Children

Page 5 of 11
1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 11

Ghana: Education; The Right Of Every Child

Noticias

Ghana/April 17, 2018/By: Josephine Nettey/Source: http://theheraldghana.com

The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things (Jean Piaget)

At independence, many countries looked to reform education to accelerate economic and social development. Ghana was no exception, and the newly independent government saw in education the keys to social and economic development. This insight still lived 5 decades onwards in the Republic, for this reason the framers of the 1992 Constitutionprovided for the security and guarantee of this right in Article 25, Clause (1) Sub-clause (a) of the 1992 Constitution. This provision reads;

  • All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities and with a view to achieving the full realization of that right,
  • Basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all.

Where Basic Education Level is provided for Section 1(2) of the Education Act, 2008 as amended by Education (Amendment) Act, 2010 as follows;

  • The basic level of education shall consist of
  • Two years kindergarten
  • Six years of primary
  • Three years of junior high school.

Per the above provisions all persons, every child has a right to education emphatically the right to free and compulsory education. This right as provided for imposed a duty on our government after the coming into force of the constitution to ensure that all children are educated as provided for in Article 38 Clause (2) of the 1992 constitutions. This provision reads;

  • The Government shall, within two years after Parliament first meets after the coming into force of this Constitution, draw up a programme for implementation within the following ten years, for the provision of free compulsory and universal basic education.

The issue is that all successive government following the enforcement of the 1992 Constitution have failed to implement the above provision in providing free, compulsory and universal basic education to all children. They have even failed more woefully in enforcing the compulsory aspect of the education as mandated them. Because of their inactionour children are on the street instead of being in the classroom working and engaging in perilous activities daily.

Yet we dare to tag them as “Street Children” …!!!  Who is to blame?

Especially when our own laws namelyThe Children Act, 1998 (Act 560) sets the minimum age for light work at 13yrs and hazardous work at 18years. However, the opposite is true that most often than not we see children below these ages engaged in hazardous work in the middle of highways and major roads including begging, selling, wiping windscreen of cars and even inhaling fumes from vehicle exhaust.

Noting that Begging as an activity is an offence as per Section 2 Subsection 1 (a) and (b) of the Beggars and Destitute Act, 1969 (N.I.C.D 1969) which reads;

  • A police officer may arrest without warrant
  • A person who is found begging
  • A person wandering, or
  • A person who is in any premise or place for the purpose of begging.

That is to say we will have no street children on our streets if the Police Agency were complying to the law and arresting these children and putting them in schools to receive education and enjoy their fundamental as such.

The sight of these children on the street is even more distasteful when you see them accompanied by adults who clearly by their conductare perpetuators of denying theirchild access to education. But isthat really the case?

Especially when the mandate is on the government through its Ministry namely the Ministry of Education and its local representative the is District Assemblies to provide for the necessary infrastructural needs for education of the population in the area of authority as provided for by Section 2 Subsection (2) of Act 778as Amended.

Notably to mention Section 4 of Act 778 as Amended provides for the role of the District Assembly social welfare where a child fails to go to school. This section reads;

  • Where a Child does not attend a course of instruction in compliance with subsection (1) the parent shall, in the first instance, appear before the social welfare committee of the District Assembly for the Appropriate action.

And Section 1 of Act 778 as Amended reads;

  • A child who has attained school going age shall, at the basic level, attend a course of instruction as laid down by the Minister in a school recognized for that purpose by the Minister.

The above is to the effect that the District Assemblies Social Welfare have a duty to ensure parent or guardians do not preventtheir child from enjoying their right to education as guaranteed by the supreme laws of our land. Have they lived up to this Duty?

As we recognize International Day for Street Children today April 12,2018 may our government through its Ministry and local assemblies live up to the duty imposed on them by the laws of our motherland so we may be celebrants of Children Day only and not the opposite.

For Education is a tool for producing a scientifically literate population, tacklingthe environmental causes of low productivity; and for producing knowledge to harness Ghana’s economic potential…!!!

