Education

Ghana, August 15, 2017/By ANANPANSAH,B ABRAHAM/Source: https://www.modernghana.com

The razzmatazz that heralded the 2012 and 2016 general election can still be recollected fresh.Free education. Free education. Free education.Now it’s here…Indeed,if government says yes,who can say no(apart from God).Thank you your Excellency Nana Addo.Thank you sedulously tax payer.

The handwriting is bold enough.Free Senior High School (SHS) is here to stay despite your right to say.This is a fact all «priviledged person’s» must accept or feel free to to burn the sea!»Chai, I feel you well well Mr . Education Minister like Don Jazzy feel Omotolla.Hard talk be what?

The baseline remains September 2017.(Ghc400 million cool and we’ve started).This is albeit the gritting concerns on the table yet to be addressed.

Infact,I should say that government’s decision to expand access by redefining basic education to include secondary education is commendable.It’s a constitutional must-have.Financially distressed parents can now sleep with all two eyes closed.The ‘School Fees BP’ of poor parents will reduce.I celebrate government for this effort.

Yes,the policy is laudable.But no matter how letter-perfect the policy on Fee Free Education may appear to be,in the absence of clear information and a government white paper on the implementation of the policy,the genuine concerns of critics should well be understood.It’s therefore,very important we hasten slowly in our attempt to render every dissenting view nugatory.Dissenters may not necessarily be ‘priviledged persons’ or ‘antagonist’, but citizens who care for the system.

Hiding in my little ‘somewhere’ as a village blogger fully raised in the ‘village situation’,I smile miserably at every mention of free education.I have always had genuine issues to raise about the policy.I see a good policy on one hand, and on the other hand,I prevision challenges for that ‘village student’.(My previous articles on the subject matter speaks volumes).As I’ve always maintained,the policy in itself is good.But a good thing may be done wrongly defeating its intended purpose.

We’ve also heard it all.The voice of the Minister of Education is loud enough…»You don’t need to be brilliant to enjoy free SHS…;Sit the BECE,pass, get placed in a public SHS,and you benefit from Free SHS».Two sides of the same argument,I guess!And this position seem to provoke my curiosity.

The emphasis is the usual «grade producing educational system».Pass.Pass.Pass.Well!

The ‘Cut off pass mantra’ is the clear reason why most people are classifying the policy as a scholarship package.Thus, you must meet a pass condition(Cut off grade) before you can enjoy the policy package.If you don’t meet the condition,count yourself out.

Expanding the argument by taking a closer look at the wisdom contained in article 25 (1) of the 1992 constitution,the very basis of this policy,which says «All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities….», I ask myself:Do we all have equal educational opportunities and facilities in this country?Article 17 (4 )(a) makes it beautiful by empowering parliament to enact laws that are reasonably necessary to provide «for the implementation of policies and programmes aimed at redressing social,economic or educational imbalances in the Ghanaian society.»

In an attempt to create such equal opportunities and redress the imbalances in our educational system as a country,particularly between the North and South,the Northern Scholarship was instituted in 1957 by Ghana’s first president Dr.Kwame Nkrumah as a gap bridging mechanism.Feeding grants and examination registration fees are covered under the scholarship.The policy, distributive as it’s, aims at addressing equity challenges and ensuring social justice.

But it appears we have now grown pass the stone age of «so-called Northern Scholarship to negotiating Free SHS policy that is going to be universally proportional in nature regardless of the existing systemic imbalances.The playing field will be levelled irrespective of environmental,socioeconomic and existing conditions.The policy is going to treat unequals as equals.The benchmark is simple,»pass your BECE and enjoy».

In effect,students who use stones as computer mouse are expected to score the same grade in ICT as those who enjoy ultramodern ICT facilities in the cities.Children from underserved communities and deprived backgrounds must compete in the imbalanced system with their affluent counterparts and obtain the same grades if not better…No more preferential treatment.Whether in «King’s or Queen’s JHS or Kotito Number 10 JHS»,you must pass the same exams with or without the needed TLM’s, facilities or learning support.That is now the system.

