Africa/Kenya/12-11-2021/Author: Eric Biegon/Source: www.kbc.co.ke
The recent wave of arson attacks in schools has seen a good number of secondary schools torched, leaving authorities with no option but close some of the affected institutions.
Amid questions over the motives behind the fires, education stakeholders are proposing drastic measures to curb this trend. The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) wants the Ministry of Education to allow the use of physical punishment so as to ensure more immediate compliant behavior in children.
“Our proposal to the ministry and the teachers service commission is let us bite the bullet and introduce corporal punishment,” KUPPET Busia Branch Secretary-General Morphat Okisai
Besides corporal punishment, Okasai says learners found guilty of indiscipline should be suspended and expelled from school in order to serve as an example to the rest.
“As it stands now, we have allowed the rights of children to override the rights of everybody else,” a tough-talking Okisai charged.
He says learning institutions must be protected from being razed down at all costs to prevent education in the country from being jeopardized by a few “bad elements” in society.
And that’s not all. Okasai says the ministry should consider employing full-time counselors to address student unrest and the torching of schools. He says the counselors who will be enlisted for school programs should be put into the Teachers Service Commission payroll.
He wants the ministry to find a long-lasting solution, reiterating that granting mid-term breaks to students is not a remedy to school unrest.
Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/its-time-to-introduce-corporal-punishment-in-schools-kuppet-says/
Dr Randa Grob-Zakhary, CEO of Education.org, a non-profit independent foundation workingto advance evidence and improve education for every leaner.
With over 240 billion school days lost during the pandemic, the global learning crisis demands urgent action from global leaders. We have many of the answers; we are just failing to act.
By 2030, the world has promised to ensure “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. That was the ambition of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4. At the current pace of progress, it is not going to happen.
What would this collective failure mean for the future of our children and communities? For many, the consequences of lost opportunities in basic education are unfathomable.
If we were to write a report card for our world, it would say “try harder”. It would point out that, even before COVID-19 struck and schools around the globe shut down, there were nearly 260 million children out of school.
It would warn that the world is still struggling with the most basic elements of an education that many of us take for granted. Almost 620 million children – roughly six in ten – were not achieving the minimum proficiency standards for reading and maths, with another 100 million likely to join them because of the pandemic.
To make matters worse, the world’s schools have recently been off sick for long periods – over 240 billion days of school have been lost since January 2020 due to COVID-19.
With the ongoing threats of the pandemic, political instability and climate change, is there room at the table for a debate about the global learning crisis? Does the opportunity to press reset and build back better include our children’s education?
We call on the world’s leaders not to ignore the devastating impact that will result from a continued failure to meet our children’s most basic education needs, and which has only been accelerated by COVID-19. There are easy solutions to hand, after all.
Our research shows that a crucial part of the answer can be met by urgently fixing education’s knowing-doing gap. This gap currently creates a disconnect between what we know about improving education from available research, how those insights are translated for and shared with policymakers and practitioners, and what we do in practice.
When I served as Board Member and Chair of the former Strategy and Impact Committee at the Global Partnership for Education, I saw first-hand the damage that this gap inflicted on an education ecosystem that advocates for and funds research but offers little effective support in putting those findings to work.
This gap has painful repercussions, especially for the most vulnerable students, such as marginalised girls or students with different needs, resulting in poor coordination and ill-fitting solutions that do not match the scale or urgency of the challenges we face.
Building an “education knowledge bridge” between researchers, policymakers and practitioners to eliminate this gap would lift millions of children out of deep water and into better lives. A recent White Paper we released, drawing on a thorough 12-month analysis of 45 organisations and 80 interviews with education sector leaders including ministers, academics, funders, NGOs, and international organisations leaders and practitioners, confirmed this. It shows that we have the knowledge we need to make things better, we are just failing to use what we already know.
Education ministers and country managers of non-governmental organisations bemoan the fact that they struggle to make sense of the latest research in a way that can deliver positive change in their own environments. Crucially, an education knowledge bridge would allow us to make better use of the existing evidence in a way that suits different contexts, by including a broader range of sources and voices that are often left out.