Long live every Child. Long Live Ghana..!!

Koiwah Koi-LarbiOfosuapea, 0501451986

(Fellow – Center for Constitutional Order)

Source:

Education; The Right Of Every Child

 

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Children stuff food into their pockets and turn up to school in dirty uniforms as poverty worsens, headteachers warn in United Kingdom

Noticias

United Kingdom/ 09.04.2018/ From: www.independent.co.uk.

Los niños que viven en la pobreza llegan a las puertas de la escuela con «piel gris, dientes pobres, cabello y uñas». Los niños desnutridos están llenando sus bolsillos con comida y yendo a la escuela con uniformes sucios a medida que crece el número de personas que viven en la pobreza , han advertido los directores.

Malnourished children are stuffing their pockets with food and turning up to school in dirty uniforms as the numbers living in poverty grows, headteachers have warned.

Pupils are arriving to school on Monday wearing uniforms they have been in all weekend, while others do not turn up to school because they have no shoes, staff have said.

And schools are going out of their way to give parents debt advice – and one primary school headteacher recently opened his school during the severe snow to ensure his pupils got a hot meal that day.

Number of children in poverty surges by 100,000 in a year

Speaking at the National Education Union (NEU) conference, NUT section, conference in Brighton, school leaders described how pupils arrived at the school gates with grey skin, poor teeth, hair and nails.

A survey, by the NEU and the Child Poverty Action Group, found that three in five (60 per cent) school staff believe child poverty has worsened since 2015.

And the vast majority (87 per cent) say it is having a significant impact on the learning of their pupils.

A head from a school in Cumbria, who would only give her name as “Lynn”, said her pupils put “food in their pockets to take home because they’re not sure if they’re going to get another meal that day”.

“In some establishments I would imagine that would be called stealing, but in ours it’s called survival,” she said.

Lynn added that her members of staff have washed dirty uniform for pupils and they have used their own money to buy families beds.

She added: “You can go into the town where we are and the children are wearing uniform, often something that we’ve given them, and they are wearing that at weekends.”

And Lynn described seeing children from a nearby affluent secondary school and comparing them to youngsters who had been to her school.

“My children who have gone from me up to the local secondary school have grey skin, poor teeth, poor hair, poor nails, they are smaller, they are thinner,” she said.

Louise Regan, from a Nottinghamshire primary school, said she noticed a difference when taking pupils to sporting events with other schools.

“You think ‘our kids are really small’, you don’t notice it because you’re with them all the time. When you then see them with children of the same age that are in an affluent area, they just look tiny.”

Ms Regan added that her school gives out food and clothing, such as winter coats and shoes, to those families in need.

She said: “We’ve had children who haven’t come to school because they didn’t have shoes, we’ve gone and bought shoes, taken them to the house and brought the child into school,” she said.

In 2015/16, there were four million children in the UK living in poverty, according to the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) – equivalent to nine in every classroom of 30 pupils.

A Department for Education spokesman said they have launched a social mobility action plan – which sets out measures to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their classmates.

He added: “Alongside this we continue to support the country’s most disadvantaged children through free school meals, the £2.5bn funding given to schools through the Pupil Premium to support their education and the recently announced a £26m investment to kickstart or improve breakfast clubs in at least 1,700 schools.”

 Many of the union members described the situation facing their poorest pupils and families as “heartbreaking”, the study said.

One headteacher told the press at the NEU conference in Brighton said that league table positions were becoming secondary to dealing with the impact of financial hardship among pupils.

Jane Jenkins, from a Cardiff primary school, said that children have turned up with just a slice of bread and margarine in their lunchbox. “It is really tough,” she said.

“When people are asking you about standards and you know, “why is your school not higher in the league tables”, often that is very much a secondary consideration for us these days,” Ms Jenkins added.

