Education

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Latinoamérica está rezagada por falta de educación de calidad, advierte CAF

Noticias

América Latina/ 08 de julio de 2017/ Fuente: El Espectador

Durante la presentación de un informe sobre educación y trabajo, el Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina sostuvo que la región «está perdiendo el tren de la Historia».

América Latina está quedando rezagada en comparación con otras zonas del mundo por la falta de una educación de calidad e innovación tecnológica, advirtió este jueves una responsable de la CAF, el Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina.

«Todas nuestras investigaciones nos han llevado a detectar que América Latina está perdiendo el tren de la Historia», dijo la representante de la CAF en Panamá, Susana Pinilla, durante la presentación de un informe sobre educación y trabajo.

Recordó que en la década de 1970, América Latina orientó su economía a la exportación de materias primas, pero ese modelo «no funciona más para el siglo XXI», por lo que planteó sustituirlo por otro que otorgue «valor agregado a nuestra producción y eso depende de la competitividad».

Pinilla consideró que la educación y capacitación de los trabajadores son clave para atraer inversiones y nuevas tecnologías.

Entre las causas de esa falta de preparación está la pobreza, que lleva a los niños a ir mal alimentados a la escuela, a no ser educados por sus padres o la deserción escolar, así como la desigualdad para acceder a educación de calidad, según los expertos.

Según la CAF, en América Latina el 11% de los niños trabaja, mientras que el 56% de ellos no tiene libros en su casa.

Para Fernando Álvarez, economista de Investigación de CAF, en la región«hay importantes brechas» desde muy temprano en el nivel de educación entre niños de familias pobres y ricas y, aunque ha habido «progresos incuestionables», en la cobertura educativa hay una deuda en la calidad y acceso a la educación.

Agregó que la región presenta «rasgos de subdesarrollo», como la alta informalidad y desigualdad en el trabajo y una baja productividad.

«Hemos tenido una serie de condiciones que retrasaron a América Latina versus otros países, principalmente los asiáticos, que sí invirtieron mucho tiempo en desarrollar sus capacidades educativas y formativas», afirmó Pinilla.

«Si no tenemos un factor humano preparado las inversiones se inhiben y la tecnología no se puede instalar, porque no hay capacidades para manejarla», añadió.

La CAF, con sede en Caracas, es un banco de desarrollo fundado en 1970 e integrado por 19 países, además de 13 bancos privados.Originalmente se llamaba Corporación Andina de Fomento, pero cambió su nombre a Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina, aunque sigue usando la sigla CAF.

Fuente noticia: http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/educacion/latinoamerica-esta-rezagada-por-falta-de-educacion-de-calidad-advierte-caf-articulo-701736

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Education Cannot Wait – a fund for education in emergencies: Statement by the Global Campaign for Education

Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación (CLADE)

By CLADE

462 million school-aged children – or one in four around the world – live in countries affected by crisis. 75 million are either in danger of, or are already, missing out on their right to a free, quality education. Education empowers and promotes resilience, provides a safe space and stability, is fundamental for children, youth and adults to tackle emergencies, and breaks the cycle of conflict.

Supporting children and young people living in some of the world’s most difficult contexts has proven to be a serious challenge: in 2015, only 12% of children identified as living in conflict situations were reached by humanitarian funding dedicated to education. Efforts must be redoubled if the world is to meet its shared ambition to leave no one behind.

As such, the Global Campaign for Education welcomes the launch of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies, which was announced at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, 23-24 May 2016. The fund aims to reach more than 13.6 million children and young people living in crisis situations, such as conflict, natural disasters and disease outbreaks, with quality education over the next five years, and 75 million by 2030. GCE believes that the new fund constitutes an historic opportunity to fund the future by ensuring access to quality education for some of the world’s most vulnerable children and young people.

The European Union, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States have all made financial contributions for the first year of the fund so far, with Denmark indicating its willingness to make a financial contribution in 2017. The fund’s target for the first year is US$150 million, with an overall ambition of achieving $3.5 billion over a five-year period; by the close of the World Humanitarian Summit, just over 50% of the year one target had been pledged.

