Balloons and confetti greeted year 3 students as they entered their classroom at Emu Plains Public School on Monday, enthusiastic to return to school grounds after five weeks of learning from home.
But it wasn’t the usual set-up: desks were arranged to allow for 1.5 metres between students, and teacher Kylie Hamersma supervised rather than taught lessons while students completed independent learning activities.
Most parents and students abided by the state government’s guidelines on the first day of its phased return to school plan, where 25 per cent of students attend school each day and complete one mode of remote learning.
Twenty-six per cent of secondary school students and 39 per cent of primary school students worked from inside school gates on Monday, which included students who were rostered to attend school as well as children of essential workers.
An average of 37 per cent of all public school students were on campus, which is more than the 15 to 17 per cent who showed up last week but far from the influx of students some principals were concerned would show up.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell on Monday said the Department of Education’s 2200 schools had been supplied with 550,000 hygiene products to prepare them for the return of students, including 20,000 rolls of toilet paper, 20,000 bars of soap and 40,000 bottles of hand sanitiser.
«The list is extensive and those supplies will continue to be rolled out across our school communities throughout this term,» she said. «Parents should have that reassurance knowing our schools are safe spaces, and we have prepared well for our students to go back to the classroom.»
Teacher Kylie Hamersma with her Year 3 students in their classroom at Emu Plains Public School.CREDIT:LOUISE KENNERLEY
NSW independent schools have crafted their own plans for the return of students to face-to-face teaching, with many reporting high attendance rates on Monday.
About 95 per cent of students who were rostered to attend Cranbrook School showed up, and 90 per cent of those scheduled for face-to-face learning at Trinity Grammar School went along.
«Numbers were at the upper end of our expectations, with almost all who were eligible to return to face-to-face [classes] attending, and more sent to school for remote learning supervision than before,» Trinity headmaster Tim Bowden said.
Only seven students were absent from Pymble Ladies College’s year 3 cohort, which was invited back on Monday, while the majority of rostered students attended MLC.
Meriden in Strathfield saw 99 per cent of year 12 and 95 per cent of year 7 back, with most of the senior school otherwise staying home. But about a quarter of the primary school students came to school, even though they were not rostered to attend.
North-west Sydney school Barker College, which invited all students back full-time from Monday after an extended school holiday, registered about a 90 per cent return rate.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday repeated her hope to have all school students back in public schools full-time by May 25 if the next two weeks progressed smoothly.
«That will be the new normal when it comes to education,» she said. «Your schools might be temporarily disrupted, but as far as the education system is concerned, we’d like to think that now that schools are back they will stay back for the duration of the pandemic.»
Source of the notice: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/students-stick-to-attendance-guidelines-as-schools-welcome-kids-back-20200511-p54rra.html
The global higher education market was valued last year at $65.4 billion and has been projected to reach $118 billion by 2027.
International education represents a large part of learning activities and is a major source of tuition revenue from nondomestic students. In 2018, nearly 1.1 million foreign students were studying in the United States. Of them, 34 percent came from China, representing approximately $11 billion in fees.
Over the past several years, trends in student mobility have been changing. The US, while still the largest destination for foreign students, has seen the rate of increase in foreign students fall since 2014. As a result, some institutions have seen tuition revenue drop more than 25 percent.
With the global rise of nationalism and protectionism, students have adjusted their choice of destinations, favoring host countries with perceived greater safety and better post-study job opportunities. In a recent survey, 87 percent of high school college counselors in China reported that students and parents were reconsidering plans for studying in the US.
The COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating these trends. In the immediate term, outbound students will experience difficulties in obtaining visas, and many campuses are questioning whether they will open their fall semesters for on-site classes. In the medium term, outbound students will explore destinations closer to home, as well as foreign collaborative programs in their home countries.
Faced with this business challenge, the pursuit of an offensive delocalization strategy makes sense for universities. While delocalization generally refers to moving resources overseas, two different forces of delocalization can be identified: defensive and offensive.
In the former, a company moves resources overseas to benefit from lower production costs. In the latter, resources are moved overseas to better serve international markets. This may be due to reducing barriers to consumption or localization of the product or service to make it more attractive. An example of this strategy can be found in the Disney company, which gambled on a larger market interested in a Disney experience closer to their homes. Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai now figure prominently in the offer, with each localized to some degree.
