Education System

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Learning education from Japan

Naazir Mahmood

By: Naazir Mahmood.

One of the reasons for Japan’s rapid progress in the 20th century was its education system. Today we discuss some of the salient features of Japanese education and how it has facilitated the creation of one of the most civilized nations on the globe. Here being ‘civilized’ does not mean their achievements in science and technology alone, it also means a nation of people who are caring, considerate, honest, and responsible citizens. This can be seen while travelling across Japan, and even while walking on the streets in cities from Tokyo to Nagasaki.

On a recent visit to Japan, this writer availed himself of the opportunity to review the elementary and secondary education system in Japan and also visited a couple of universities. Ms Yumioka Haruna from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MECSST – normally written as MEXT) was kind enough to give a detailed briefing about the Japanese education system. With her impeccable English proficiency, she explained the intricacies of their system and the challenges they have faced and overcome. She started with the constitutional provisions for education in her country.

Article 26 of the Japanese constitution says, “All people shall have the right to receive an equal education corresponding to their ability, as provided by law. The people shall be obligated to have all boys and girls under their protection receive ordinary education as provided by law. Such compulsory education shall be free.” Before moving forward, I would like to make two comments here: first, please have a look at the name of the ministry once again. It is one ministry that takes care of culture, education, science, sports, and technology.

If you compare this with the countries in South Asia, most have separate ministries for all of the above. In Pakistan, even almost a decade after the 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed in 2010, we have overlapping ministries at the federal and provincial levels. In Japan, MEXT combines all related departments such as culture, education, and sports together; and also puts science and technology (S&T) under the same umbrella. If one of the purposes of education is to nurture citizens who are cultured and civilized, you cannot separate culture from education. Being cultured means being caring, considerate, honest, and responsible.

The second comment is regarding Article 26 of the Japanese constitution and its provisions. Its stress on ‘equal education’ deserves attention as in Japan the state provides almost equal opportunities to all its citizens. As opposed to South Asian countries where the states have miserably failed to offer ‘equal education’, Japan has been successful in doing so, mainly thanks to its appropriate allocations to education. If we look at the Basic Act of Education of Japan, its Article 5 reads:

“The objective of general education, given in the form of compulsory education, shall be to cultivate the foundation for an independent life within society while developing the abilities of each individual, and to foster the basic qualities necessary for those who form our state and society.”

Please note that there is no mention of any national, patriotic, or religious responsibilities; neither is there any rhetoric about defending or preserving any ‘Japanese culture’ or any ‘Buddhist or Shinto’ heritage. Yes, there is emphasis on cultivating “the foundation of an independent life” and “developing the abilities of each individual”. This is the spirit and the approach for an effective education system. If you compare this with our myriad education policies, we find them full of platitudes about our nationalistic and patriotic pride, and cultural heritage and religious identity, and Pakistani faith, unity, and discipline.

Now some more specifics. The costs of municipal elementary, junior, and high schools are borne by the government. The national government is merely responsible for establishing a framework and setting of national standards. It also secures funding sources for preparation of education conditions. That means the national government provides guidance, advice and assistance without interfering into the curriculum and syllabus matters, as long as certain national standards are followed. There are two tiers or boards of education (BoE): prefectural and municipal. Prefectural is like the provincial board that establishes and operates high schools and special-needs schools.

Prefectural BoEs also hire teachers and make payments to elementary and junior high school teachers’ salaries. Municipal BoEs get advice, assistance and guidance from prefectural BoEs, but they establish and operate their own municipal schools. Interestingly, BoEs are established in all prefectures and municipalities as administrative committees, but they are totally independent of the prefectural or municipal head of government. BoEs decide the basic policy and important matters regarding the administration of education. Each BoE has five members: one full-time superintendent with a three-year term; and four part-time lay members who can be reappointed after four years.

The relevant local assemblies approve the appointment of the head of prefectural or municipal BoE. The BoE ensures political neutrality – meaning the contents of education must be neutral, fair and free from personal value judgments. The BoE also ensures sustainability and stability of compulsory education throughout the learning period. That means absenteeism and dropouts are controlled and minimized. There is a strong provision for pre-primary education (PPE) which starts at the age of three and ends at the age of six when children start elementary schools. For PPE there are integrated centres for early childhood education and care (ECEC) established and run by the kindergarten department.