GCE welcomes these pledges and will be holding governments to account by analysing these commitments in the coming days. It is crucial to ensure that new monies have been pledged, and that countries supporting the new Fund do not double-count commitments, such as those made during the February 2016 Syria Conference, or draw back their support from existing mechanisms, such as the Global Partnership for Education.

Similarly, GCE urges those governments making pledges to the new fund to commit to delivering the vision of equitable, inclusive and free quality education to which they have pledged for every child in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Education 2030 Framework for Action; all children, young people and adults have the same rights, and these rights should not be compromised for those living in crisis contexts. We particularly call on governments to ensure that public funds dedicated to education are used for quality, public provision and systems, and not to support for-profit private companies seeking to draw financial profit from humanitarian crises. This practice, known as ‘disaster capitalism’, has already been applied in several cases and contexts, and has proven to be profoundly detrimental to the realisation of human rights. For the right to education, it places quality, equity, and inclusion in serious jeopardy.

GCE also welcomes the fund’s commitment to being inclusive and transparent in its own governance. We call on the fund to adhere to the principle of engaging with and including civil society, both in its own governance arrangements and in its ways of working on the ground. The voice of citizens is vital to ensuring that its work is well-informed, and held accountable by those it seeks to serve.

GCE submitted its own pledge to the World Humanitarian Summit. The pledge encompassed building civil society capacity in countries afflicted by disaster and conflict to ensure citizens are involved in sector planning in and for such contexts, as well as monitoring education financing and delivery. At local, national, regional and international levels, GCE is also committed to advocating for increased and additional resources for education in emergencies and crises, and monitoring such commitments and delivery of services.

The statement above can be downloaded in English.

Source:

http://www.campaignforeducation.org/en/news/global/view/679-education-cannot-wait-a-fund-for-education-in-emergencies-statement-by-the-global-campaign-for-education

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Combating global poverty with education

Sarwar Md. Saifullah Khaled

By: Sarwar Md. Saifullah Khaled

Education is at the core of progress in all fields in the world. Its role in eradicating poverty through equitable distribution of income and achieving progress and prosperity can hardly be over-emphasised. There is no alternative to education to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to alleviating poverty by 2030. A new United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) policy paper shows that the global poverty rate could be more than halved if all adults completed secondary school.

But new data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) show persistently high out-of-school rates in many countries. This makes it likely that completion levels in education will remain well below the target for generations to come. The paper titled ‘Reducing global poverty through universal primary and secondary education’ is being released ahead of the UN High Level Political Forum (10-19 July), which will focus on poverty eradication in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (ASD).

The paper demonstrates the importance of recognising universal primary and secondary education as a core lever for ending poverty in all its forms everywhere in the world. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova was quoted as saying in a message received from Paris that the new analysis on education’s far-reaching benefits should be good news for all those working on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to eradicate poverty by 2030. She said, «It shows we have a concrete plan to ensure people no longer have to live on barely a few dollars a day».

The new analysis on education’s impact on poverty and income inequality by the UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report team is based on average effects of education on growth and poverty reduction in developing countries from 1965 to 2010. It shows nearly 60 million people of the world could escape poverty if all adults had just two more years of schooling. If all adults completed secondary education, 420 million could be lifted out of poverty in the world, reducing the total number of poor people by more than half globally and by almost two-thirds in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Studies have shown that education has direct and indirect impacts on both economic growth and poverty.

Education provides skills that boost employment opportunities and incomes of people while it helps protect people from socio-economic vulnerabilities. A more equitable expansion of education globally is likely to reduce inequality of income, lifting the poorest from the bottom of the income ladder. Despite education’s immense potential, the new UIS data show that there has been virtually no progress globally in reducing out-of-school rates in recent years. Nine per cent of all children of primary school age globally are still denied of their right to education with rates reaching 16 per cent and 37 per cent for youth of lower and upper secondary ages, respectively. In total, 264 million children, adolescents and youth were out of school in 2015.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest out-of-school rates for all age groups. More than half (57 per cent) of all youth between the ages of 15 and 17 are not in school, as are more than one-third (36 percent) of adolescents between 12 and 14 years and one-fifth (21 percent) of children between the ages of about 6 and 11. Six countries, namely Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sudan are home to more than one-third of all out-of-school children of primary age. Of the 61 million children of primary school age currently out of school, 17 million will never to set foot in a classroom if current trends continue. This affects one in three children out of school in sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia and Northern Africa, and more than one in four of those in Central Asia and Southern Asia.