Students from China celebrate their graduation from Columbia University. [Photo/Xinhua]
In the new normal, faced with looming declines in international student enrollments and subsequent loss of tuition revenue, the pursuit of an offensive delocalization strategy makes sense for higher education. This translates into the establishment of overseas campuses, allowing institutions to attract and serve international students more effectively by creating market proximity and reducing barriers to a US education.
This strategy is not new in higher education. INSEAD, the Sorbonne and HEC Paris, for example, operate international campuses. New York University opened its third overseas campus in Shanghai in 2013. Of the 1,600 current students, 50 percent are from China.
Chinese universities provide important support for foreign collaboration in China. NYU Shanghai is jointly established with East China Normal University, and Duke Kunshan University is a partnership with Wuhan University.
Zhejiang University recently established an international campus as a platform for university and program-level cooperative partnerships.
With an international business school and joint institutes with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Edinburgh, the new ZJU campus will host multiple foreign collaborative initiatives.
With close to 1 million outbound students per year from China, the nation is the largest single source of international students in the world. At the same time, China has become the third-largest destination for foreign students, thanks to opportunities from the Belt and Road Initiative.
Future development in transnational education will likely see an increase in the establishment of overseas campuses and university-level collaborative programs in China as a way to serve outbound domestic students and international students looking for new destination opportunities.
For institutions relying on tuition revenue from international students, in particular those in the US, delocalization to China should be a strategy to consider.
Source of the notice: https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202005/12/WS5eb9fc91a310a8b241154f1a.html
Education is a merit good. Countries spend huge sums of their revenue on education. Research abound on the impact of education in relation to poverty alleviation. Empirically, education is the mechanism that is used to transform economies. It is therefore not surprising that most countries in the developing world are seriously pursuing the knowledge economy agenda. This scientifically explains the numerous interventions that governments over the years have made in the Ghanaian education sector. Paramount among them is the introduction of the Free Senior High School policy which sought to open access to thousands of students who would genuinely not have had access to secondary education due to financial constraints.
Though lots seem to have been carried out in the education sector, the advent of COVID-19 seems to have revealed some endemic problems in our educational system. The closure of schools in the country has affected close to 10 million students at all levels of the education ladder. To mitigate the impact of the closure of schools and ensure continuity in learning coupled with prior experience from previous pandemics in other countries, government through the Ministry of Education rolled out different forms of interventions. These include providing free online library services, online learning platform (icampusgh.com) and virtual learning being aired on various television and radio station in the country. Again, the Ministry has facilitated the zero-rating of most educational platforms for most of the tertiary institutions in the country. This intervention is meant to ensure that the cost of data does not serve as a hindrance to any student who would want to access online education in Ghana. These interventions are all geared towards the objective of ensure that, academic work is carried out during the period of the pandemic.
Despite these efforts by the Ministry, our development trajectory has made it practically impossible for all students to benefit fully from these interventions. This is because, the extent of digital divide in the country is so huge that, even the provision of zero-rated online educational platforms will mean nothing to majority of students who do not have access to any electronic device to benefit fully from this intervention. Also, most students and teachers are not technologically savvy to be able to utilize these platforms fully. This brings to the fore the concern that, as a people we have a penchant for policy sloganeering instead of policy robustness. A country with an ICT policy in education which also rolled out a policy of “one laptop per child” between 2009 and 2012 should not be struggling to reach the masses of students when it matters most. But characteristically of us, we politicized the distribution of the laptops and did not pursue the policy after some time. Consequently, in 2020, most of our students in sub-urban and rural Ghana are finding it difficult to join their colleagues to access various e-learning platforms.
Again, until recent developments, our educational system had been built solely on examinations. The 9 or 12 years of education of the child meant nothing if he/she fails the Basic Education Certificate Examination or the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) respectively. This mode of assessment has created a dilemma, I dare say, in the minds of all relevant stakeholders as to the way forward for our students since we are at the end of the academic year and students would still have to progress to the next level of their educational journey. Globally, three models have been adopted by various countries depending on their unique circumstances to circumvent the issue of school examination and progression during this period. These models are: Cancellation of examinations, Postponement of examinations and Reviewing of the examination format. Countries that philosophically place much emphasis on the total educational journey of the student have resorted mostly to Models 1 and 3 (Cancellation of examination and Reviewing of examination format). For instance, in Norway, examinations have been cancelled for students in both junior high and high school. This was made possible since written exams forms only 20% of the final grading of the student. In Northern India, students from grades 1 – 8 will be progress to the next level without any examination. In the USA, SAT has been cancelled leading to the review of the admission criteria for entering the universities whereas emphasis has been placed on the students’ course work and other relevant modalities.
