Of all sharks and rays worldwide, sawfishes – related to stingrays and manta rays – are considered to be the family at greatest risk of extinction . The long, toothed saw – which gives them their unique appearance – also makes them extremely vulnerable to entanglement in fishing nets. Their numbers have fallen because they are caught accidentally in industrial fishing nets. In addition to that, they are targeted by some fishermen because their fins can fetch high prices.
There are five species of sawfish globally. Two can reach around seven metres in total length (including the saw), making them the third largest members of the shark and ray family.
Sawfishes were formerly common along both the west and east coasts of Africa. Until a few years ago there was no knowledge of whether they still inhabited these waters, or if populations had plummeted as they have done elsewhere.
I set about addressing this gap six years ago. Since then, I have interviewed more than 500 fishers in six different African countries. I collected information on when and where people last caught sawfishes, how they used them and what their local value was. My research showed that sawfishes are now locally extinct from many parts of West Africa, but are still encountered – at least occasionally – by fishers in Madagascar and northern Mozambique .
Working in fishing communities and engaging in the lives of fishers has provided me with some insights into how sawfishes can best be protected in countries like Madagascar, as well as an understanding of the approaches that won’t work.
In the two developed countries where sizeable sawfish populations still exist – Australia and the US – an important step in preventing further declines of these endangered species is to declare them protected under national law and to prohibit activities that threaten them. So catching and killing of sawfishes is banned.
This is an effective approach in countries with the capacity and funding to enforce such laws. But in developing countries, a different approach is needed – a ‘bottom-up’ approach in which communities take the lead. And for that to happen, scientists need to convey the implications of their research to the people who rely directly on the natural resources around them, in relevant, easy-to-digest ways.
The challenge
Sawfishes are not legally protected in most African nations. And even if they were, legislation is rarely an effective approach in countries with little or no capacity to enforce species protection laws.
In addition, fishers who catch sawfishes value them as sources of income (through the sale of their fins, meat, and occasionally other parts) and food. Artisanal fishers along the coasts of Madagascar and Mozambique are some of the poorest communities in these countries; they often live in remote rural areas and have few alternatives to fishing as a way to make a living.
Unless fishers are provided with livelihood alternatives, any efforts to prevent sawfish mortality could be considered to compromise their immediate wellbeing. Fishers are unlikely to sign up to an approach which will mean more hardship for them.
What can be done
We need to reduce the number of sawfishes being caught in fisheries, and ensure that their habitats, especially coastal waters and mangroves, are protected. These two steps would have far-reaching and long-term benefits.
But in my view, the only way to achieve these goals is by encouraging communities to become caretakers of the natural resources they rely on for their own survival. And to achieve this, they first need to understand why these goals should matter to them.
The right educational tools can be used to explain that freshwater and marine ecosystems, fished responsibly, provide food and saleable goods, while mangroves protect coastal communities from storm surge and erosion. The communities themselves can then understand the trade-off between short-term, personal gain and longer-term, communal value, and can choose which path they wish to take.
My insight from working in fishing communities is that as a scientist, I have a duty to explain my findings, their implications and encourage communities to engage in developing strategies to address conservation issues. This benefits the communities as well as the species and habitats that need protection.
To this end I developed a short educational film and a story book . These both aim to convey the importance of sharks and sawfishes as part of healthy marine and freshwater ecosystems. They also point out the many ways in which communities stand to benefit from the sustainable use of sawfishes and other aquatic resources.
The film was made in multiple languages for both Mozambican and Malagasy audiences to ensure it could reach the widest possible audience. These resources have also given audiences beyond Africa insight into the lives of fisherfolk and the specific challenges facing sawfish conservation in these places.
The experience has taught me that we may be missing opportunities to use stories built around our work, to inspire interest and change where it is most needed: at community level. Armed with the right knowledge and understanding of why protecting mangroves, coastal waters and their inhabitants is important, communities can be the caretakers of these natural resources, both for their own benefit and for the planet’s.
Fuente de la noticia: https://menafn.com/1097445836/Education-can-help-protect-sawfishes-in-Mozambique-and-Madagascar
North America/United States/10.10.2018/Source: www.dailyitem.com.
Sports, of any kind and at any level, come with inherent risks of injury. No helmet or pad or repetitive training exercise can compensate for the unknown.
