child, Lois, too. So it was not easy for me at all. I had to shuffle between Accra and the village every weekend. The village had no social amenities; no electricity, treated water or tarred roads. I was there for three years before I went to further my education.

Pulse: So what does it take to be a national best teacher?

RO: This award means a lot to me. That is because I feel like the work I do has been recognised. One thing as teachers we ought to know is that, teaching does not end in the classroom. We should always extend it outside the class to people in the community.

For example, I organise unemployed people within my community and train them to acquire basic skills in beadwork. I also help those who cannot further their studies after junior high school, I try to give them skills in printing, Batik tie-dye so that they can get something doing and gather some capital to attend a vocational school.

Every teacher is a potential best teacher winner. If you bring out your best, treat the children that we teach as your own children and handle them well, in future you can also become like me. We should try to leave a legacy so make an impact in the school before you leave.

Pulse: What style of teaching does Rita Oppong have; strict or easy going?

RO: No. I would describe my style as democratic. You should not be too strict, because it will scare the children away from opening up and discussing issues affecting them with you. And don’t be too laissez-faire. So I have a mixed approach with the children I teach.

Pulse: Let’s go back to the award. What did you win?

RO: I received a 100,000 cedis and that money will be used to build the three bedroom house, to be built at an area of choice. I also got an insurance cover of 500,000 cedis, a laptop and a certificate.

Pulse: So where do you want the house to be located?

RO: I want my house to be built in Adenta or its environs. I have been transferred to the new community day senior high school. My family is already here so it will be a lot more convenient for me.

Pulse: Back in the class, one of the pupils told us you always encourage the girls to become achievers. Can you tell us about your work in that area?

RO: Yes I do. I am the girl child facilitator in the school. We normally meet on Thursday and we have role model conferences where we invite successful women in the society to share their views. We also discuss issues about teenage pregnancy, how to avoid getting involved with men at a young age and how to become professional women in future.

Fuente: http://pulse.com.gh/campus/education-in-ghana-pulse-ghana-in-conversation-with-2016-national-best-teacher-id5715389.html

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Ghana: MTN Provides Educational Support For Physically Challenged Students

Noticias

África/Ghana/Noviembre de 2016/Fuente: News Ghana

RESUMEN: La Fundación MTN Ghana ha proporcionado apoyo educativo para estudiantes con discapacidades físicas en el Centro St. Theresa para los Discapacitados de Abor en la Región de Volta. El patrocinio educativo que se imparte a 20 estudiantes con un coste total de GH ₵ 97.000,00, cubrirá tres años de formación profesional en confección, sastrería, tejido de anchoas, servicio de electrónica de radio / TV, tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, Reparaciones generales de la impresión y de la computadora / del teléfono. Además, la Fundación proporcionará fondos para compensar el costo de la alimentación, los uniformes escolares y los recursos para las sesiones prácticas y los honorarios de exámenes externos para los estudiantes. El Sr. Robert Kuzoe, Gerente Principal de Sostenibilidad e Impacto Social de MTN, indicó que la iniciativa para apoyar a las Personas con Discapacidad está en consonancia con el compromiso de la Fundación MTN de empoderar económicamente a las personas menos privilegiadas en las comunidades ghanesas.

MTN Ghana Foundation has provided educational support for physically challenged students at St. Theresa Centre for the Handicapped at Abor in the Volta Region.

The educational sponsorship which is being provided for 20 students at a total cost of GH₵ 97,000.00, will cover three years of vocational training in dressmaking, tailoring, broadloom weaving, radio/TV electronics servicing, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), leatherworks, general printing and computer/phone repairs. Additionally, the Foundation will provide funds to offset the cost of feeding, school uniforms and resources for practical sessions and external examination fees for the students.

Sharing details on the sponsorship, Mr. Robert Kuzoe, MTN’s Senior Manager for Sustainability and Social Impact indicated that the initiative to support Persons Living with Disabilities is in tandem with the MTN Foundation’s commitment to economically empower less privileged persons in Ghanaian communities.

He said, “It is our fervent hope that students who graduate after their three- year training will be fully equipped with skills that will facilitate their future employment opportunities and contribute to a significant reduction in the unemployment rate among Persons Living with Disability.”

The MTN Foundation has undertaken a myriad of initiatives aimed at empowering Persons Living with Disability. In 2012, the MTN Foundation launched the Alternative Livelihood Project in Koforidua under which they provided 150 motorized tricycles to physically challenged persons to be used as sales points for airtime, SIM cards and Mobile Money registration.

The Foundation also supported Disability Options-Ghana, an NGO, during the Disabled Sports Competition in Accra. The competition was opened to all disabled persons and was primarily aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disability.

MTN Ghana Foundation has over nine years of its existence invested more than GH₵22.2 million in 135 health, education and economic empowerment projects across the country. These projects have directly impacted the lives of over three million Ghanaians.

Fuente: https://www.newsghana.com.gh/mtn-provides-educational-support-for-physically-challenged-students/

Imagen: http://www.youngmarketing.co/tecnologia-asistiva-para-personas-con-discapacidad-motora/

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Ghana: Yvonne Nelson Promotes Education

Noticias

África/Ghana/30 Octubre 2016/Fuente: Allafrica/Autor: Alex Ohene

Resumen: La actriz célebre, Yvonne Nelson, ha aconsejado a los estudiantes que tienen un gusto por las artes creativas que se tomen su educación formal en serio y no la abandonen.La actriz y productora populares dijo esto durante su discurso de aceptación después de que ella fue galardonada en la edición 2016 del Festival de Broadway Drama

Celebrated Ghanaian actress, Yvonne Nelson, has advised students who have a flair for creative arts to take their formal education seriously and not abandon it.

The popular actress and producer made the call on Saturday during her acceptance speech after she was honoured at the 2016 edition of Broadway Drama Festival.

The award was for her quest to discover new talents, to give others a chance to reach the height she has attained.

According to Yvonne Nelson, «Education is a key in every aspect of our lives. It prepares everyone for every endeavour, and so it is to the creative arts industry.»

Though a lot of schoolgoing children want to pursue a career in the showbiz industry, she reiterated that their primary aim now should be their education because they are still in school.

«Take your lessons seriously and make your parents proud,» she added when she tasked children not to waste their parents’ resources at school by not studying.

The drama festival which was held at the Presbyterian Hall at Osu in Accra on Saturday attracted different drama groups from various senior high schools across the country.

The ‘Heels & Sneakers’ producer was honoured at the ceremony alongside other personalities for their contributions towards the creative arts industry. Before leaving the premises of the Presbyterian Hall, she took time to pose for photographs opportunities with students.

Fuente de la noticia: http://allafrica.com/stories/201610260878.html

Fuente de la imagen: https://www.ghanastar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ghanastar_2016-10-26_09-24-06.jpg

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