The elementary department establishes and runs elementary schools that provide primary education for six years till the age of 12. The last phase of compulsory education is managed by the lower secondary department which runs lower secondary schools offering three years of schooling till the age of 15. MEXT, which is a large ministry, has multiple departments for each level of education. Again, if you compare it with public education in South Asia, here perhaps the most neglected area is PPE or kindergartens. Lack of facilities and resources, and absence of committed and qualified ECEC professionals render early childhood education meaningless in countries such as Pakistan.

After the age of 15, Japanese boys and girls can do part-time courses, join upper secondary schools, or get into specialized training colleges to do upper secondary courses run by the upper secondary department. They may also get admitted to colleges of technology run by the higher education department. At age 18, when they complete 12 years of education, they may get into junior colleges or specialized training colleges where they can enroll into one-year or two-year courses. They have an exit option after every year and may also continue for four years doing multiple courses if they want.

This model is quite contrary to the HEC model in Pakistan which has enforced a four-year bachelor’s programme without introducing exit options after two years. The provincial HECs in Pakistan should introduce two-year associate degrees in all disciplines and in all degree colleges or universities so that students who face family problems or financial issues may exit after two years and join the workforce. Here we have a lot to learn from the Japanese model of higher education which offers six years of higher education till the age of 24 but also has multiple exit options on the way, without forcing students to quit midway without a degree or certificate.

But perhaps the best aspect of Japanese education system is its stress on the three components of education – intellectual, moral and physical. That’s how they take a holistic approach, and teachers in Japan are trained not only to teach but also to engage in extracurricular activities to develop competencies and provide guidance. Lastly, meal provision in schools makes a lot of difference, where children themselves serve food provided by the school and are encouraged to clean up after themselves.

Source of the article: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/514098-learning-education-from-japan

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At Taiwan education fair in Manila, tech sector draws Filipinos

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Asia/ Taiwan/ 12.08.2019/ Fuente: focustaiwan.tw.

Access to Taiwan’s high-tech sector and the ability to learn Chinese are among the major factors sparking interest among Filipino students to study in Taiwan, educators said on the first day of the Taiwan Education Fair in the Philippines on Saturday.

Trinity University of Asia President Wilfred U. Tiu (張漢威) said at the fair that both factors were important in the eyes of Philippine students, who see overseas study as a chance to make themselves more competitive in the job market.

Studying Chinese is a big draw because of the considerable demand for Mandarin speaking professionals in the Philippines, he said.

Tiu noted that the Philippines has tried to move toward filling the gap by adding Chinese language to elementary and middle school curriculums in the country, but the lack of educators has made it difficult to implement the policy.

At the same time, the availability of scholarships and future access to Taiwan’s technology sector are also key incentives because of the potential career opportunities exposure to the tech sector could bring, Tiu said.

Now in its second year, the two-day fair is providing a chance to 32 Taiwanese universities this year to sell their programs and attract students from the Southeast Asian country, according to the organizer, the non-profit Taiwan Education Center in the Philippines.

More than 500 people visited the fair on Saturday and were introduced to Taiwan’s education system and environment by students and faculty of Taiwanese universities such as National Chengchi University and Fu Jen Catholic University.

At the opening ceremony, Michael Hsu (徐佩勇), Taiwan’s representative to the Philippines, said there are more than 1,600 Filipino students studying in Taiwan, with 450 of them enrolled in colleges or universities and the rest studying Chinese language or engaged in short-term programs.

He hoped that through the fair, more people in the Philippines will gain in-depth knowledge of Taiwan’s higher education system and its advantages, and become interested in studying in Taiwan.

Justine Pura, a Filipino student at National Sun Yat-sen University who was on hand to share her experiences, said Taiwan is a good option for Filipinos to study abroad because of its appealing culture and food as well as its convenient transportation and relatively low living expenses.

Fuente de la noticia: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aedu/201908110009.aspx

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Egypt shifts education focus to improving quality

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Africa/ Egypt/ 24.07.2019/ Source: www.al-monitor.com.