Such a bridge would help us make smarter use of scarce funding by identifying the greatest needs, tailoring solutions and avoiding duplication. It would encourage greater inclusion of policy and teaching voices in the early stages of research, contribute to stronger, more equitable education systems and allow us to respond more quickly, especially in times of crisis.
We have seen a similar approach produce remarkable results in the healthcare sector. Investment in applied and user-centred health research has been backed up by an established and structured system of synthesising findings to create actionable, relevant and translatable guidance that informs policy and delivers impact.
How can we achieve the same in education?
We identified five key capabilities that must be developed to bridge the knowing-doing gap in education.
First, while existing education research must be put to better use, new research must be designed with the user in mind, involving policymakers and teachers early on to focus academic studies on real-world problems.
One of the major obstacles faced by policymakers is to make sense of all the jigsaw pieces in research, some of which might conflict. Developing a comprehensive and systematic approach to synthesising this information would clear the fog.
However, bringing together diverse research for a generalised audience must also be supported by a process that translates these findings into helpful guidance for policymakers.
Turning guidance into policy and practice requires improved capacity to implement change by engaging stakeholders from all corners of the education ecosystem, reflecting local needs and adapting mid-flow to improve outcomes, if required.
This demands an enabling environment for evidence-based action: focusing on users more than theory, reinforcing existing education systems rather than forging parallel tracks, protecting research independence and policy choices from funding biases, making the most of global and local networks, and prioritising equity in education for all students.
Building an education knowledge bridge will take a global effort involving everyone working in education. Without it, ambitious targets for providing quality education for all will remain out of reach and the world’s school report card will continue to make for painful reading. Change can no longer wait. Advancing evidence can help course correct this trajectory so that our world can improve education for every learner.
By Stefania Giannini (UNESCO), Robert Jenkins (UNICEF), Jaime Saavedra (World Bank Group)
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused dramatic disruption to education systems around the world and huge educational impacts for more than 1.6 billion children and youth. Schools remained closed for 117 million students from March 2020 to September 2021, and many systems are still only partially open today. Early estimates suggest that the proportion of children around the world who cannot read or write a simple text by the age of ten will increase from 53% in 2019 to 63% in 2021. Interruptions to school participation and learning are projected to result in losses valued at $15 trillion in terms of affected children’s future earnings, and in long-lasting consequences in terms of wellbeing and life prospects of this generation, in particular for the most disadvantaged learners. Amidst this urgent and unprecedented context, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank have launched the joint Mission: Recovering Education 2021 focused on getting students back to school as quickly as possible, and reversing significant learning losses.
In this context, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank are joining forces on World Teachers’ Day to celebrate teachers and their work through the pandemic, and call on countries and the global community to prioritize supporting teachers as a central pillar in the Global Education Recovery.
On this World Teacher’s Day, we recognize and celebrate teachers’ efforts around the world to help support education continuity under challenging and uncertain conditions. As countries seek to recover learning losses and build back better, teachers will be critical actors on the front lines. It is therefore more essential than ever that countries celebrate, prioritize, and invest in their teachers, so that they are prepared, supported, and empowered to lead education recovery efforts.
In this vein, we suggest three priorities for what countries should focus on as they work to support teachers through the pandemic and beyond:
Teacher well-being. Teachers cannot lead education recovery if they are not healthy, safe and secure. If systems fail to ensure teacher overall well-being, the risk of losing effective teachers may increase as will the possibility of high-quality professionals opting out of teaching jobs. Prioritizing teachers for vaccination is a key step that countries must take. Supporting teacher emotional and psychosocial well-being is another important priority. Studies show that teacher burnout has worsened during the pandemic. Ensuring teacher well-being through adequate remuneration and working conditions is essential, as is ensuring that they can return to healthy and safe schools.