Girls in poor countries continue to face barriers to education. According to UIS data, in low-income countries, compared to almost 9 million of boys, more than 11 million girls of primary age are out of school. But the good news is that the girls who do manage to start school at primary level tend to complete the primary cycle and pursue their studies at the secondary level.

Education must reach the poorest to maximise its benefits and reduce global income inequality. Yet the GEM Report shows that children from the poorest 20 per cent of families are eight times as likely to be out of school as children from the richest 20 per cent in lower middle-income countries like Bangladesh. Those of primary and secondary school age in the poorest countries are nine times as likely to be out of school as those in the richest countries.

While urging countries to improve the quality of education, the paper stressed the need to reduce direct and indirect costs of education for families. New UIS data confirm that many households still have to bear expenses relating to education, totalling US $87 per child for primary education in Ghana, US $151 per child in Côte d’Ivoire and US $680 in El Salvador. This is higher in comparison to the level of cost that they can afford comfortably.

Source:

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/07/02/75725/Combating-global-poverty-with-education

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EEUU: California school leaders fear GOP cuts to Medicaid could harm special education

Noticias

EEUU/July 04, 2017/Source: http://www.scpr.org

California education officials are sounding the alarm over Congressional Republicans’ proposed health care overhaul bills, saying changes to Medicaid could leave the state or school districts scrambling to pay for critical special education services they don’t have the option of cutting.

The health care bill the U.S. House passed in May would place a cap on Medicaid payments to states, a move that could trim states’ Medicaid funding by 25 to 35 percent.

Funding from Medicaid, referred to in California as Medi-Cal, helps school districts cover the costs of serving special education students who are entitled to receive critical healthcare services in school — such as a child who needs a ventilator or a feeding tube.

If a child’s «individual education plan» — the negotiated document spelling out supports a student with disabilities needs in order to receive a «free and appropriate» public education — calls for these services, California Department of Education spokesman Robert Oakes said districts are required to provide them at school, with or without Medi-Cal.

«If Medi-Cal funding drops because there’s a cap,» Oaskes said, «the school districts are going to have to pay for it. We don’t know where that kind of funding is going to come from.»

The current U.S. Senate health care bill also contains cuts to Medicaid. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) delayed a vote on the legislation before the July 4 recess — in part because members of his own caucus raised concerns about the Medicaid provisions.

Schools across the U.S. receive roughly $4 billion in Medicaid reimbursements, according to a national organization representing school superintendents, and nearly two-thirds of U.S. school districts use this funding to pay for not only health care workers to work with these students, but for speech-language pathologists, school psychologists and school social workers as well.

Medicaid funding also pays for vision and hearing screenings, health aides and other services at school sites for students from Medi-Cal eligible families, Oakes said.

District-by-district figures of how many students receive Medicaid-funded services were not readily available. But Oakes said populations of Medi-Cal-eligible students are highest in rural schools and in urban districts with large low-income populations; in the Los Angeles Unified School District, he said, 55 percent of students are eligible for Medi-Cal.

The Association of California School Administrators and California School Boards Association recently sent a joint letter to the state’s Congressional delegation describing what would be at stake if cuts to Medicaid were realized.

«Absent this essential federal support for our most vulnerable populations,» the letter said, «schools will not only struggle to provide high quality services to students with disabilities, but will also have great difficulty in meeting the federal mandates associated with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.»

Source:

http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/07/03/73398/california-school-leaders-fear-gop-cuts-to-medicai/

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United Kingdom: Ofsted to investigate alternative education project near Bath

Noticias

United Kingdom/July 4, 2017/Source: http://www.itv.com

The education watchdog has told ITV News it will investigate an alternative learning project near Bath.