 

Malak Abdel Hakim, 15, was doing well at school before her parents forced her to drop out several months ago. The family lives in Mallawi, a city in the southern Egyptian governorate of Minya. Her father works in the Greater Cairo area as a doorman at a residential building in the Giza neighborhood of Mohandessin and barely earns enough money to support his family of nine. He turned a deaf ear to pleas from Malak’s teachers to let her finish her education, and decided it was time for her to stay home and help her mother with chores. Her older sisters had all dropped out of school at even younger ages to get married, and Malak, too, would have to «conform to social norms,» he insisted.

While the legal minimum age to get married is 18 in Egypt, child marriages are not uncommon in the poor marginalized southern communities, where girls are often married at early ages to alleviate their families’ financial burdens. Some families circumvent the law by postponing the registration of the marriages until the girls turn 18. A 2017 census by CAPMAS, Egypt’s national statistics agency, showed that 15% of Egyptian girls are married before they turn 16. But child marriage has been on the decline in recent years, largely due to awareness campaigns about the health implications of early marriage, including pregnancy and childbirth complications and higher risks of domestic violence.

Girls who marry early are also more likely to drop out of school. Yet in Egypt’s rural south, many girls drop out of school to earn daily wages for their families, many times working in agriculture, or staying home to look after siblings. Poor families often choose to invest in their sons’ educations with the hope they will grow up to become breadwinners.

Girls are also deprived of education due to gender-based violence. Parents worry their teenage daughters will be subjected to sexual harassment on their way to or from school, and some girls choose to drop out after experiencing abuse at the hands of their teachers.

An education program launched by CARE, an international humanitarian organization that has worked in Egypt since 1957, aims to change this grim picture and ensure safe education for all children, particularly girls.

«Thanks to a strong political will and donors’ contributions, there has been tremendous progress in recent years in closing the gender gap in education,» Hazem Fahmy, CARE’s country director, told Al-Monitor

In 2012, more than 95% of Egyptian children aged between 6 and 18 were enrolled in school, according to UNICEF. The quality of education, however, remained «a major challenge.» Last year, Egypt ranked 129th globally in terms of quality of education, according to the Spectator Index. Five years earlier, a report by the US Agency for International Development found that one in five third-graders in Egypt could not read a single word and 50% of students with five years of schooling were functionally illiterate.

Due to such statistics, the Egyptian government faces pressure to reform the education system. Overcrowding, poor teaching skills and violence in schools are among the problems the government is addressing as part of its plan to overhaul the system.

«The focus has now shifted from numbers to quality education,» Fahmy said. «We want to ensure that all students are benefiting from attending school and to prepare them for jobs and career opportunities.»

CARE has adopted a multifaceted approach to improve the learning environment and promote behavioral change in the Upper Egyptian governorates of Bani Sweif, Minya and Assiut. The program, launched in 2016, seeks to develop the infrastructure of schools, build the capacity of teachers and advance literacy in 32 targeted elementary schools. Engaging the local community in education is also part of the ambitious initiative.

Al Zeitoun Primary School in Bani Sweif, 145 kilometers (90 miles) south of Cairo, is one of 10 schools in the governorate that have undergone renovation financed by the Dubai-based philanthropic organization Dubai Cares, which works to improve children’s access to quality primary education in developing countries. The renovation has included upgrading the school’s electrical system, replacing windows and light fixtures, repairing water pipes and painting the walls and ceilings in bright colors. A fence has also been built around the school to curb truancy and protect students from trespassers.

«Something as basic as having bathroom doors fitted can make a huge difference, rendering the school student-friendly and a safe learning environment for the children, especially girls,» said Fahmy.

«We have also built small kitchens in some of the schools to ensure that the students get healthy meals,» he added.

Of the 1,100 students (half of them girls) at Al Zeitoun, 109 have been identified by teachers as having learning difficulties. They are attending an afterschool class to improve their reading and writing skills. The headquarters of the Community Development Association, a local nongovernmental organization, was chosen by the parents as the preferred venue to host the class due to its central location and proximity to the homes of many of the students. The class is part of a 36-session course that uses engaging reading material and fun activities to build the reading abilities of the students who are third- and fourth-graders. Each class is devoted to learning a single letter of the alphabet and to spelling words that begin or end with that letter.