High-quality teacher professional development (TPD) and learning throughout their careers. Teachers’ jobs, already complex pre-pandemic, will only grow more challenging: Teachers will need to be ready to employ formative assessments to assess learning losses and support learning; to develop targeted and sequenced remedial lesson plans; to provide important social and emotional support to students, and to do this all in innovative ways, leveraging remote, hybrid and in-person methods. It is therefore more important than ever that teachers’ voices are heard, and that they are supported in their learning and development throughout every stage of their careers, from pre-service, induction, to ongoing professional development opportunities throughout their time in the classroom. Teacher professional development must be evidence-based and targeted to improve student learning, that is, it must be tailored, focused, practical and ongoing.
We see three key principles that countries can follow that define how these three priorities should be acted on:
First, the design of learning recovery policies and planning should actively engage teachers themselves. Teachers’ voices and perspectives are essential in ensuring that educational decisions are informed by teacher perspectives and the context on the ground. As countries strategize about how to meet post-pandemic challenges and recover learning losses, they should actively engage and build on teachers’ perspectives.
Second, teacher policies must be designed and implemented with a systems perspective. Supporting teachers effectively throughout their career trajectories requires effective, coherent and well-articulated systems, not isolated structures or one-off solutions. Effective teacher policy must be developed with a clear vision and end goals in mind, aligned and connected to other system levers for sustainable and lasting change.
And finally, it is essential that these efforts are guided by a vision of building back better. Data show that a global learning crisis was already underway even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Going back to the status quo will mean repeating past mistakes. To reverse learning loss due to COVID-19 and meet the goals of SDG#4, education leaders need to focus on building better educational systems that are more equitable, effective and resilient. This includes making teaching an attractive profession, enhancing teacher preparation, and improving selection and deployment policies.
At UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank, we believe that these three strategic priorities and guiding principles are critical to supporting teachers effectively in the post-pandemic future and to ensure teachers can excel. Ultimately, supporting teachers’ preparation, development, learning and empowerment throughout the full trajectory of their careers is necessary to build strong, resilient, equitable and effective educational systems in the recovery period and beyond.
For more information and resources on how our three organizations are supporting teachers in the global education recovery, please visit the UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank Group websites.
By Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education
In 2001, a six-year-old girl in Afghanistan could expect, despite the odds, to attend primary and secondary school, graduate from university, and pursue a profession.
These days might be over if the new order instates a system that institutionalizes discrimination against girls and women, and annuls commitments made over the past two decades to advance education. The consequences would be catastrophic for the people, the country and regional and global security.
Although the country still lags far behind its South Asian neighbours on all education indicators, the progress achieved over the past twenty years – starting nearly from scratch – is nothing short of remarkable. This is documented in trends assessment report published by UNESCO here.
In twenty years, the total number of enrolled students increased tenfold, from around 1 million to 8 million learners. From almost zero in 2001, the number of girls in primary school shot up to 2.5 million in 2018. Today 4 out of 10 students in primary education are girls. Their number in higher education increased from around 5,000 in 2001 to 90,000 – representing 25 percent of the student population. The number of teachers rose by 58% – and that of female teachers by over 100 %. The female literacy rate almost doubled from 17% to 30%, even if it still remains one of the lowest in the world.
Behind these numbers lies empowerment, voice and opportunity – the possibility to participate in society, to contribute to one’s country. Education is a game changer.
Over the past 15 years, with support from bilateral partners, UNESCO led the largest literacy program in Afghan history, reaching 1.2 million learners, including 800,000 women and girls, as well as 45,000 police officers. We supported the development of national strategies for education, established the first ever national institute for educational planning, trained planning officers and contributed to the reform of the education curriculum.
It’s not the time to put a clamp on extraordinary progress but instead to maintain and step up investment in education to consolidate gains, bring down barriers to expand access, improve learning and keep children in school for a full cycle. We need breakthrough not breakdown strategies.