In Ghana however, there is still uncertainty as to the way forward since we have adopted model 2. The question is; “for how long would these examinations be postponed?” It is true that, WASSCE is a sub-regional examination and hence a determination would have to be made by the examination body, however, one would want to ask, what proposals have the government and the Ministry in charge of education made to the relevant authorities as to the unique way we would want to handle this in our education sector. Clarity and a clear cut roadmap with feasible timelines would help students, parents and all relevant stakeholders plan accordingly (this should be carried out bearing in mind the challenges of the school placement process and various timelines in our educational system). There have been proposals to aggregate the 30% school-based assessment used by WAEC for grading students. I must say that, this proposal by all standards, violate the principles of assessment as espoused by experts because of issues of standardization, reliability, validity, clarity, significance etc. which mostly might lead to under-prediction of grades especially for students of disadvantaged backgrounds.
The proposal would therefore be to adopt Model 3 and review the examination format for BECE candidates focusing on the core subjects and resorting to an online examination well-structured to meet the needs of all candidates. Their scores coupled with the assessment from their schools can be used to place them for their secondary education. This can easily be done since the principal focus of that examination is for placement. For those writing WASSCE, the principal objective of that certificate is continuation to tertiary institutions. It will therefore be prudent for the universities to review their admission process and introduce an entrance examination for those who would want to continue their education. The certificate can be awarded when issues normalize for all students after they have sat for that comprehensive examination. The advantage will be that, students will be ready for the next level of their education and would not have to wait for their certificates. These are proposed to ensure that, the already distorted academic calendar does not exacerbate.
For tertiary education, the surest way is for the various tertiary institutions to revamp their online education platforms and reach their students who are residential and non-residential. The Ed-tech take off propelled by COVID-19 should be embraced by our institutions of higher learning. The Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) should be thinking of providing additional support to students to enable them own the digital devices needed for their learning. The proposal is to open up a request form for students who would need such digital devices (android phones, laptop, etc.) to apply for and be supplied with, as part of their student loan.
The educational sector is hit also from the front of the private schools’ setup. Most private schools have not been able to pay their staff and some have even resort to downsizing and termination of appointment of teachers. Recently, the private schools professional body appealed to government to assist them with a stimulus package to enable them meet their recurrent expenditure. Though this is a call in good faith, adherence to it is likely to open the flood gate for all others in the private sector to also seek for support from the already tight government revenue. It is therefore advocated that, government should facilitate so that these private schools can access financial support from both local and international institutions on the basis of their ability to repay within a reasonable timeframe. I would also appeal to parents who still owe fees to redeem themselves. One way that these private schools can continue to ask for an agreed school fees from parents would be to find ways of engaging the students online. This even though not novel, would help them come to some agreement for an amount to be paid for such services rendered.
Change is difficult. However, when the opportunity presents itself, authorities should gladly take advantage of the circumstances and effect the needed change. This is the time to redefine education in Ghana. We have lagged in our quest to use technology in our educational system. While most educational institutions globally were quickly switching to their various online platforms to enable them continue to deliver education to their students, we are yet to fully achieve same. A call to our policy makers to be guided by the principles of equity and fairness in rolling out policies bearing in mind the level of disparities in our society should never be in vain after life return to normalcy. Our social support systems are weak and that is what might lead to our total destruction and not a pandemic.
Coronavirus lockdown measures have partially or fully closed schools for more than 90% of the world’s student population across 186 countries and territories, according to UNESCO.
After closing schools to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a handful of countries like Denmark and Japan have started reopening them.
New safety measures range from keeping windows open for ventilation to spacing desks six feet apart and resuming classes for students of a certain age.
Here’s a look at some countries and provinces that have reopened schools so far.
Some schools in China began reopening in March, though many remain closed.