Eleven-year-old Ne’ma Ali Omar shouts out the Arabic letter «Jeem» as she dribbles a basketball with one hand, getting ready to throw it into the hoop. When she misses, 10-year-old Rahma Farrag steps in and starts bouncing the ball while shouting out words that begin with the letter. She succeeds in throwing the ball through the hoop, much to the delight of the other children who cheer and clap.

«Activities of this kind help boost the children’s self-confidence and teach them team spirit while improving their reading skills. Some of the children were awfully shy and could hardly read or spell any words before attending these readability sessions. Now they come to the school library looking for new books to read,» Mohamed Abul Fadl, an Arabic-language teacher at the school, told Al-Monitor.

«Besides acquainting the teachers with the various methods and tools to improve children’s reading skills, we also gave them tips on how to develop their teaching skills,» Mona Kotb, field supervisor at CARE’s Education Program in Bani Sweif, told Al-Monitor.

«We advise them against using violence of any form to punish the students,» she said.

In remote southern communities where poverty is rampant, some teachers have been known to use violence and other excessive disciplinary measures, including beating children with canes, as a means of punishment. In one case, a teacher in Luxor cut the hair of two 12-year-old schoolgirls to punish them for not wearing a veil to school.

«The creation of school-based child protection committees has gone a long way in curbing bullying and other forms of violence in the targeted schools,» said Ali Khalaf, general manager of the Nasser Education Directorate in Bani Sweif. The directorate, a local branch of the Ministry of Education, has been partnering with CARE to implement the program.

The activation of student unions in some of the targeted schools is also helping change behavior by boosting students’ self-esteem.

«We have witnessed firsthand the impact the student unions have had on some of the students, giving them a voice and allowing them to communicate their needs to teachers and headmasters while helping develop their leadership skills,» said Khalaf.

Michelle Nunn, the president and CEO of CARE, is confident that Egypt’s education reforms will have far-reaching effects on the entire society.

«Girls’ education is part of the empowerment of women,» she told Al-Monitor after a recent inspection tour of some of CARE’s projects in Cairo, Minya and Assiut. «By accessing education, girls can potentially increase their family’s earnings by up to 20% annually. When women access education, they achieve greater productivity and well-being from a health perspective.»

«I hope that girls and women can realize their full potential and have the capacity to feel their own power in education, health and economic opportunities. There is so much potential still; if realized, it can be transformational for the entire society.»

Source of the notice: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/07/care-tackles-girls-education-in-egypt.html

 

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For effective regulation of the country’s education system

Anurag Behar

By: Anurag Behar.

 

Scepticism of India’s draft National Education Policy should be suspended until it is implemented

This is the second column in the series, Glimpses Of The Draft National Education Policy (NEP). The draft NEP has received widespread responses, ranging from thoughtful endorsement and insightful critique to good-faith criticism. Some of this is in the public domain, but a lot more seems to be happening in group consultations, feedback to the human resource development ministry, etc. The final policy will be richer for all this. I am extracting some of the salient features of the NEP, with the intent to address some of the issues raised in these responses, but specific knowledge of the responses is not necessary to read through these points.

The NEP is a clear and strong endorsement of the public education system. It envisions high-quality, equitable and universal education—in and through the public education system. This is as applicable to higher education as to school education (age 3-22 roughly). Public-spirited, not-for-profit private institutions will certainly have a role in the Indian education system. However, it is the obligation of the state to provide high-quality education, and all efforts shall be aligned with this goal.

Government spending on public education must rise from current 10% of national public expenditure to 20% in 10 years. These numbers are rough estimates that indicate the direction and scale of the change required. The NEP is what the name says. It is education policy and cannot substitute the government’s fiscal policy and financial strategy. The NEP highlights the financial needs of education and does not dwell on where the money will come from, which is the business of the state.

The Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009, remains a key bulwark of school education—especially in the context of the strong reaffirmation of the state’s obligation and centrality of public education. If anything, its importance becomes deeper and broader, since the extension of the RTE from age 3 to 18, from the current 6 to 14, is envisioned as a key to enabling early-childhood-education and secondary education. The NEP explicitly endorses the continuation of Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation and the No Detention Policy in schools, taking a stand against the recent (past two years) legislative and other actions that dilute or eliminate these educationally important steps. It also directs action on the stopping of misuses and malpractices, including of 12(1)(c), for example, seeking exemption from the RTE by claiming “minority status», inflating student numbers, misrepresenting the socio-economic background of students, etc. It also calls for improvement of the RTE based on a comprehensive review of the experience of its implementation in the past decade, particularly on the matter of being responsive to local infrastructure needs without compromising safety, security and a wholesome learning environment.