Despite this, sports are as popular as ever. According to the National Federal of High School Associations, more high school students participated in a scholastic sport during the 2017-18 school year than ever before.
Those kids take to the fields, pools and courts with the understanding the next play could be their last. No one thinks about it, but that is the reality.
The reality is that football, despite increases in concussion awareness, safer helmets and increased coaching tools to teach proper blocking and tackling, is a dangerous sport. It always will be.
So are soccer and basketball, where collisions are common place and knee ligaments can give out without warning. So is lacrosse, with players swinging sticks, and ice hockey with its checks. In baseball and softball, hard balls are thrown at high speed in all directions.
What we are learning as sports medicine advances is that these sports can become safer. As Tyler Hanson, athletic trainer for Evangelical Community Hospital and the Miller Center and part of Bloomsburg University’s concussion clinic said, we are just touching the surface of concussions.
“Ten to 20 years ago, the ACL was a career-ending injury,” Hanson said. But through years of study and medical advances, athletes are often back in less than a year. “What we learned then is that we needed more days of rest, more strengthening. We’re coming full circle now with concussions. We have to lower the impact rate, allow more time for rest.”
Today, the NFL, the NCAA and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association are all offering teaching tools to youth football programs in an attempt to make the game safer. The thought process makes sense: Teach kids the proper technique and coaches how to diagnose specific injuries, you can make the declining — numbers-wise — game of football safer.
Participation in collision sports like football, ice hockey and lacrosse must come with the understanding that an injury could occur at any moment.
Evaluating those risks needs to be part of conversations parents have with their children. Weighing all the options, both positive and negative, should be part of an honest dialogue.
There is little doubt sports represent positive life-building experiences. They can build confidence, camaraderie, life skills and friendships that will carry far off the field.
Do those positives outweigh the risks? That is the question we all need to answer.
Source of the notice: http://www.dailyitem.com/opinion/education-can-help-parents-understand-risks-in-sports/article_164951ce-dfe0-5f16-9a91-5ae0229f005f.html
Editor:Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodríguez
Fecha:2016
Idioma:spa
Resumen: Nuestro maestro Simón Rodríguez fue y es, sin lugar a dudas, un maestro de la esperanza, un maestro para formar republicanos, un ser de pensamiento estratégico y complejo adelantado a su tiempo, que tuvo el honor de recibir esa denominación y responsabilidad ética, el de ser maestro, para iniciar la Escuela de las Primeras Letras a través del nombramiento otorgado por el Cabildo caraqueño aquel 23 de mayo de 1791; una responsabilidad inmensa teniendo en cuenta que ese espacio sería uno de los cimientos, uno de los nichos vitales para el pensar la transformación de una sociedad caracterizada por el orden colonial, esclavista y servil al imperio español.
It’s noon on a windy Friday in Caledonia, a neighborhood along Harare’s eastern edge. Children roam the schoolyard at Ngodza Primary School, excited for the weekend ahead.
This for-profit school has three classrooms. Together, those classrooms accommodate 118 children, who each pay $10 per month to attend. The school is not registered with the government. It operates illegally.
Teclar Chengedzai lives in Caledonia and says her 6-year-old must learn there because there are no government schools nearby.
This is a common problem as Harare expands far beyond its original boundaries. Unregistered schools now outnumber registered schools in the city, according to government data.
There were an estimated 1.48 million Harare residents in 2012, according to census data. It’s not clear how many schools operate in the city, but locals say the government doesn’t come close to meeting their education needs.
Children attend class at Ngodza Primary School, an unregistered school in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Gamuchirai Masiyiwa, GPJ Zimbabwe
As a result, unregistered schools, both primary and secondary, are opening in areas such as Caledonia, where there are no public schools. That’s a far cry from Zimbabwe’s educational heyday in the early 1980s, when a new government under Robert Mugabe abolished a long-standing system that favored the country’s white minority with high-quality schools while black students’ education was neglected. Under Mugabe’s leadership, Zimbabwe attained a literacy rate of nearly 100 percent and the government boasted of having the best school system on the continent. But over time, those gains dissolved under a corrupt and brutal regime, leaving Zimbabwean students with few options for quality education (See a timeline of Zimbabwe’s education system here.)
Now, some areas have more unregistered schools than government ones, says Christopher Chamunorwa Kateera, director of the Harare Provincial Education Office in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, but the government can’t close the illegal schools because it would leave entire neighborhoods without options for education. An amendment to the country’s Education Act obliges the government to provide students in such areas with a formal alternative.