Students are slowly returning to school in China with hygiene measures put in place.
Image: REUTERS
In late January, China instituted a lockdown for the 11 million residents of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus outbreak originated. Fifteen other cities soon followed, and at its peak, China’s quarantine extended to 20 provinces and regions, according to the Wall Street Journal. Due to lockdown measures, some 200 million students transitioned to online learning in February, the Washington Post reported.
While schools in nine mainland provinces had reopened for graduating students as of early April, according to the South China Morning Post, UNESCO’s data shows that most schools remain closed in larger regions. High school seniors in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou only just returned to school on April 27 to prepare for their college entrance exams.
BBC reported that China’s Ministry of Education is requiring that students have their temperatures checked at school entrances and that they display a «green» code of health via China’s smartphone health code program.
Taiwan reopened schools on February 25 after extending winter break by ten days.
In Taiwan, China, pupils have been sitting with plastic dividers, to stop the spread of germs.
Image: REUTERS/Ann Wang – RC2YIF9PKWT4
After learning of the coronavirus outbreak, Taiwan took swift action to contain its spread.
Schools in Japan reopened in early April for the new school year.
In Japan, 40% of schools have reopened.
Image: REUTERS
On February 27, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged elementary, middle, and high schools across Japan to close beginning March 2 until the start of the new school year in early April to prevent the spread of the virus.
On March 24, Japan announced that it would not extend its school closure recommendation, leaving the decision of when and whether or not to reopen to local municipalities based on the number of coronavirus cases in the area. The Ministry of Health also released guidelines for school reopening which include opening windows to ventilate classrooms, maintaining physical distance, checking temperatures daily, and wearing face masks.
«The circumstances of each area is different, and it will be much more effective to judge based on the actual ground situation rather than dictating a policy measure nationwide,» Education Minister Koichi Hagiuda told the Straits Times.
To date, about 40% of schools have reopened, according to UNESCO.
This could be due in part to the national state of emergency that Abe announced on April 16 following a rise in new infections. The state of emergency gives leaders of Japan’s 47 prefectures, or administrative regions, the authority to request school closures and ask residents to stay home. Abe has indicated that he will extend the state of emergency past its May 6 expiration date, Bloomberg reported.
On April 15, Denmark became the first European country on lockdown to reopen its schools, beginning with children in daycare and grades 1 through 5.
Students in Denmark are adhering to social distancing measures.
While classes have resumed, schools have placed desks six feet apart and staggered student arrivals, among other measures, in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines still in place.
Denmark announced its first lockdown measures on March 11 before the country reported any coronavirus deaths and closed schools on March 16. For the time being, high schools and universities remain closed.
Norway began reopening its kindergartens on April 20, followed by primary schools for children in grades 1 through 4 on April 27.
In Norway, schools are encouraged to divide classes into groups of no more than 15 students.
Image: via REUTERS
Norway closed schools on March 12 and, like Denmark, has sent its youngest students back to class ahead of older pupils due to a decline in the rate of coronavirus transmission.
«Together we have taken control of the virus, therefore we can open up society little by little,» Prime Minister Erna Solberg said during a news conference in early April.
To encourage social distancing, the government has urged schools to divide classes into groups of no more than 15 and have children wash their desks daily, among other precautions. Upper schools and universities remain closed until further notice.
Germany reopened high schools on April 20 to high school seniors.
In Germany, Chancellor Merkel, advised that schools give priority to graduating students when reopening gradually.
Image: REUTERS/Andreas Gebert – RC2VCG93UW53
Select high schools across Germany reopened earlier this month so that seniors could take their final exams.
Most schools and daycares across Germany’s 16 states have been closed since mid-March during which time the country has achieved «fragile intermediate success» in reducing the spread of the virus, Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier this month.
As part of Germany’s plan to gradually lift its lockdown following, Merkel recommended that schools begin the process of reopening on May 4, giving priority to graduating students.
Fuente de la reseña: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/coronavirus-countries-schools-education-covid19-reopen-classroom/
The federal and Victorian governments are in disagreement over whether it is safe for students and teachers to return to school, as a number of other states prepare for their students to come back to class.
While New South Wales and Queensland are planning a phased return to on-site schooling, Victoria is holding steadfast against bringing students, other than those from essential workers, back into the classroom.