The challenges ahead are colossal. Half of primary school-aged children are not enrolled in school while 93% of children at late primary are not proficient in reading. Child marriage continues to put a pall on girls’ education and future, affecting 1 in 3 girls under 18. The COVID-19 pandemic and conflict have placed additional strain on education development with millions of learners affected by the closure of schools and other educational institutions. The number of internally displaced persons is projected to increase, heightening the risk of learning losses among children.
The system remains heavily dependent on external aid that accounts for half the education budget. A withdrawal of aid could lead the system to implode. We cannot let the Afghan people down but there are red lines. Afghanistan has enshrined the right to education for all citizens in the Constitution adopted in 2004 and guarantees 9 years of compulsory education for all girls and boys. It has signed up to international normative instruments relating to education and the rights of women, including the Convention against Discrimination in Education in 2010 and Convention on Discrimination against Women before this, in 2003.
Upholding these commitments to build on the achievements of the past two decades is the starting point. This means respect for girls’ and women’s rights and their full access to education and training opportunities at all levels, including scientific disciplines. It entails curricula that promote non-violence, appreciation for cultural diversity and peace. It means ensuring safe learning environments for all learners and teachers in line with the Safe School Declaration endorsed by the country. Today’s challenges are global and interdependent, and education must reflect this to help youth build resilience and navigate change to benefit their country.
You can’t take away knowledge that’s been acquired but you can keep a whole nation locked in poverty without making education a foundation for the future. The country needs more education for girls and boys to reduce poverty, make a dent into still dramatically high levels of child mortality, malnutrition and stunting. Afghanistan, together with all the world’s nations, adopted ambitious global goals in 2015 for peace, planet and prosperity. They may seem beyond reach, but as the past 20 years have demonstrated, rapid change is possible. It’s happened through political will and international collaboration – and the shared conviction that education holds the power to transform lives and development trajectories. Nearly 65% of the Afghan population is under 25 – this is the country’s richest resource and its future. We need political will and commitment from the new authorities and summon international solidarity to provide children and youth with their fundamental right to learn. Everyone will win if universal education becomes the bedrock of recovery and peace-building that the Afghan people desperately need.
Africa/Kenya/27-08-2021/Author and Source: www.kbc.co.ke
Kenya National Library Service (KNLS) has created programmes aimed at ensuring the youths continue with their research and lessons during the pandemic period.
Eldoret branch Principal Librarian Ruth Jemo said the library has introduced computer literacy training programmes to equip youths with the necessary technological skills needed during the pandemic period.
“At the moment we have 16 trainees who started their training at the beginning of the month and we expect more as we continue,” she said.
Jemo indicated that the library has beefed up its cyber, WIFI, and LAN capabilities to ensure young people interested in research and learning enjoy uninterrupted services at the library.
She further said a partnership with the Uasin Gishu County government has enabled the library to set up a well-equipped cyber section to allow students to participate in online classes free of charge.
Entrance of Kenya National Library in Eldoret.
Data by The World Economic Forum stipulate that over 1.2 billion children from 186 countries were forced out of school by the coronavirus pandemic compelling schools to adopt online solutions to bridge the gap.
Apart from the cyber café, Jemo indicated that the library has made arrangements to accommodate more students by converting the children section into a makeshift study area for adults.
“We also have personal booths that can be used by both students and teachers engaged in online learning. These booths have internet facilities to ensure smooth services,” she said.
“Part of KNLS’ strategic plan is to enhance the availability of resources through the utilization of modern technologies,” she said, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic has furnished them with an opportunity of accommodating technology in their day-to-day services.
The library has also rolled out business skills programmes designed to educate youths on matters of online business and communication skills.
“We have book talks on topical issues where we invite speakers to cover issues affecting the youths in this country,” she said.
Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/kenya-national-library-service-embraces-technology-amidst-covid-19/
Africa/Kenya/20-08-2021/Author and Source: www.kbc.co.ke
Nokia, Safaricom, UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of ICT have announced a joint initiative that will connect at least 90 schools with high speed internet.