According to government data, there are 205 registered schools and 219 unregistered schools in Harare, Kateera says.
The government has closed some unregistered schools and enrolled their students in registered schools, but in other cases, officials seek to formalize unregistered schools, Kateera says.
“Wherever we identify unregistered colleges, we call them in and have meetings with them informing them of the procedures they should follow to regularize their establishments,” he says.
Parents say unregistered schools come with their own challenges. The school that Chengedzai’s child attends doesn’t provide textbooks. It also doesn’t offer grades six or seven because, unlike registered schools, it doesn’t have access to the exams required to attend secondary school.
“They want parents to buy these books, which are expensive to get as well,” Chengedzai says.
A teacher leads students at Ngodza Primary School in the Caledonia neighborhood of Harare, Zimbabwe.
Gamuchirai Masiyiwa, GPJ Zimbabwe
Another problem is that a student must be enrolled at a registered school in order to take standardized exams, which are required for entrance into university and also for many jobs.
Godfrey Hozo, the school’s headmaster, says the school opened in 2016. It’s difficult to keep teachers, he says, because of the school’s low pay. Right now, the school has four teachers, including himself.
“We end up having composite classes, because at times you might have five students for grade three and 16 students for grade four,” he says. “The teacher then has to plan what they teach for each level, but they will be in the same room.”
The school charges $10 per month for fees, he says. About 70 percent of the enrolled children are able to pay. Those who can’t pay the fees are eventually dismissed.
A major problem, he adds, is getting information from the national education ministry about the government-approved curriculum. Hozo says he asks teachers in government schools to help him access syllabi and textbooks.
Hozo says the government should relax what he calls the “stringent conditions” for school registration, so that institutions like his can fully engage in the nation’s educational system.
There’s no indication that the government will ease those conditions. Instead, Kateera says, unregistered schools need to improve their standards and formally register with the government.
Fuente de la noticia: https://globalpressjournal.com/africa/zimbabwe/neighborhoods-without-public-schools-zimbabwes-students-rely-illegal-schools/
fter another earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, it is clear that people are not taught what to do in the event of natural disasters.
Indonesia has once again been hit by a natural disaster. On September 28, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami struck the cities of Palu and Donggala on the island of Sulawesi. At the time of publishing, at least 1,424 people died, with thousands more injured. With homes in ruin, tens of thousands have been forced to live in makeshift refugee camps.
According to Reuters, Indonesia’s geophysics agency, BMKG, lifted a tsunami warning too early, just before the waves hit the coast of Palu. It is also understood that buoys — which are connected to the seafloor to detect tsunamis — in Sulawesi have not worked for the past six years and had not been fixed due to a “lack of funding.” With poor planning in place, Indonesians were left with little notice of an imminent disaster.
As reported by The Guardian, Phil Cummins of the Australian National University and Adam Switzer of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore believe the earthquake and tsunami were not the result of a failure in technology, but rather due to the lack of education among the people.
In 2004, Southeast Asia was left devastated by an earthquake and tsunami that quickly spread across the Indian Ocean. Unlike that time, the wave that struck Sulawesi was not was prompted by an earthquake hundreds of miles out in sea. Instead, it was a localized tsunami resulting from an earthquake close to the coast. The tsunami waves hit Palu just 30 minutes after the quake which, according to Switzer, “should have been the early warning.”
Cummins added that to blame technology is “misguided.” Instead of relying on a warning system, he said, people should have sought “high ground immediately. They cannot afford to wait for a siren or a warning, they need to move instantly.” The issue is that Indonesians in Sulawesi did not really know they should have done that.
He added: “Either they didn’t know they needed to do that or they didn’t believe anything would happen, and in either case that says the people in Sulawesi were not educated about what they need to do in this situation. And that’s what killed people.”
THE NEED TO EDUCATE
The conditions in Palu should be a wake-up call about the need for education — especially for those living in earthquake-prone areas — not only about natural disasters in general, but what people must do to ensure their safety. It is indeed difficult to predict when a natural disaster will occur. But considering Indonesia is vulnerable to such situations, it needs a comprehensive plan so that citizens are educated in how to respond to earthquakes and tsunamis. Sufficient response plans would mean that every Indonesian has basic knowledge about what to do when disaster strikes.