The matter blew up on Sunday when federal education minister Dan Tehan was forced to withdraw comments he made on the ABC questioning Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ leadership over the split on the issue, stating Andrews should be listening to the national health panel, not just his chief health officer.
On Sunday, chief medical officer Brendan Murphy pointed to research about school transmissions of coronavirus both locally in NSW and in Europe.
“Our advice is transmission between children in schools is not well established,” he said. “And in fact there is increasing data now, data from Europe and the NSW study, we think children are not high transmitters of the virus in the school environment.”
He said there is a potential risk for adults in the staffroom, and at drop-offs, and a range of mitigations have been recommended to reduce the risk.
The study looked at 735 students and 128 staff who were close contacts of the 18 cases. No teacher or staff member contracted coronvirus from those cases, and one child from a primary school and one child from a classroom may have contracted coronavirus from one of the initial 18 cases.
“The findings from this detailed investigation are preliminary. However, they do suggest that spread of Covid-19 within NSW schools has been very limited.”
What do international studies say?
Murphy admits that studies have been limited, but has pointed specifically to studies out of Europe to support the AHPPC position.
A study out of the Netherlands reported children are less likely to get infected from the virus from adults, and adults are much less likely to pass it on to children, except in a home environment.
A UK study of a child who returned from the French Alps with coronavirus, and subsequently went to three schools while asymptomatic and did not transmit the virus argued it could lend evidence to the notion the transmission rate for children might be different to adults.
An analysis of over 100 studies that have been done on coronavirus transmission stated there is limited evidence of children transmitting the virus, but more data is needed.
“The role of children in transmission is unclear, but consistent evidence is demonstrating a lower likelihood of acquiring infection, and lower rates of children bringing infections into households,” the analysis states.
However, German research released last month suggested children can be as infectious as adults.
Why does Victoria disagree with the federal government’s position?
Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton says children at school with minimal symptoms could end up contributing to community transmission. Photograph: James Ross/AAP
Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton has said he doesn’t disagree that infection rates among children are lower, but he viewed keeping schools closed as a measure to lower overall community transmission, particularly for teachers, staff and parents.
“I know there haven’t been significant outbreaks in schools … but again it may be that kids who are very minimally symptomatic could transmit to other children, and it can be a contribution to community transmission,” he said.
“I’ve also been very clear that I don’t see schools as a dangerous place to be, but to the extent that kids learning from home can contribute to suppressing transmission at a community level, I think that’s a useful thing to consider.”
Andrews has said his decision on schools will be based on Sutton’s advice and Sutton has refused to reconsider his advice on sending children back to school until the state of emergency is reviewed on 11 May.
There have been indications that students in Victoria could stay learning from home for the entirety of term two.
Source of the notice: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/05/australias-back-to-school-plans-expose-schism-around-children-and-coronavirus
Kenya through Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), has partnered with the Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs,private sector,academia,Non-Governmental Organizations and the United Nations Development Program(UNDP), to launch the Great Covid-19 Innovation Challenge.
Konza Technopolis has convened multiple stakeholders to co-create technology-based solutions, by harnessing the creativity and innovative capabilities of Kenyans and Africans towards the challenges emerging from COVID19.
Eng. John Tanui, the Chief Executive officer KoTDA, said that “KoTDA is honored to lead this Great Challenge, as the convener of the technology and innovation ecosystem in Kenya. It is at times of adversity as espoused by COVID-19, that innovators are called upon to step up to the challenge and offer solutions. The hackathon will focus on three thematic challenge areas of around COVID-19, namely, Health Systems Innovation, Food Systems Innovation and dignified work.”
On his part, Mr.Joe Mucheru, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT and Youth Affairs said that “the Ministry of ICT has in place, a national data center located and managed by KoTDA, that will offer a platform for hosting the applications emerging from the challenge. One envisioned product is a call center solution targeted at front line health workers to access information, provide feed-back and make prompt decisions on managing the pandemic.”
Mr. Philip Thigo, Senior Director for Africa at Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management said that “this Challenge is a testament to the power of multi-stakeholder collaborations in harnessing the power of emerging technologies and its ability to proffer practical solutions to pressing developmental challenges. We welcome the Government’s commitment to innovation and offer our capabilities towards this effort as one of the Top 5 Universities best placed to solve the world’s biggest Challenges.”