“India» and “Indian» are integrated in many parts of the NEP. Some of these matters are: Indian languages, Indian literature, Indian art, Indian music, Indian knowledge systems, Indian history and context, etc. How could it be otherwise? After all, this is an education policy for India. Especially when it doesn’t do all this at the cost of ignoring the “global/modern». I can appreciate the apprehensions of some: “Is there more to this?» If the NEP text is read with an open mind, it becomes clear that there is nothing more to it than an important and valid commitment to know, understand and value our own society. The NEP takes a clear stand for a scientific temper, critical thinking and associated capacities, and for our constitutional values.

The NEP has the vision to transform the regulation and governance of the education system. Three of the key underpinning principles for this transformation are: transparent public disclosure, maximal empowerment and autonomy for institutions, and separation of roles and powers of regulation, operations, standard-setting, etc. While these principles are common to higher and school education, their manifestations are different. School education would be regulated by a newly created quasi-judicial “State School Regulatory Authority», based on a robust accreditation system, and the states’ Directorate of School Education (or Public Instruction) will only be responsible for running and improving the public schooling system. An illustrative implication of this is, Block Education Officers will have no regulatory powers; they will be responsible only for running and improving public schools. This “accreditation system» is based on, and thus empowering of, local institutions such as peer schools, school management committees and panchayats.

I have had the privilege of a ringside view of the evolution of the NEP. That gives me confidence that the draft will be enriched and revised by the constructive responses to it. Some of those responses will be the topic of the third piece in this series. I have also seen negative reactions to it. Many of these are born of a deep scepticism that committees can do their work unhindered and uninfluenced. Clearly, the final test of any policy is in its implementation, but it is important to suspend such judgement and disbelief. The NEP offers ample energy for that optimism.

Source of the article: https://www.livemint.com/

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Ethiopia: Planning for a differentiated higher education system

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Africa/ Ethiopia/ 24.04.2019/ Source: qswownews.com.

 

The Ethiopian higher education landscape is in a critical need for distinction and an ideal opportunity has emerged with the establishment of the Education Development Roadmap (2018-30), which acknowledges the benefiting of driving quality and competitiveness with reference to programme offerings, functional focus, institutional status and student composition, combined with the nation’s fifth Education Sector Development Programme or ESDP V (2015/16-2019/20). However, strategies are essential as to how this can be realised.

Despite of the two decades of change and transformation, the higher education framework in Ethiopia still comply with similar patterns and trends. There is limited differentiation among public universities in their missions, visions, governance structure, student admission policies, core activities and the disciplinary mix which characterises their programme. The resemblance also include research engagement and output.

The residential framework remains the prevalent design across the public sector. Further, regardless of their differences in resources and capacities, public and private universities are required to deliver the fundamental undertakings of teaching, research and community services.

The primary justification for this similar scope is due to the fact that the development of the Ethiopian HE system over the last two decades is not supported by the features of an individuated system, even with early calls for such a system.

However, the present advancements both at national and institutional levels demonstrates the sector’s keenness to take on board a new frontier of a more distinguished HE system. Among the most distinctive remarks of this readiness are the strategies integrated in the nation’s fifth ESDP V and the recently established Education Development Roadmap.

Ethiopia’s new Education Roadmap has acknowledged the values and need for a distinguished HE system. Further to recognising the perks of  advocating institutional quality and competitiveness, the roadmap illustrates the need for planning multiple directions of “differentiation” based on programme offerings, functional focus, institutional status, student composition etc without implementing regulations on the paths to be sought after. This policy can be deemed as a critical initial move towards nationwide planning and institutional actions.

However, no distinctive strategy or system is implemented to regulate such a system. The new Education Roadmap fails to demonstrate what course the differentiation should take, how and when. Given the demand for such a system, the next move should place emphasis on detailed planning by looking into both international and local experiences that can result in effective lectures.