Under the Digital Leraning Programme, the initiative aims to ‘connect the unconnected’, with the ultimate goal of supporting the Kenyan Government’s plans to scale broadband connection to all schools by 2030.
“As part of our Transforming Lives purpose and vision to become a purpose-led technology company, we are always looking for partnerships that allow us to use our services to deliver social impact in areas aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals. Our shared value partnership with UNICEF and Nokia allows us to connect schools in underprivileged areas and increase access to digital literacy. This will ensure that the students there are not left behind when it comes to reaping the benefits of an ever-increasing digital society,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom.
The connected schools are spread across rural and informal urban settlements in Kenya, serving an estimated 32,670 students.
Schools are using Nokia’s FastMile 4G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband solution to provide reliable, high-speed connectivity delivered over Safaricom’s 4G/LTE network. Nokia’s meshed WiFi Beacon technology is used to boost the Internet signal in selected classrooms and computer labs.
“An important belief that we hold at Nokia is the need to provide ‘broadband for all’. With remote learning becoming the prevailing issue during the Covid-19 pandemic, the topic of digital equity takes center stage again, so we are excited that this collaboration will facilitate access to many students currently unconnected. This is an initiative we are very proud to be a part of and hope that it is a significant step to a brighter future for all those reaping its benefits,” said Amr K. El Leithy, Nokia Senior Vice-president for Middle East and Africa Market.
The importance of good connectivity has been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. School closures in Kenya in 2020 meant that children had to stay at home for six to nine months, leaving them reliant on remote learning.
The digital divide meant that students who could access the internet were better placed to continue with their learning.
“Children have a right to access quality education wherever they are, yet for too long, the digital divide has prevented disadvantaged children from enjoying the same benefits as their connected peers. By connecting schools to the Internet – with a focus on the most disadvantaged areas – we can start to level the playing field. This allows students and teachers to gain digital skills and access the latest education materials, providing a brighter future for some of the most vulnerable children in Kenya,” added Maniza, UNICEF Kenya Country Representative.
Schools equipped with a broadband connection, digital devices and teacher training will now be able to make better use of video communication, digital curricula and online content, thereby improving digital literacy and skills among school children.
Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/90-schools-to-get-internet-connection-under-digital-literacy-programme/
The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has denied claims that it authorized the oversupply of textbooks in public schools across the country.
The institute has attributed the move to the mass transfer of students from one school to the other due to Covid-19 that saw parents lose jobs and relocate to their rural homes.
In the last couple of months, headteachers and leaders have cried foul over the continuous dumping of unwanted books in the schools by printers.
Some schools have been forced to buy plastic water tanks to store the books with their stores already filled up.
But according to KICD Director Professor Charles Omondo, the flooding had affected a few schools after learners were transferred at the height of the pandemic.
“A few schools that were affected by the transfers had problems with the books supply but we are reviewing this problem,” he said.
Omondo at the same time denied that set books were being changed every year noting that KICD had evaluated all the books needed by schools.
“We have given teachers the books that have met the threshold and they are supposed to pick one per subject while the others can be used by the teachers for reference,” he said.
Addressing the press in Central Primary school in Naivasha, the director added that they are visiting schools to ensure grade five pupils have received learning materials.
He said that plans for the transition from 8-4-4 to Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) system were in place with the government moving in to build in more classes.
KICD has further disassociated itself from a long list of books being demanded by some private schools
Earlier, Gilgil Mp Martha Wangari had raised an alert over the possible loss of millions of shillings in procurement of textbooks for public schools.
According to the Mp, schools were oversupplied with hundreds of books that they did not need as part of the capitation fees that went to pay the printers.
“It’s time that we allowed teachers to procure the books that they need and we should put a threshold on the amount used to buy the books,” she said.
She added that tens of schools in the country had been oversupplied with books that they did not require while set books were being changed every year.
“When parliament resumes we shall summon the CS for Education to clarify on this issue where printers are dumping unwanted books in schools,” she said.
Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/kicd-denies-over-supplying-schools-with-unwanted-text-books/
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