In Indonesia, most elementary school textbooks in social studies contain a a lesson about natural disasters. These include that cutting down trees can cause landslides and trigger floods or about how earthquakes occur. But there is no lesson about what to do when an actual quake takes place. Presumably, mitigation in Indonesia has not become a serious issue just yet.
Records over the past 15 years show there have been two devastating earthquakes in the country, leading to thousands of casualties. The 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh caused 230,000 deaths across 14 countries around the Indian Ocean — the majority of those in Indonesia. Another earthquake took place in Yogyakarta in 2006, which claimed the lives of 5,000 people.
Several years have passed, but Indonesians still do not understand what to do when an earthquake occurs, other than running out of a building or trying to protect themselves under a table. With the country situated in an active geological area, Indonesia must prepare itself for natural disasters.
EARTHQUAKES AND TSUNAMIS
It should be made clear that educating people about what to do when an earthquake takes place is as crucial as having advanced technology to predict when disasters may occur. According to the US Department of Homeland Security’s Ready website, when an earthquake shakes the ground and you are in a vehicle, you should immediately pull over and stop. If you’re in bed, you should stay there. If you are outdoors, you should stay outdoors. Such valuable information is often unknown to Indonesians and should be an example for authorities and nongovernmental organizations in helping to increase people’s readiness to face earthquakes.
There is also a need for disaster exercises such as practicingdrop, cover and hold. As per Ready, this involves dropping on the ground to your hands and knees; covering or protecting your head and neck with your arms; crawling to the extent needed to avoid falling or collapsing materials; and holding onto strong furniture or doorways in a building until an earthquake stops.
No less important is making an emergency communicationpattern with your family. In an earthquake-prone country like Indonesia that has the 2004 tsunami in its memory, this is necessary.
There are also reasons why you are advised not to run out of a room if there is an earthquake. Trying to run when an earthquake takes place is very dangerous due to potentially falling debris or broken glass. It is safer for people to stay at home and protect themselves by crouching under a table.
Earthquakes do not usually last for very long. It only takes tens of seconds for an earthquake to occur. However, when the the ground stops shaking, people must be aware of the possibility of a tsunami, especially if they live on the coast. Again, these things are not taught to the average Indonesian.
In 2004, the tsunami in Aceh was preceded by a 9.2-magnitude earthquake that lasted for an estimated 10 minutes. In such instances, it is important to educate fishermen who work at sea.
Nature will usually give a number of signs before a tsunami hits. When a tsunami approaches the coastline, water will usually spread toward dry land and cause the inside of the sea to be exposed, showing its contents, corals and fish in the sea itself. Because of the low tide, there are often many fish floundering on the beach. Due to a lack of understanding, fishermen may not always act immediately. They need to be aware that they should not pick up the fish and should instead seek high ground.
Tsunamis cause abnormal sea activities. The key sign is the presence of a wall of water with a great roar. Imagine a sound that resembles that of a train or jet.
PREPARING FOR NATURAL DISASTERS
The theory seems easy, but the practice is difficult. As natural disasters are hard to predict, humans can only anticipate them by preparing themselves. Therefore, there is a need to make sure that training is carried out in Indonesia.
There are many things that can be done to educate people about disaster avoidance efforts. Schools could conduct regular evacuation exercises for earthquakes. Posters can also spread awareness about what can be done during natural disasters. National media outlets can also be used to educate people, such as making earthquake alertness videos. Relevant institutions and government ministries also need to make more of an effort to ensure that those who live and work on the coast are sufficiently educated about the signs of natural disasters and what they need to do in such events.
What is clear is that, learning from Palu and previous natural disasters, more efforts are needed by both the Indonesian government and other relevant stakeholders to educate people not only about basic information concerning natural disasters, but also what they need to do to recognize signs and steps to be taken when those disasters occur. Doing so could save lives.
Source of the notice: https://www.fairobserver.com/region/asia_pacific/indonesia-earthquake-sulawesi-tsunami-natural-disasters-asia-news-today-24920/
The Coquille Indian Tribe has a long cultural history, broken apart by the loss and restoration of their «Tribe» designation.
The tribe has not always been given the chance to teach their history to the younger generation.
Newly passed legislation, Senate Bill 13, puts into law the process to make sure the next generation knows and celebrates their culture.