From: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/child-poverty-headteachers-schools-teachers-national-education-union-neu-austerity-a8283956.htm

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Japan: Too much of an education could be bad for your future

Noticias

Japan/April 03, 2018/By: MICHAEL HOFFMAN*/Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp

Poverty comes in many forms but one color: gray.

There is the poverty of the poor, the poverty of the rich, the poverty of the academically under-qualified, the poverty of the academically over-qualified. The poverty of the poor pretty much speaks for itself. The riches of the rich may be deceptive.

The biggest drain on them is education for the kids. Luxuries and pleasures can be sacrificed, but to compromise where the children are concerned is (or is seen to be) to deprive them of the leg-up they need (or are seen to need) to gain a foothold in life.

What high schools are open to graduates of inferior elementary schools? Inferior ones. What universities are open to graduates of second-rate high schools? Second-rate ones. What kind of career is open to graduates of merely ordinary universities? A merely ordinary one. The consequent financial strain can be felt as a kind of poverty.

If it’s true of the rich, how much more so of the poor. The high cost of education is considered a main cause of the sunken birth rate. If educating your children as the economy demands its top tier be educated requires means beyond the average, means beyond you, childlessness might well seem the more responsible option.

There’s education and education. Motives for acquiring it vary. It can be a quest for knowledge or a quest for credentials. The former is problematic. Shukan Gendai magazine tells some cautionary tales.

“Kyoko-san,” 27, studied fine arts. It was her passion. She’d learn the subject, then teach it. Undergraduate school, graduate school, post-grad school. Hard at work on her Ph.D. thesis, she suddenly noticed something: Students graduating ahead of her weren’t getting jobs.

Stupid of her not to notice before! Absorption in your studies can blind you to earthier realities. Panicking, she put aside her thesis and threw herself into job-hunting. Nothing. Universities were over-staffed, the private sector had no room for her. She eventually landed a job at a small small-town rural arts museum. The work is routine and she feels her expert knowledge rotting within her, but at least she can feed herself.

Not every one is so lucky. “Nakamura-san,” 29, is a Ph.D. scientist struggling to repay a ¥6 million student loan on a ¥2 million-a-year salary. The good news is that his employer is a university and his job description includes the word “research” — followed, unfortunately, by the word “assistant,” which translates into part-time status and lab chores far from the cutting edge.

Maybe in 10 years he’ll get an assistant professorship. Or maybe not — in which case he’ll be 40 years old and nowhere. In the meantime, he lives in a ratty ¥40,000-a-month apartment, eats at the university cafeteria and wonders, “How long can I take this?” It’s enough to make the private sector look attractive — but an exploratory foray into it showed that the private sector did not return the compliment. Knowledge beyond a certain range of commercial exploitability, comments Shukan Gendai, is to the private sector the rough equivalent of otaku-hood.

“Takada-san,” 26, is pursuing a doctorate in literature at the University of Tokyo. He’s learning something the great books don’t teach — to wit: “To get anywhere in research you need connections. I didn’t know that when I started. You need to develop relationships with influential professors who can boost your career.

“So, I get involved in academic meetings, I help out at the reception desk, I coach visiting overseas students. … In short, I’m so busy maneuvering behind the scenes that I have no time to study.”

This is ironic, in view of the importance society attaches to education. Arrestingly symbolic, as the back-to-school season nears, is the iconic randoseru elementary school rucksack. The word, borrowed from Dutch, reflects the age and origin of the import, harking back as it does to the early 19th century, when a restricted number of Dutch traders were almost the only foreigners permitted in Japan. They bequeathed to their hosts a few European books, a smattering of the Dutch language, a bit of European science (and a hunger for more) — and the randoseru. Japanese kids have been saddled with it ever since.

It’s no light burden. And it’s gaining weight, as the Asahi Shimbun noted last week. Carrying a full load of books, lunch, gym clothes and whatnot, it can weigh nearly 10 kilograms. The 7-year-old second-grader gamely bracing against its downward thrust probably weighs little more than 20 kg him- or herself.