At The Green House Education Project there are no uniforms, text books or long days of learning. Children do fewer than 18 hours a week and its founders say it is not a school.

24 children aged between five and 14 are currently being taught at the fee-paying project which says it gives children a well-rounded start to their lives.

OFSTED however, is now examining whether it may breach official guidelines. Katie Rowlett has been to visit the Green House Education Project.

H-YURT_LEARNING_PKG.Consolidated.01.transfer http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2017-07-03/ofsted-to-investigate-alternative-education-project-near-bath/#

It was developed three years ago by two teachers who were disillusioned with the traditional school system.

We are a group of home-educating parents who decided to collectively create a space where our kids can learn and grow together. We don’t have to follow a strict curriculum which means that we can allow the kids to learn and grow at their own pace and follow their passions and develop at their own rates.

– Anna Robinson, Director of The Green House Education Project

children playing
The Green House Education Project is not a school according to the people who run it. Credit: ITV News

There are mentors for the children for guidance and the project prizes itself on having nature as the children’s first classroom; the mentors say this creates curiosity and inspires learning.

One parent says she has seen a difference in her child’s behaviour since attending to the Green House Education Project.

I’ve just noticed that she has come to life again. She has re-discovered her joy for learning. When I pick her up now she wants to talk about her day rather than when I used to pick her up she used to just say nothing, «I’ve done nothing.»

– Sarah Thomas, Parent

children singing
Credit: ITV News

The teaching methods here are not in line with the traditional education model and ITV News understands Ofsted is now investigating the project. Though its Directors say they welcome conversations with the education watchdog.

We are very happy to talk to Oftsed, we welcome that, we’d love to know if there are any grey areas, which Ofsted have said that there are grey areas. We’d love to have a conversation with them, we’d love to talk about what do they require from us. We’re very proud of what we’ve created and we’re really happy for them to see children happy and loving learning and I think they probably have the same passion at their core.

– Cindy Adams, Director of The Green House Education Project

children playing
Credit: ITV News

While it might be non-traditional, it appears popular. There is a waiting list to get one of the 24 places at the project and parents have been prepared to moved cities to access the education they think their child needs.

Source:

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2017-07-03/ofsted-to-investigate-alternative-education-project-near-bath/

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Nigeria: Education. Sen. Uba Wants Intervention, Renovates School

Noticias

Nigeria/July 4, 2017/Source: http://independent.ng

Senator Andy Uba has expressed displeasure over what he termed infrastructural decays in schools stressing that there was need for urgent intervention especially in Anambra state.

The lawmaker made the observation while on a routine visit to Girls High School Uga in Aguata Local Government Area, one of the schools he renovated a few months ago to enhance academic activities in the state.

Uba, a governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stressed that the situation of things in many schools in the state was so bad that it was no longer conducive for learning.

The Senator who represents Anambra South Senatorial district said that the standard of education in the state had also declined to a pitiable level adding that such was unacceptable.

He insisted that investment in education should be a priority project of any good government.

“The infrastructure in many of our schools in Anambra is dilapidated, classrooms are not fit for learning and the hostels are not conducive for students to rest.

“Indeed no serious academic work can go on in this kind of condition, which is why the level of education is dwindling fast.

“We must intervene; education should be a priority project of any good government. This level of decay must not be allowed to continue,“ he said.

The senator who was saddened on seeing the hostel blocks of the girls’ school also promised to renovate it so that it would be conducive for the students.

He said that it was pitiable that “our children would be allowed to live in this kind of environment”.

The students and teachers of the schools expressed gratitude to the governor aspirant for his kind gesture.

They said that his intervention in renovating the classroom block had indeed repositioned the school adding that his pledge to renovate the dilapidated hostel was a very cheering news.

One of the elated students said that they would no longer be suffering from leaking roofs in the hostel.