The Oregon Department of Education will draft a mandated statewide curriculum for the 2019-2020 school year. and the nine tribes of Oregon can submit their own lesson plans specific to their history.
«What an Indian is and what they look like is the story of their tribe,» said Bridgett Wheeler, the tribes’s culture, education and library director. «One of the things I’ve struggled to convince my children is that they are, in fact, legit Indians of the Coquille Indian tribe.»
According to the tribe, after miners arrived and the government pushed the indigenous people from their lands in the 1850s, few Coquille women with white husbands were allowed to stay.
Many married white people, and these mixed-race families now make up the Coquille Tribe.
Kristina Simpson, Head Start director, said educating the younger generation is important to her as a mom and a tribal spouse.
They are currently accepting bids for proposed lesson plans that are in line with state and federal standards
«Our expectation is we lay out what we would like people to provide us,» Wheeler said, «their expertise, examples of lesson plans, basically, what their plan and price would be for them to provide this product.»
Source of the notice: https://kcby.com/news/local/coquille-tribe-moving-forward-with-indian-education-curriculum-celebrating-culture
In this first part of a two-part report, Afeez Hanafi writes about how dearth of learning facilities compounds the plight of visually impaired persons in schools across Nigeria
With exercise books, a pen and few other materials, Kehinde Lawrence is good to make the best out of every lesson. A Junior Secondary School 3 pupil at Owo High School, Ondo State, she reads her numerous textbooks in school and at home without let or hindrance.
But such ease is a mirage for her visually impaired classmate, Godfrey Ekevre. Aside from a snippet that he takes out of every class, the 25-year-old needs more several hours – or days – to write the same note Lawrence will have completed the moment a class ends.
The Delta-born pupil has been going through the strenuous routine since 2005 when he lost his sight to glaucoma. Before then, he had enjoyed stress-free learning as Lawrence up till Primary 6.
His 13 years of academic life without sight has been both harrowing and depressing; no thanks to the dearth of facilities in the school to aid his learning.
Devices such as braille hand frame and stylus, slate and stylus, Perkins Brailler, SMART Brailler, braille embosser/braille printer and braille notetaker are writing and reading tools for visually impaired persons with the last three devices considered up-to-date but expensive for the special pupils, many of whom are from poor families, to afford.
Perkins Brailler and SMART Brailler are typewriter-like machines for producing braille texts. While the former is old-fashioned, the latter is a modern tool that displays, vocalises and produces information typed in braille.
Similarly, Job Access With Speech, a computer screen reader programme for Microsoft Windows, allows visually impaired persons to read the screen with voice notes or by braille display.
In a review, Vision Australia, a leading national provider of blindness and low vision services in Australia, describes braille hand frame and stylus as a means of writing braille introduced over a century ago. It is said to be “very time consuming,” requiring an average of 90 minutes to produce a page of braille.
Sadly, Ekevre and many of his counterparts in Owo High School, Ondo State and some other institutions across the country use either the moribund braille hand frame and stylus or the archaic slate and stylus to write notes.
Besides the rigour of using the old-fashioned tool, Ekevre is faced with the burden of getting braille paper he slots into the frame to produce notes.
“I wish I was a sighted pupil,” the 25-year-old said regrettably as he began to share his plight with our correspondent.
He continued, “The school used to provide braille paper for us (visually impaired pupils) but they stopped buying it about two years ago. They said there was no money. Since then, we have been buying the paper by ourselves. A pack of the paper is N1,200 and it contains 100 pieces. I use about three packs a term.
“It is also difficult to get sighted pupils to assist us. We call them to dictate their notes to us after classes while we use braille hand frame and stylus to write. We usually give them money for them to assist us. I give them about N500 weekly.
“I bought a fairly-used typewriter which I use during exams for N10,000. My mother cannot afford to buy a new one for me. As I speak to you, it is faulty.
“The school has a library, but it does not make provision for the visually impaired pupils. Even the braille library at the Ondo State School for the Blind where our boarding house is has a few braille materials and most of them are scriptures. Majority of the books on the shelves are in print form.
“Our textbooks are supposed to be in braille so that we can read them by ourselves but what some of my friends who have recorders do is to give textbooks to sighted pupils to dictate to them while they record. I wish I had my own midget too instead of writing notes all the time which is very stressful.”
Although pupils with visual impairment at the school enjoy free boarding and do not pay tution, the expenses they incur to make themselves relevant academically are high compared to what their sighted counterparts are required to spend.