Why should the venerable randoseru be gaining weight? Because, the Asahi explains, textbooks are. There’s so much to learn! Never more than now, and more and more each year as knowledge, competition, pressure and standards rise. As of 2015, after six years of elementary schooling, an average child will have carried (and hopefully read) a total of 6,518 textbook pages — representing a 34 percent increase in 10 years. Moral education, a new subject swelling the curriculum beginning this year, will add, over six years, an estimated 1,067 pages to the load.

“Higher” education, meanwhile, languishes. “Higher education” used to mean, simply, college. A hundred years ago less than half the population got beyond elementary school, which alone was compulsory. College was for the lucky and gifted few.

Postwar democracy flung open the academic gates. What had been a mark of distinction became more or less a necessity to anyone with white-collar aspirations. Today, “higher education” means — if it means anything — not university education per se but learning for its own sake, and Shukan Gendai’s coverage is not encouraging.

It shows the number of Ph.D. students declining at a rate the declining student-age population only partly accounts for: 14,927 nationwide in 2016 as against 18,232 in 2003.

Philosophy remains a popular university alternative to raw science. Each year brings forth 1,000-odd newly fledged philosophers. They can’t all be professors. Most will have to leave academia and seek their fortunes in the “real world.” As what? Doing what? In an age of post-truth and artificial intelligence, who needs philosophers?

*Michael Hoffman is the author of “In the Land of the Kami: A Journey into the Hearts of Japan” and “Other Worlds.”

Source:

Too much of an education could be bad for your future

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

United Kingdom: Special needs children ‘paying price’ for education funding ‘crisis’

Noticias

United Kingdom/April 3, 2018/By: Press Association/ Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk

Thousands of children with special needs are paying the price of a «crisis» in education funding, a union has claimed.

Official figures show the number of youngsters with special educational needs plans or statements that are awaiting school places has more than doubled in a year.

The National Education Union (NEU) claimed that local councils are being «starved» of the money they need for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with youngsters forced to stay at home because authorities do not have the cash to provide a suitable education.

Overall, as of January last year, there were 287,290 children and young people, up to the age of 25 in England, that had an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), or a statement of special educational needs.

Of these, the vast majority (279,582) were aged 19 or under.

The year before, there were 256,315 children and young people with an EHCP or statement, and again the vast majority were 19 and under.

The government data also shows that as of last January, 4,050 youngsters with an EHCP or statement were «awaiting provision» – effectively waiting for a place in education.

This is up 137% compared with January 2016, when the number stood at 1,710, and up 372% compared with 2013 (858 children).

The NEU argued: «Children facing some of the greatest challenges are paying the price for the crisis in education funding.»

NEU joint general secretary, Kevin Courtney, said: «It is an absolute disgrace that the Government is starving local authorities of the resources needed for children with SEND.

«Children are at home because local authorities don’t have enough money to provide suitable education.

«Local authorities are being placed in an impossible position. They have a legal duty to plan high quality education for every child with SEND, but cuts have taken away the resources they need to educate children with complex needs.

«Extra money is urgently needed for SEND but it must be new money and not come from the already challenged school budgets. Parents and teachers are in despair. The Government is failing thousands of children and families and must act now to resolve this critical situation.»

Meanwhile, a separate survey by NASUWT union has shown more than a half (59%) of all special educational needs teachers said they had been attacked by their pupils in the last year.

Staff among the 1,615 polled said they had been head-butted, punched, kicked and spat on – including, in a handful of cases, on a daily basis.

Almost three-quarters (74%) said they experienced verbal abuse in addition to physical assault. Some 7% said they were not encouraged to report such incidents to their school.

One respondent said: «I receive more abuse as a teacher than friends of mine who are in the police force and prison service.»

Speaking from the annual NASUWT conference, union general secretary Chris Keates said: «No one should go to work expecting to be assaulted, yet all too often teachers who are attacked are told it’s all part of the job.