And it’s or should be said that,in such a system,I envision a deliberate attempt to further widen the already widened inequality gap in education between Northern and Southern Ghana.The existing gap in education between the two halves of our country may not be plucked any sooner.

Educational standard in the three Regions of the North and some deprived communities in Ghana is generally accepted to be low.Not because children from these parts of the country are born ‘stupid’,but the clear established gap in resources and facilities «cause am».

Taking the 2014 BECE results as an example,only 60% of students who sat for the examination qualified to enter SHS.In the three Regions of the North particularly,22% qualified from Northern Region,11% from Upper West and Upper East Regions.In the same year under review,80% of students qualified from Greater Accra and Ashanti Region to enter SHS.So you see the clear disparity?

Students from the north who hitherto didn’t patronise the ‘big public SHS’s» in the south for fear of the fees would now want to ‘dare there’.The requirements and the challenge of competing with students exposed to improved learning environments for limited space in such schools may,however, limit their chances.We are gradually going to have a system where students from advanced Junior High Schools get not only the best of the policy but the most out of it.The poor and disadvantaged students can’t catch up with the system.The very people for whose reason the policy is being implemented.

A good policy among other things,must aim at increasing the equity and fairness of all members and sectors of society by balancing the existing conditions.

The policy if not prioritised will create undue added advantage for our brothers in the south,whilst creating added disadvantage for those down north.

It’s on this note that I wish to call on the Northern Caucaus of Members of Parliament to seek clear answers and demand for a fair implementation of the policy along the existing imbalanced conditions.A wise man once said there no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals.The gap between the north and south is already wide enough.Any any attempt to widen it the more can only spell doom for our common good .It’s not for nothing that nations usually rise against nations.

Let’s beware!
May God bless our homeland Ghana.
The writer of this article is a teacher by profession,a freelance journalist,youth/community advocate,blogger/writer and a student.

Read more of his works on ( ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com ).

By ANANPANSAH,B ABRAHAM(AB)
(The Village Writer)
0241129910/0200704844

Source:

https://www.modernghana.com/news/795199/free-shs-a-challenge-to-bridging-gap-in-education-between-no.html

África/Tanzania, August 12, 2017. By: allafrica.com

Opposition party Chadema has challenged the government to remove some of the criteria set by the Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB) to enable more applicants to access the facility.

The challenge was made in the city yesterday by the shadow minister for Education, Science and Technology, Ms Susan Lyimo, adding that the set criteria should be reviewed to make the selection fair for all citizens to get education.

She cited the Article 13 (2) of the Constitution of Tanzania which states: «No law enacted by any authority in the United Republic shall make any provision that is discriminatory either of itself or in its effect».

The Special Seats MP insisted that Section 4 of the Constitution also provides that «No person shall be discriminated against by any person or any authority acting under any law or in the discharge of the functions or business of any state office».

According to her, the criteria to be removed include the seventh, which requires the applicants to have completed Advanced Certificate of Secondary Education (ACSEE), or equivalent qualifications not earlier than 2015/16, and the eighth which limits applicants to be no older than 30 years.

She also named criteria number nine and ten which prohibit applicants whose parents are directors and senior managers in public or private companies recognised by the Revenue and Registration authorities from applying.

Responding to the concerns, HESLB executive director Abdul-Razaq Badru said the criteria were set to enable beneficiaries repay their loans on time.

According to him, even the Education Policy states that no student shall be allowed to join secondary education after the age 25, so the two instructions go together.

Speaking about applicants whose parents are directors and senior managers in various institutions, Mr Badru said the aim was to serve students from poor families first.

«Various stakeholders were involved in the preparation of these criteria. In this year, we are aiming to issue loans to 30,000 students,» he said.

Ms Lyimo also extended her call to the government to amend the Education Policy saying that it has failed to prepare competent experts to serve in various sectors.

She pointed out other challenges facing the education sector in the country as including the use of poorly authored textbooks in public schools, insisting that the material must be removed from the learning system.

In her views, there was a need to form a special commission that would be supervising the sector and immediately act on challenges that would rise.

«If we need to have better education, then it is a must for the whole system to be changed. We need to have quality books, a reflective philosophy and supportive infrastructure,» she argued.