Our correspondent gathered that a regular pupil pays less than N2,000 per term as tuition; half of what Ekevre spends in a term only on braille paper.
For the 25-year-old on whose neck poverty and parental issues hang like a noose, the stress he passes through in the course of learning comes with its attendant psychological implications.
“I don’t usually feel settled. I think of how to get braille paper once the pack I have is almost finished. My mother is a petty trader and she has been striving by all means to fund my education. My father has two wives. For three years now, I have not seen him. He is with the second wife,” he added.
Ekevre’s counterpart at the United Faith Tabernacle College, Jarawan-Kogi, Plateau State, Yohana Iliya, endures a similar gruelling experience. But unlike Ekevre, the stress is reduced for the Senior Secondary School 3 pupil with the aid of a recorder, which he bought with donations by some Good Samaritans.
“Quality braille materials are expensive. That is why most of us resort to what we can afford. We beg classmates to dictate notes to us. Last term, I sought the help of a classmate, but he refused to offer any help. From the tone of his voice, it was clear that I had become a burden to him. I felt very bad that day, but I had to bottle up my feelings.
“The school has some braille machines but they are not working. We use slate and stylus to write our notes. Since I have a recorder, I spend less on buying braille paper,” he added.
Hundreds of kilometres away, at the Government Secondary School, Kwali, Abuja, Amos Bako strives endlessly to seek education like every other ambitious person. At 27, the SS1 pupil is unwavering in his determination to become an expert in International Relations despite the many hurdles that stand in his way.
He began his tortuous academic journey in 2007 after he became blind as a result of some particles that entered his eyes at a mechanic workshop in his village in Takum, Taraba State.
Like Ekevre and Iliya, Bako does not pay school fees, but he spends a lot of money on buying learning materials which are said to be unavailable in the school.
He stated, “My parents are retired civil servants and they live on their pensions. It is my mechanic friends that sponsor the larger part of my education. Back then when I was an apprentice, I did not think of going to school. I started my primary school in 2007. I finished in 2013 and proceeded to the secondary school.
“Special pupils are facing enormous challenges. Our writing materials are too costly but they are what we need to excel. I buy a pack of braille paper N1,500 here (Abuja). Frame and stylus costs N7,000. Perkins brailler is around N250,000 but I cannot afford it. The school has three braille machines but they are not working now. They have been faulty since I got admission into the school.”
Learning appears to be more daunting for many students at higher institutions across the country. Often times, they depend on some tolerant sighted course mates to move from one lecture room to another and document their notes.
Except for a few whose families could buy them modern facilities, many visually impaired students, especially at public higher institutions, make do with outdated devices to study, too.
Bulus Chuanoemoa, a 300-level student of Special Education, Visual Handicap, at the University of Jos, Plateau State, is one of such indigent students whose studies have been fraught with frustration resulting largely from non-provision of braille facilities by the school.
He said, “We face many challenges starting from the nature of the school environment which is unfriendly to the visually impaired students. The locations of our lecture theatres and departments are difficult for the blind students to navigate. Most times, we need our sighted friends to assist us to attend classes.
“Books in the library and those recommended by lecturers are only available in print form and it is difficult to get them translated into braille. One can buy a book for N1,000 and spend N5,000 to produce it in braille. And sometimes, we have two or three books for a particular course.
“What most of us in my department do is to buy textbooks and look for people to dictate to us while we record. The recording has its own disadvantage too because some pronunciations may not be correct and you will not be able to get their right spellings. There are times when the people that assist us in dictation are unwilling to help. You have to give them money to persuade them to help at such times.
“At times, I copy notes during exam periods when I should be reading. It is very unfortunate. The school has a resource room but it does not have materials we can access. The resource masters there are the ones helping to read questions out to us during exams; the questions are not in braille and we do exams with our typewriters.”
Born to the family of peasant farmers, the 24-year-old in a recent encounter with Saturday PUNCHexplained how he had relied largely on the benevolence of churches to augment whatever his poor parents could afford.
He added, “I could not afford to buy a Perkings Brailler. Instead, I use slate and stylus to write my notes. It consumes a lot of time and energy. A good laptop or desktop computer with JAWS installed in it is much easier and more convenient for a blind student to use to take examination than using a typewriter. A standard laptop should be about N100,000 and installation of JAWS is N20,000 or more. Where will I get the money from?”