«Pupils with special needs who exhibit violent and disruptive behaviour need more help and support and all too often their needs are not being met.»

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: «Core schools and high needs funding has been protected in real terms per pupil and will rise to its highest ever level – over £43 billion in 2020, 50% more per pupil spending in real terms than in 2000.

«The budget for pupils with special educational needs is £6 billion this year. Local authorities now have more money for every pupil in every school.

«Our new Education, Health and Care Plans are putting the views of young people with special educational needs and disabilities and families at the heart of the process so they can help shape the support they receive.

«This is a hugely significant reform but local authorities are rising to the challenge and have reviewed almost 222,000 cases with initial inspections showing positive outcomes for young people.»

Source:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/01/special-needs-children-paying-price-education-funding-crisis/

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Zero tolerance approach to bad behaviour in schools amount to ‘child abuse’, teachers claim in United Kingdom

Noticias

United Kingdom/ 02.04.2018/ From: www.independent.co.uk.

‘Las políticas y  reglas estrictas sobre la conducta de los alumnos «son crueles, victorianas, dickensianas». Y castiga más a los niños de la clase obrera ‘

A zero-tolerance approach to discipline in schools amounts to “child abuse”, teachers have claimed.

Extremely strict behaviour policies unfairly punish working class children who may not be as focused in class or as well-behaved because of difficult circumstances at home, teachers have suggested.

The remarks came as the NUT section of the National Education Union (NEU) raised their concerns about the state of children’s mental health at their annual conference in Brighton.

Social media sites are damaging children’s mental health, heads warn

Jonathan Reddiford, from North Somerset, said he felt ‘zero tolerance’ behaviour policies in schools were a “key cause” for mental health problems among young people.

He added that it was “incredibly harsh” to exclude pupils for misbehaving and he said using strict behaviour policies with vulnerable children was “nothing short of child abuse”.

Michael Holland, from Lambeth, added that punishing disadvantaged children with strict behaviour approaches was an “abuse” of their rights.

 He said: “Zero tolerance is intolerance. Zero tolerance doesn’t work. Zero tolerance is cruel, Victorian, Dickensian. It punishes working class children the most.

“It punishes black children and children from black ethnic minority groups [they] are far more likely to be excluded from schools.”

Mr Reddiford told the conference that one Year 7 student he had taught was not very “focused” in class – but it was because he was sharing a bed with three family members and he did not get much sleep.

“For me to then try and exercise some sort of zero tolerance behaviour policy would be nothing short of child abuse,” he said.

Mr Holland added: “We believe in a different vision of education. One where children are not sent home because they have a sharp haircut, or their shoes aren’t totally black. We believe in an education service that respects each child.

“If a child is disruptive because they are exhausted or hungry or both. Or if a child kicks another child because the previous night they witnessed domestic violence at home. We respond with patience. We respond with compassion.»

There was unanimous support from conference delegates to opposing «the move towards ever more punitive behaviour policies in schools» which it said was «feeding a mental health crisis for our children».

The motion said: “The increasing use of detention, isolation and exclusion, often talked of as being ‘zero tolerance’ approaches, usually mean ignoring the varied difficulties children have.”

Delegates also highlighted other experiences of growing mental health concerns about their pupils, which some linked to a narrowing of the curriculum in schools.

Paul Power, of Haringey, who has been a head of year in a secondary school for 16 years, said: “I have seen an increase in anxiety, an increase in depression, an increase in stress, an increase in students talking about suicide, an increase in self-harming.”

He added that reforms to exams had led to more stress. “And to be honest there is only one word for them – and that is child abuse,” Mr Power told the conference.

Delegates voted that high stakes testing has harmful effects on children’s mental health, and called for a renewed campaign to oppose Sats.

On Monday, delegates will debate whether to boycott high stakes tests in primary schools – including the Sats.

From: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/strict-behaviour-school-punish-children-child-abuse-teachers-national-education-union-a8283276.html.