“The pandemic has proved that local solutions to such a global challenge are critical to the country’s efforts to mitigate and flatten the curve. Through collaboration, partnership,co-creation of ideas and harnessing the skills of youth, Kenya stands, a chance of mitigating the effects of the pandemic. As an association, we are keen to work with the government through the Konza innovation ecosystem to find solutions that can help the country overcome the pandemic while at the same time provide companies with solutions to mitigate social and business impacts.”said David Ogiga, Chairman, Association of Countryside Innovation hubs.
Since the declaration of Covid -19 as a global pandemic, the world has moved with speed to find ways of mitigating the effects of the pandemic as well as provide solutions to communities who have had to change the way they live, learn and work.
The pandemic was first reported in Kenya on 13th March. Since then, the country has been going through unprecedented times driven by the need to Isolate and reduce the spread of the pandemic. This new social norm has adversely affected all sectors of our economy. This situation, therefore, calls for creative and effective solutions to ensure preservation of life and productivity of Kenyans and the world.
Globally, technology and innovation centers and hubs are at the forefront of developing solutions towards the COVID19 pandemic. KoTDA as one such center of excellence in Technology advancement has taken the initiative to partner with other like-minded institutions to advance solutions as a practical response to mitigating against the effects and impacts of the pandemic and building resiliency Post COVID.
KoTDA wishes to acknowledge the partnership and support of Huawei, Oracle, Infonet, Microsoft,UK-Kenya Tech Hubs, Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, Moi University, Machakos University,Dedan Kimathi University,Meru University, Strathmore University and Technical University of Kenya.
Konza Technopolis is a vision 2030 project whose objective is to position Kenya as knowledge-based economy and a preferred Science, Technology and Innovation destination.
Through building a vibrant innovation ecosystem, Konza Technopolis shall focus on key sectors of the economy, among them, Life Science, Engineering and ICT/ITES that will enhance local innovation, R&D, entrepreneurship and Technology enterprise formation culture.
Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) will initiate programs that will support the generation of 17,000 direct jobs and 30,000 residents on completion of phase 1 and over 200,000 residents on its completion.
Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/kenya-launches-the-great-covid-19-innovation-challenge/
Japan is on the cusp of considering reopening schools nationwide but would do better by focusing on ramping up online learning, says Yuka Hasegawa.
It’s been barely two months since Japanese Prime Minister Abe issued an order on Feb 27 for schools to close as part of a first phase of nationwide restrictions to halt the spread of COVID-19 but it feels like forever.
With the announcement coming just four days before the actual shuttering, teachers say they were not given enough heads-up to prepare for education to continue apace while students stay home or design suitable homework.
One might think it strange home-based learning has become this huge challenge for Japan, but the country’s technologically superior reputation masks society’s low-tech workings.
Soon after the news broke, Japanese students and their parents were called back before the closure to collect assignments for the break. These took the form of paper worksheets.
An elementary school student and her mother walk toward her school in Tokyo, Japan, February 28, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Issei Kato)
Indeed, the Japanese education system scores well on paper.
The education system continues to produce top-performing students since the inception of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment, with bigger proportions of the country attaining tertiary education compared to OECD averages.
But a deeper dive into what makes the system tick reveals vulnerabilities in an increasingly digital world when it hasn’t quite made that leap towards embracing information and communications technologies (ICT).
On a macro level, Japan’s public expenditure on primary, secondary and post-secondary education is 2.9 per cent of GDP – one of the lowest among 35 countries – according to an OECD Education at a Glance survey 2019.
Much of it goes to Japanese educators, who pull in some of the world’s longest hours, and have demurred from introducing new technology and teaching methods into the classroom because of lack of familiarity and resistance to change.
What this has also translated into is a sluggishness to transform, where decades-old, one-way instructional teaching remains dominant despite the world increasingly needing education systems to cultivate curiosity, critical thinking and agility, which requires team-based learning and two-way discussions.
On a micro level, that has manifested in low investments in ICT, hindering the adoption of online learning.
There is only one computer for every 5.4 students in public elementary and junior high schools. Few districts have given out computers or tablets for home-based learning during this school closure.
The Japanese government only recently put in place plans to ramp up ICT infrastructure in schools, and for every student to have access to a computer, with 231 billion yen (US$2.15 billion) allocated under a Global Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) school programme over the next four years.