The student of Special Education had it smooth at the primary school section of Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted but while in the secondary school section, he had to wait for days to get braille textbooks because the (secondary) school reportedly had just one functioning braille machine.From his secondary school days at Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted in Lagos State up till now that he is doing a master’s degree programme at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, 32-year-old Oyewale Oyetunji, has been dogged, defying all odds to become a scholar.
“In the 21st Century, the world has gone beyond typewriter which is prone to errors. But in Nigeria, blind students still use it,” he said in utter disappointment.
“I spent a lot of money to have textbooks in braille during my undergraduate days in UI. What I do mostly now is to scan the textbooks and read them on my computer with the aid of JAWS.
“Most of the materials in the school library are in print. In terms of accessibility for the blind, the library can be rated low – two or five per cent. What I see is the dearth of facilities and we have complained to lecturers a number of times, but they blame it on inadequate funding.”
Corroborating the lack of facilities, the Principal, Special Inclusive School, Kogi State, Dr David Matthew, lamented that all efforts to get the attention of the state government to the plight of the special pupils had proved abortive.
It was learnt that the school was established by Christian Missions in Many Lands – a United States faith-based mission – and managed by the state government.
The principal said, “Copying of notes and lack of braille machines are some of the challenges the pupils are facing. We also have shortage of special teachers.
“Our learning disability department has collapsed because the person in charge has been made the principal of his community school. He has a master’s degree in learning disability. Unfortunately, the government is not providing replacement for those who are leaving.
“Over the years, I have visited Kogi State Ministry of Education and Government House several times, but all I got were empty promises. I later decided that the best thing was to make do with our little resources. My belief is that these challenges are temporary. I believe a time for divine intervention will come.
“A blind pupil has to be active and studious and should get friends around to dictate notes to them. If they don’t have pocket money to motivate their sighted counterparts, it will be very difficult for them to catch up.
“Sadly, most of them come from poor families. That is why we don’t insist that they buy new typewriters. A fairly-used typewriter is between N6,000 and N10,000. Sometimes, foundations donate writing materials to the school. It costs visually impaired persons a lot of money to succeed academically.”
Asked whether the deficient learning tools had implications for the pupils’ performance, Matthew said, “Performance cannot be attributed directly to inadequate facilities. You may have a pupil who has all the necessary tools but may not be brilliant. And you may have a pupil who doesn’t have all and he may be brilliant.”
He recalled that learning was excitement during his school time as he was given scholarships which are hard to come by these days.
“When I was in secondary school, I was lucky to be given scholarships by the then Benue State Government. At a time, I had as many as five typewriters but today, such privilege is not common. What we need is political will. The government should be ready to carry physically challenged persons along,” he added.
Tongtonk Danlami, a special teacher at Nakam Memorial College, a mission school in Jos, also decried the rate at which inadequate funding was crippling the smooth running of the inclusive boarding school.
Danlami said, “The issue of braille books for visually impaired pupils has been a problem over the years. Even when the school could afford to change print books to braille ones, where to do it was a problem.
“We have a library where we use a computer with JAWS, but it has stopped working. We also have the problem of having examination questions in braille. It is the teachers that assist the special pupils. The school only has one braille machine and it is old.
“A number of the children come from poor families and most parents don’t pay school fees. We have been having challenges in feeding them. Also, visually impaired persons need white canes (a cane that primarily aids its user to scan their surroundings for obstacles and helps other traffic participants in identifying the user as visually impaired) so that they can move from one place to another by themselves. We need sponsorship to provide all these things for the pupils. A white cane is about N10,000.”
National Policy on Special Needs Education in Nigeria
The Federal Ministry of Education in the 2015 National Policy on Special Needs Education in Nigeria admittedly highlighted the deficient educational system for persons living with disabilities. It stated that though Nigeria was involved in the special needs education, the practice fell short of the global best practices. The report added that the special needs classroom laboratories in the country were not technology-driven.
It read in part, “Facilities and materials that enhance learning are either lacking or – where they exist – inadequate and or/obsolete. What is more, many special needs education practitioners lack the technical knowhow to operate specialised special needs education gadgets.
“….Also, professionals in the area of gifted education are few in Nigeria. Learning materials are generally inadequate. It is the general teachers that seem to be dominating the field of Special Needs Education. Graduates of Special Education in Nigeria face the challenge of relevance on graduation because the curriculum in place is not skill-relevant after school life.