Several practical proposals have been made since before the early 2000s, towards the development of a unique system in Ethiopia. At present, Ethiopia desires to become a middle income country by 2025 and hopes to leverage on higher education to reduce poverty and develop its economy. The shift in its agriculture-led economy to an industrial one is therefore dependent on the existence of an educated workforce that can contribute predominantly in technology transfer and knowledge creation.

All in all, a differentiated HE system should be undertaken to meet the overall national vision of improving local development and initiating an internationally competitive labour force that supports in the present shift towards the development of a knowledge society.

The corresponding growth and experiences attained over the last two decades illustrate the alignment of Ethiopia’s development strategies with the tenacious growth of its higher education sector urge for a holistic vision and strategy that should lead the future advancement of institutions, their systematic deployment and utilisation.

The option of a detailed national subsystem of differentiation should not place emphasis on certain institutions; but rather on how all institutions within the system are classified and utilised to react to nationally-envisaged goals and to regional and international positioning.

The project requires in-depth review of current institutions, their related strengths, aspirations, institutional cultures, resource and location advantages and the significance of a differentiated system. The task demands expert knowledge, long-term vision and the engagement of relevant stakeholders.

Regardless of the choice of execution, the system’s achievement would be dependent on its primary objective, that is the smooth integration of the components of access and excellence.

Source of the noticie: https://qswownews.com/planning-for-a-differentiated-higher-education-system/

 

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The urgent need to plan for disability-inclusive education

Reseñas

By:  Suzanne Grant Lewis.

When you think of a typical school, do you envisage any children with disabilities? Are the school facilities accessible to all students and the learning materials adapted to everyone’s needs? Is the teacher trained on how to use them?

Devex’s Development Enabled series

Development Enabled explores the daily challenges of people with disabilities, while looking at solutions on how to support a disability-inclusive world.

These questions only hint at the complexities involved in planning for disability-inclusive education — a global imperative in response to children with disabilities being one of the most marginalized groups in education.

There are between 93-150 million children living with a disability, according to the World Health Organization’s 2011 World Disability Report. In low- and middle-income countries, the 2016 Learning Generation report estimates that as many as 33 million children with disabilities are out of school. Stigma and discrimination combined with a lack of data — making them hard to reach — compounds the problem.

Disability-inclusive education is a strong entry point into the broader concept of inclusive education, which UNESCO defines as the process of reaching out to all learners by addressing all forms of exclusion and marginalization; disparities; and inequalities in access, participation, and learning outcomes.

“More and more governments now recognize the important benefits of disability-inclusive education for all members of society.”

— Suzanne Grant Lewis, director, UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning

For children with disabilities, this does not just mean enrolment into a mainstream school. All facets of the education system must be addressed so that it can equally respond to the diverse needs of all its learners. There is no “one-size-fits-all” answer. Every country needs to formulate its own set of solutions that reach down to the level of individual schools.

There are some overarching ideas to consider when planning for disability-inclusive education, however. Here are five:

1. Acknowledge that inclusive education is a human right

Inclusive education — and more specifically disability-inclusive education — is a human right. In fact, 177 countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which calls for the integration of people with disabilities in societies, including in education. The Sustainable Development Goals further recognize the crucial role of inclusive and equitable quality education in building a better, more equal world.

2. Encourage a system-wide approach

Inclusive education requires an inclusive approach. This means looking holistically from administration and management down to what happens inside and outside the school. This includes looking at pedagogy and assessments, financial and human resources, as well as less tangible issues such as attitudes and norms. At the same time, other causes of marginalization cannot be ignored, including gender, location, ethnicity, language, displacement, and security.

A cross-sectoral approach is required as children with disabilities may also encounter constraints related to health and transport, for example. As highlighted in a 2018 technical round table on disability-inclusive education, hosted by UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning and UNICEF, an effective response therefore requires the participation of the community-at-large, development partners, persons with disabilities, parents, and other ministries. This kind of collaboration is taking place in a range of countries including Cambodia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Nepal, South Africa, Vietnam, and others.

3. Promote meaningful data collection to reach the invisible

A lack of quality data on children with disabilities makes it nearly impossible to both locate out-of-school children and ensure that those in school are receiving the support needed to succeed. Both national governments and development partners are playing an increasingly important role in encouraging the collection of information on disabilities through household surveys and education management information systems. The Washington Group on Disability Statistics and UNICEF have also enabled a shift in focus from medical categorizations of disability to a focus on the types of difficulties a child may have in the classroom.