FILE PHOTO: School students participate in a special lecture about national flags by Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games flag organiser Tadamasa Fukiura (not pictured) at Koto City Ariake Nishi Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan February 10, 2020. REUTERS/Ju-min Park
Even as I write this, in Osaka, one of the countries’ busiest and most densely populated cities, parents have headed to schools to pick up new textbooks and assignments twice in April, and have become responsible for checking their kids’ schoolwork.
This stymying of the adoption of tech also has knock-on effects given the need for social distancing. Take for example, the idea that teachers say they have found keeping tabs on individual students to be close to impossible – because schools have only a limited number of phone lines.
Information regarding assistance for low-income households that need computers and plans for the future regarding home-based learning have not been forthcoming.
JAPAN’S EDUCATION SYSTEM RESTS ON ONLINE LEARNING
The Japanese government knows this situation is less than tenable.
But instead of funneling more resources towards getting online learning up to mark, they are sidestepping that elephant in the room and allowing prefecture authorities to decide, in consultation with the national COVID-19 public health expert panel, whether schools can be reopened, on a case-by-case basis.
Yet risk-averse local governors have kept 95 per cent of the 300,000 public elementary and junior high schools closed as of last week.
Japan knows it has a lot riding now on the Japanese government’s announced acceleration of the GIGA initiative to provide one computer for each student within the 2020 fiscal year.
These plans, long overdue, are supposed to provide for critical infrastructure for households to make online learning a reality, including the rental of mobile routers for those in need and the implementation of a remote learning system.
Schools in Japan have been closed, but that could be counterproductive, experts say. (Photo: AFP/STR)
Yet whither are such plans? Frustrated Tokyo parents, fed up with the lack of progress on this front, have taken to circulating surveys regarding their status and submitting their findings to municipal authorities and the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Much has been put on hold while schools scramble to find their footing, with the school term neither here nor there.
Seven prefectures postponed first days of schools, meaning new students have yet to see their classmates or teachers, but, weirdly, have worksheets for studying at home and little contact with their teachers.
The lack of communication is throwing what has been a big transition point in the lives of many students into disarray, though in a warped way, this disorientating feeling is a rare, shared experience many Japanese are finding some level of togetherness on as the pandemic threatens to split Japanese society.
While COVID-19 is bringing into sharper focus the digital challenges that have plagued Japan’s education system, it has also accentuated disparities between well-funded private schools, where students have easy access to advanced educational online resources and an array of personal devices that aid remote learning, and scrappier public schools that do not have the benefit of generous corporate sponsors or well-endowed, successful alumni.
When much of Japan’s aspirations to be an egalitarian society rests on the small shoulders of the education system, public schools have ironically avoided technological adoption to avoid avert accentuating disparities between families that can afford electronic devices and those who cannot.
Yet, such a disposition has put all their students at a far greater disadvantage this coronavirus outbreak.
Where over 1.4 million students (or about 15 per cent) have subscribed to lunch school fees, these needed services have also been suspended given distribution challenges, with the food donated to quarantined patients cooped up in hotel facilities.
A LOST GENERATION?
Much has been said about the lost generation of Japanese graduates who entered the job market in the decade after the early-1990s, when the country underwent a period of stagnation. Japan is facing a situation of similarly unprecedented proportions.
An employee of an official nursery school taking care of young children in Yokohama. (Photo: AFP)
Some hope lies ahead as Osaka governor Hirofumi Yoshimura announced on Apr 22 an intention to shorten the summer vacation to secure class time for schools if the coronavirus comes under better control.
But news of a Toyama prefecture cluster that same day, where four students and a class teacher in Shinmei Elementary School were found to be infected with the coronavirus despite being in contact for only four days, suggest we are unlikely to see a mass reopening of all schools in Japan even if significant precautions were taken.
Until the virus can be brought under control, Japan needs to ramp up its ability to roll out online learning.
That has been talk about tech but more focus should be shone on the human beings, especially the policymakers who must get into swift action to make this happen. This would especially require the cooperation of educators to embrace uncertainty and adapt to new ways of teaching.
Source of the notice: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/japan-close-schools-coronavirus-covid-19-online-learning-laptops-12683174
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