“Bias, cultural archetypes and negative behaviour patterns about special needs education are endemic in Nigeria…in the National Police of Education, it is stated that services to persons with special needs should be free, but it is not stated in an imperative term for the Federal Ministry of Education to operate.”
The report recommended that federal and state governments should ensure that necessary training and facilities that would guarantee easy access and implementation of special needs education progammes were put in place. For instance, it was stated that for students with visual impairment, there should be “training in orientation and mobility, braille reading and writing, use of computer with JAWS and repair of the equipment, etc.”
The report equally pointed out that there was inadequate synergy between the Federal Ministry of Education and other government ministries, agencies, non-governmental organisations, private sectors and international development partners.
Unfortunately, little or nothing has been done to address the disturbing issues raised in the report three years after.
No provisions for blind pupils in 2017, 2018 education budgets
A look at the 2017 and 2018 budgets of the Federal Ministry of Education showed that no provisions or allocations were made for the procurement of learning facilities for the visually impaired pupils.
For example, the 2017 budget with a personnel cost of N3,236,821,170 and an overhead of N827,950,190, did not mention any provision for blind pupils. In the budget, the government made provision for Almajiris (disadvantaged school-age children in the North roaming the streets) with N5,000,000 budgeted for their education programme. However, there was no such budget for the visually impaired pupils.
The government budgeted a staggering N30,000,000 for supply of text books to primary schools in the Kankara area of Katsina State. Similar provisions were made for several schools across the country, but there was no mention of materials for the blind pupils.
Meanwhile, it was observed that the ministry budgeted N5,000,000 for the training of personnel working in centres of persons with special needs. The government also earmarked N15,000,000 for the training of 95 teachers handling persons with special needs in the northern part of the country.
Also in the ministry’s 2018 budget totalling N621,226,697,523 with capital projects of N102,907,290,833, there was no mention of any provision for the visually impaired pupils or their schools.
The Ministry of Education’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr. Ben Bem Goong, did not pick several calls put across to him. He had also yet to reply to a text message sent to his phone by our correspondent on the lingering challenges facing the blind pupils.
Ondo, Plateau react
The Chairman of Plateau State Universal Basic Education Board, Prof. Matthew Sule, said the agency recently conducted training for special teachers in public schools across the state.
He added, “We are providing facilities for the children that are physically challenged. We have also provided teaching resources across the 17 LGAs in Plateau State.”
The Ondo State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Yemi Olowolabi, said the government provided the necessary braille equipment for the Ondo State School for the Blind.
But Olowolabi was silent on the provisions made for the visually impaired pupils in other public schools in the state, including Owo High School, which Ekevere attends.
He said, “This administration has spent so much money on the school. Government has increased funding of the school. Its quarterly grants are regular so that all their braille equipment is adequately provided. The government has a budget for the equipment.
“The Commissioner for Education also visits the school on a regular basis and a monitoring team was set up to monitor how the equipment is utilised.”
How visually impaired pupils fare in US
Unlike in Nigeria where special needs education is in a shambles, countries such as the United States provided state-of-the-art learning aids for visually impaired pupils.
For instance, the American Printing House for the Blind annually produces braille textbooks and other educational tools in large quantities, and distributes them to visually impaired pre-college pupils across the 50 states in the US.
The 2017 fiscal year report of APH stated that $17.8m was allocated to providing accessible materials to 63,357 registered pupils with visual impairment through the Federal Quota Programme. The FQP mandates that textbooks and aids are provided free to the eligible blind pupils in educational settings throughout the federation.
Other functions of APH include conducting research to develop and improve educational materials in core curriculum areas such as science, mathematics, English language arts, and social studies and adapting testing materials related to these subject areas.
APH also undertakes research in areas such as braille reading, orientation and mobility, and assistive technology while special materials are developed for teaching.
In the report, APH President, Craig Meador, identified BrailleBlaster as one of the modern technologies produced for the visually impaired persons to further bridge the educational barrier between them and their sighted counterparts.
“This revolutionary new software tool translates text into braille more quickly, easily and accurately – giving students access to learning materials on the first day of class at the same time as their sighted peers,” Meador said.
Source of the notice: https://punchng.com/double-trouble-for-visually-impaired-pupils-in-nigerian-schools/
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