The shadow minister also maintained the stand that teenage mothers should be allowed to resume studies after giving birth, as it has been stipulated in the Constitution which guarantees right to education for everyone.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/201708120046.html

Ghana/August 8, 2017/By: ghananewsagency.com/ Source: https://www.ghanamma.com

Mr Stephen Abarika, the Eastern Regional President of the Girls Education Network (GEN), says supervision and monitoring in public schools are key to improving standards and performance of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE)

He therefore asked all stakeholders especially circuit supervisors of the Ghana Education Service (GES), community leaders, chiefs and elders, schools management committees (SMCs)to upscale their role to ensure that the expected outcomes in the investment of education especially at the basic level was fully realised.

Speaking at the maiden meeting of the GEN, to map up strategies in improving girl- child education, he observed that with strong supervision from all stakeholders’ public schools including girl’s education would be improved.

Mr Abarika, who is also the project officer of AG Care, Ghana, a social and relief organisation of the Assemblies of God Church, said monitoring and evaluation had led to sustainable change in entry, retention, completion and transition of learners in some schools in the Suhum Municipality by AG-Care.

He observed that, the institution of the GEN network indicated that there was a problem with girl- child education, be it enrolment, retention and transition to the next level, apart from the basic level.

He called on partners working towards the girl- child education to step up grassroots stakeholder participation.

The GEN is a Network of NGOs working in the interest of promoting girl -child education in the Region.

It consists of AG-Care, Action Aid, and College for Ama, FLOWER, CRESCCENT, International Child Development Programme, World Vision, Plan International, World Joy and the Girls Education Unit of the GES among other organisations.

Among the objectives of the GEN is to use a common strategy and platform to address issues such as teenage pregnancies, early marriages, poverty and other challenges that militate the enrolment, retention and transition of the girl- child in having a sound education for empowerment.

Teenage pregnancy, remains one of the huge challenges confronting girl -child education in the Region.

According to Ghana Health Service report in 2013, more than 12,000 girls of school going age were recorded pregnant and therefore dropped out of school.

Source:

https://www.ghanamma.com/2017/08/08/supervision-key-to-performance-in-public-schools/

Mexico/August 8, 2017/by Carol A. Clark/Source: http://www.ladailypost.com

Public school districts, nonprofit New Mexico educational institutions, IRS-qualified 501(c)(3) organizations, government agencies, and Pueblo/Tribal communities serving the Northern New Mexico counties of Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, or Taos are eligible to apply for grants of up to $2,500.

Application and instructions may be found online at www.lanlfoundation.org/grants. Grant proposals are accepted quarterly. The deadline for second quarter funding is Aug. 15.

For more information, contact Susanne Miller at 505.753.8890 or susanne@lanlfoundation.org.

About the LANL Foundation

Since 1997, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has worked to inspire excellence in education and learning in Northern New Mexico through innovative programming, collaboration and advocacy. By investing in human potential, the Foundation’s vision is that all New Mexicans have the skills and confidence they need to be self-sufficient, lifelong learners who are engaged in their communities. Programs in early childhood, STEM inquiry education, scholarships and small grants serve Northern New Mexico communities primarily in Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe and Taos counties.

Source:

http://www.ladailypost.com/content/lanl-foundation-awards-61298-education-and-community-grants

By Steven J. Klees

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals represent a remarkable commitment by the international community to eliminate poverty and improve health, the environment, education, and much more in all countries by 2030. The SDG for education is straightforward: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Unfortunately, we are a long way from achieving this goal, particularly in developing countries. More than 250 million of the world’s 1.6 billion children are not in school, and 400 million lack basic literacy.If current trends continue, by 2030 half of all children will not have the basic skills needed for employment.

The main problem is a shortage of resources. While developing countries can finance more than 90% of what they need to ensure universal access to quality primary and secondary education, there is still a large funding gap – approaching $40 billion in 2020, and $90 billion by 2030 – that must be filled by international aid.

Solving this problem has been the goal of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (the Education Commission), chaired by Gordon Brown and comprising luminaries in business, government, and academia. But the Education Commission’s two principal recommendations are wrongheaded, and should be replaced by two other solutions. Both will be politically difficult to achieve, but are necessary for financing the SDGs.