Source:

Education: Sen. Uba Wants Intervention, Renovates School

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Jamaica: Community Colleges Providing Access to Affordable Tertiary Education

Noticias

Jamaica/  July 4, 2017/By Judith Hunter/Source: http://jis.gov.jm

With a student population of between 10,000 and 12,000 in any given year, Jamaica’s community colleges have become a game changer in tertiary landscape.

In 1974, they were established to accommodate students pursuing sixth form studies.

Forty-three years later, the system has transformed into one of the most affordable, flexible and accessible means to tertiary education, offering to Jamaicans a variety of programmes ranging from continuing education, short courses, postgraduate diplomas, Associate and Bachelor’s degree.

Executive Director of the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ), Dr. Donna Powell Wilson, tells JIS News that the programmes offered by the community colleges are some of the most affordable in the country. “We are not cheap but very affordable.

The cost to pursue a two-year Associate Degree is close to what a student will pay for one year of studies at a local university,” she says. She points out that community colleges have forged partnerships with local, regional and international institutions, to offer programmes to meet the educational needs of Jamaicans.

Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) have been established with institutions such as Jamaica Theological Seminary, University of Technology, University of the West Indies and Monroe College in the United States.

Dr. Powell Wilson says that under the MOU with Monroe College, credits can be transferred to pursue a Bachelor’s degree, which means community colleges graduates will not have to redo the programmes, when they enrol in these institutions.

“We form associations with other institutions, so that our students are not at a disadvantage if they want to further their studies,” she says.

The local community colleges have also extended their offerings through franchising regionally to Anguilla, the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas Baptist Community College.

Dr. Powell Wilson points out that in response to the emerging needs of the local economy, the CCCJ has just completed the development of a logistics supply chain management programme in collaboration with the Niagara College and the Marine University of Newfoundland, Canada.

This, she says, is sponsored by the CARICOM Education for Employment Programme.

She adds that the CCCJ is working on developing a partnership with Hocking College in the United States so as to offer different types of programmes to students.

Meanwhile, Principal of Knox Community College and President of the Association of Principals and Vice Principals of Community Colleges, Dr. Gordon Cowans, says that one of the challenges is informing persons that tertiary education is accessible to every Jamaican.

“Tertiary education is in the reach of all Jamaicans irrespective of your age or academic performance. We have coverage for the island, we have programmes to meet each and every Jamaican who want to better their professional or academic experience. The CCCJ is responding to today’s challenges creating tomorrow’s opportunities,” he says.

Meanwhile, Principal of Excelsior Community College in Kingston and Chair of the Curriculum Development Committee in the CCCJ, Philmore McCarthy, tells JIS News that in an effort to strategically coordinate the work of the community colleges, the CCCJ was established in 2001 through an Act in Parliament.

Mr. McCarthy says that the main functions of the Council are to draft regulations to govern operations; standardise the offerings; and ensure that the community colleges maintain quality standards.

“They also work with the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) and use their standards to develop programme, hence majority of our programmes are accredited,” he points out.

The CCCJ members are made up of representatives from community colleges, other local tertiary institutions, the private sector and HEART Trust/NTA.

The community college system boasts a two plus two model and according to Mr. McCarthy, under this model, a student has the opportunity for the first two years to pursue an Associate Degree and the other two years to gain a Bachelor’s Degree.

“We are geared towards preparing our students for the workplace and for industries, as well as persons who want to go on to further studies. You find that a person will come in and do two years, go back to work and then they would come back to complete another two years for their Bachelor’s Degree,” he explains . Students have access to programmes in areas such as engineering, technology, business, hospitality and tourism management, agriculture, education (trainers of primary school teachers), humanities – criminal justice, social work, logistics, business process outsourcing and management.

To pursue an Associate Degree, individuals are required to have five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects, inclusive of Mathematics and English or its equivalent. For a Bachelor’s Degree, an Associate Degree from an accredited programme is required.

There are eight community colleges in Jamaica in 25 different locations across the island. They are the Bethlehem Moravian College, Moneague College, the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE), Excelsior Community College, Montego Bay Community College, Brown’s Town Community College, Portmore Community College and Knox Community College.

Source:

http://jis.gov.jm/community-colleges-providing-access-affordable-tertiary-education/

 

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