 

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

United Kingdom: School mental health problems extend to primary-age pupils amid cuts to support

Noticias

United Kingdom/ 02.04.2018/ From: www.independent.co.uk.

Los niños de escuela primaria muestran signos de problemas de salud mental, como ansiedad, ataques de pánico y depresión, en medio de recortes al apoyo de especialistas, sugiere una nueva encuesta de docentes.

Primary school children are showing signs of mental health problems – including anxiety, panic attacks and depression – amid cuts to specialist support, a new survey of teachers suggests.

The vast majority (96 per cent) of teachers say they have come into contact with pupils of all ages experiencing mental health issues, according to research from the NASUWT teaching union.

Of these, around one in seven (14 per cent) said that pupils experiencing these difficulties were aged between four and seven, while over a quarter (27 per cent) said they were aged seven to 11.

Strict school behaviour policies amount to ‘child abuse’, teachers say

One teacher spoke of an 8-year-old who climbed onto the roof and said they wanted to kill themselves.

They added the incident was “not deemed serious enough” to get support from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. “Access to mental health services is appalling for young children,” the teacher said.

The poll, of more than 1,300 teachers, found school staff were most likely to pupils aged 11 to 16 (68 per cent) experienced problems, making it harder for them to participate in class and to make friends.

Teachers said family problems (86 per cent), pressures of exams (66 per cent) and social media (64 per cent) were main causes of mental health problems such as self-harming, eating disorders and OCD.

The poll found that the majority (86 per cent) are aware of pupils sharing sexual messages, photos and videos with each other, and nearly four in 10 know students who have been sexually harassed by pupils.UK news in pictures.

One teacher said they had heard of pupils’ faces being photoshopped onto “pornographic images” by other students.

The survey also finds that a fifth teachers think children were moved on or excluded from a their school for unofficial reasons. Of those, almost half felt it was because of their low academic attainment affecting league tables and a third felt it was because the pupil has special needs.

Another teacher said: “I work with excluded pupils and feel that there is very little support for them on mental health issues – even though this may be the driving factor behind their exclusion, the expectation is still for them to achieve in line with GCSE targets.”

Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT, said: «Teachers have never before had to deal with such a complex range of pupil welfare issues as they do today.

«The pressure on teachers and headteachers is enormous and is putting at risk their own mental and physical health and wellbeing.»

She added: “These challenges are compounded by cuts to school staffing and to external specialist support. The government must bear responsibility for the position in which schools find themselves. It is a betrayal of staff and pupils to continue to expect schools alone to deal with all of these issues.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want all young people to grow up feeling confident about themselves and able to get the right mental health support when they need it.

“We have pledged £1.7bn to improve the mental health services on offer to children and young people. But we know there is more to be done to ensure progress in this area, which is why we have recently outlined proposals to improve links between the NHS and schools, provide quicker access to intensive support and more capacity to be able to intervene earlier.”

From: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/mental-health-primary-school-sexual-harassment-bullying-pupils-nasuwt-union-a8283876.htm

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

EEUU: Martin addresses special education advocates

Noticias

EEUU/March 21, 2018/Source: http://bristolobserver.com

State Senator Henri Martin (R-31) March 14 addressed special education teachers, administrators, students, and supporters at the state capitol.

“I am happy to say that society has recognized the value of education for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We now know that the right education can help these students live productive, fulfilling lives. We recognize the tremendously positive impact that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have on society and in our own lives,” Martin said according to a press release from Senate Republicans.

“Every person in this room has value,” he continued, according to the press release. “Intellectually and developmentally disabled children, like all children, have a right to an education that will help them live as productive and independent a life as possible.”

Sen. Martin represents the communities of Bristol, Harwinton, Plainville, Plymouth, and Thomaston.

Martin is also running for reelection.

Source:

http://bristolobserver.com/2018/03/15/martin-addresses-special-education-advocates/

 

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »
Page 5 of 11
1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 11