The Education Commission’s first proposal is to count on “philanthropists, corporations, and charitable organizations” to increase their annual aid contributions from $2 billion today to $20 billion by 2030. This is unlikely to happen. More to the point, charity is not a responsible way to finance public policy. As one recent study shows, charitable education-reform efforts tend to be short-sighted, uncoordinated, and self-interested, ultimately contributing little to advancing education priorities.

The Education Commission’s second proposal is to form an International Finance Facility for Education, to be overseen by the World Bank and various regional development banks. Under the proposed IFFEd, development banks would borrow from capital markets to increase their annual investments in education to $10 billion by 2020, and to $20 billion by 2030.

The principal problem with this approach is that the World Bank has no business spearheading education reform. In fact, as my own research shows, the World Bank has already been misdirecting education reform in developing countries for three decades, by pushing for increased privatization and narrowly defined educational outcomes and accountability based on excessive testing.

The World Bank’s market-fundamentalist approach to education (and other sectors) resembles that of right-wing think tanks such as the Cato Institute or the Heritage Foundation. But while these are recognized as partisan organizations pursuing an ideological agenda, the World Bank makes a pretense of objectivity and inclusiveness. Moreover, unlike Cato and Heritage, the World Bank is a public, tax-financed entity that wields vast influence around the world through its grants, loans, and policy recommendations.

Future generations will be aghast at how we have allowed banks to determine educational and other priorities. Rather than handing institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund more power, we need a new Bretton Woods conference to make them democratically accountable and less ideological.

As things stand, the World Bank is the 500-pound gorilla of the international-aid establishment, and the proposed IFFEd would put the gorilla on steroids. It would also make coordinating aid to education an administrative nightmare. In addition to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which focuses on low-income countries, and the recently established Education Cannot Wait (ECW) fund, which focuses on countries with humanitarian emergencies, we would have a third body focusing on lower- and middle-income countries.

It makes no sense to have three multilateral institutions competing with one another for funding. As Columbia University’s Jeffrey D. Sachs has long argued, we need just one Global Fund for Education to work toward the education SDG, and it can be a revamped GPE. Whereas donors will dominate IFFEd decision-making, the GPE operates more democratically, with equal representation of donor and recipient countries and strong participation from civil-society organizations. While the GPE is still too dependent on the World Bank, which supervises 80% of its grants, that can be changed.

Instead of the proposed IFFEd, we need two things. Wealthy countries need to honor the commitment, made in 1970 and repeated ever since, to allocate 0.7% of GDP toward ODA. While a few countries already do this, most fall far short. Just by keeping past promises, wealthy countries could close the education-funding gap – and cover all of the other SDGs’ financing needs, too. The Education Commission, by contrast, lets wealthy countries off the hook, by asking them to commit just 0.5% of GDP to ODA, and not until 2030.

Second, we need a global approach to taxation. As my colleague and I point out in a report for the Education Commission, corporate-tax reforms could eliminate tax avoidance and evasion, which are costing the global economy more than $600 billion every year. To achieve the needed reforms, we need to increase the UN’s capacity instead of relying on the OECD, which has proposed only minor changes.

We also need to institute a global wealth tax, as economist Thomas Piketty has proposed. It is obscene that the world’s eight richest people hold as much wealth as the poorest 50%. Like corporate-tax reform and fulfilling past promises to fund ODA, a 1% global wealth tax could finance all of the SDGs combined.

The SDGs, even more so than the Millennium Development Goals that preceded them, represent an extraordinary global commitment. But if the international community is serious about meeting them, it must do something even more unprecedented: put its money where its mouth is.

Copyright: Project Syndicate: Financing Universal Education

Source:

https://www.azernews.az/analysis/117234.html

UNICEF/August 8, 2017/By Riley Bunch/ Source: http://reliefweb.int

South African/August 8, 2017/By: Suthentira Govender / Source: https://www.businesslive.co.za

Source:

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/education/2017-08-07-sa-students-not-prepared-for-tertiary-education-says-study/