Equally important is data collection that addresses the school environment, such as physical accessibility to schools, information on inclusive policies and rights, learning materials, teacher training, and the availability of support specialists in schools.

4. Remember that implementation is what really counts

Foundations of disability-inclusive education sector planning: New online course from IIEP-UNESCO and UNICEF

Starting October 2019, ministries of education can register for a new course on planning for disability-inclusive education. The first course, lasting 6-8 weeks, will focus on eastern and southern anglophone Africa. Ministries will be invited to present teams of 4-6 members. Stay in touch with IIEP-UNESCO for updates.

We know that genuine inclusive education requires a broad systemic rethinking of education systems and school cultures. However, the ultimate test will come in how countries develop, implement, and monitor inclusive policies and plans.

There is also a growing consensus among development partners on the need for action to address inclusive education and to go beyond policy advocacy to actual implementation. On this front, IIEP-UNESCO is working with a broad group of partners — including the GLAD network, and UNICEF in particular — to help address planning issues through the development of regional training courses around planning for inclusive education.

5. Think of inclusive education not as a challenge, but an opportunity

More and more governments now recognize the important benefits of disability-inclusive education for all members of society. Not only does it open doors for children who were once excluded, it is more cost-effective than special needs schools that only reach small populations, promotes social cohesion, and enables all children and youth to appreciate diversity.

Many countries are still in the early stages of planning for this, but the round table this past July brought several examples of progress to the forefront including an inclusive education policy in Ghana, robust data collection in Fiji, and an enhanced budget for inclusive education in Cambodia’s new education sector plan.

Let us share these success stories as we continue toward 2030. And, as reflected in UNESCO’s guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education, let us not see individual differences as “problems to be fixed,” but as opportunities for “democratizing and enriching learning” for all.

Source of the article: https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-the-urgent-need-to-plan-for-disability-inclusive-education-94059

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Minister wants to ‘decolonise’ education in South Africa

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Africa/ South Africa/ 06.02.2019/ Source: businesstech.co.za.

Basic education minister Angie Motshekga has called for a more ‘decolonised’ education system in South Africa – saying the current system needs to be amended to allow for diversification.

According to EWN, Motshekga made the comments on the sidelines of the Basic Education lekgotla in Boksburg on Monday, but gave very little in the way of expanding on the concept.

The ‘decolonisation of education’ was at the forefront of demands from students during the Fees Must Fall protests in 2016 and 2017, where students demanded that universities prioritise African studies, and overhaul the curriculum to serve African needs.

However, there has been no real consensus on what it means to decolonise education, with academics noting demands ranging from more African-centric subjects, to a complete overhaul of academia that rejects non-African, or ‘colonial’ studies.

According to Motshekga, the current education system should be amended, with more diverse subjects from high school right through to university. She described the current systems as “very colonial, British, academic”.

Changes to SA’s education system

Motshekga’s comments are generally in-line with the ANC’s latest election manifesto, which also calls for some major changes to the South Africa’s education system, including curriculum changes.

In the ANC’s 2019 manifesto, the party has called for changes to school curricula, predominantly to prepare for the fourth industrial revolution, but also to promote and implement indigenous language programmes, including the finalisation of language legislation in provinces for inclusion in the school curriculum.

Also included in the manifesto is a desire to put history as a key focus area. In December 2019, the department of education gazetted its plans to develop a new history curriculum – with some proposals to make the subject compulsory.

Moves have also already been made to open up access to universities, by doing away with the designated subjects list, and allowing matrics to get bachelor’s entry on a wider array of subjects.

Where a matriculant was previously required to meet the pass prerequisite from a subject list of 18 for bachelors entry at university – which included subjects like accounting, maths and science – they now need only to pass any of the approved 20-credit NSC subjects (excluding Life Orientation).

Academics have said that while it’s good to promote African-centric subjects and curricula, a balance needs to be struck so that the advances of modern medicine, education and science that originated elsewhere in the world aren’t abandoned.

Source of the notice: https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/294654/minister-wants-to-decolonise-education-in-south-africa/

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