Education

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Australia urged to act on girls’ education in Solomons as 93 per cent dropout rate revealed

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Oceania/ Australia/ 10.06.2019/ Source: www.sbs.com.au.

Omar Dabbagh reports from Visale, Solomon Islands

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is being urged to prioritise education equality during his visit to the Solomon Islands, after a new report found a shockingly low number of girls finish high school in the Pacific nation.

Aid agency Plan International, which compiled the ‘Our Education, Our Future’ report with the help of 60 girls in the Solomons, found the female graduation rate there is only seven per cent.

Expensive school fees, disturbingly high rates of child marriage and teen pregnancies, dangers facing girls walking to and from school, as well as cultural perceptions towards gender are being blamed for mass female dropouts.

«I would say it’s discrimination but it’s also about opportunity. People think that girls are associated to home,» Ella Kauhue, Program Manager for Plan International Solomon Islands, told SBS News ahead of the report’s release next week.

«They do a lot of work at home, they save the family, they look after the children, so they have – in terms of family – they have responsibility more than the boys.

SBS News understands Mr Morrison will visit schools in the Solomon Islands on Monday and read to a class.

Solomon Islands girls

Australia is being urged to prioritise the education of girls in the Solomon Islands.
SBS News/Omar Dabbagh

‘Left behind’

«When it comes to the decision-making of parents on who to go to school when there is limited funds, then the boys have a chance to go, the girls are left behind,” said Franklin Kakate, a school principal in the village of Visale.

It is a domestic responsibility that many girls say they do not want.

Best friends, Betty and Betty, aged 18 and 19, dropped out of high school in recent years due to financial stress and peer pressure. And both say they are desperate to complete their education.

«I want to tell other girls that when they receive a good education, they will not be like us – you know, walking around (doing nothing). Boring. They will have a good life,» the girls said.

«I see value in education, so I want to see the girls value that because if they’re educated then they can see things.»

EXCLUSIVE: Australia urged to prioritise women's education in the Solomon Islands

Friends Betty and Betty were both forced to drop out of high school, and say they are desperate to one day graduate.
SBS News/Omar Dabbagh

Schoolgirls from Visale, north of the capital Honiara, have told SBS News they hope to one day break the mould in the Solomons.

«I feel excited because I have the opportunity to attend school while other girls stay at home and do housework,” says 18-year-old Melisa, who is in her last year of school.

«I want be in engineering because I want to be part of the male’s job, because in Solomon Island there’s not much female involved in men’s job.»

«(I want to be a) lawyer so I can solve all the problems in the country,» adds 17-year-old Clodina.

«I want to make our country a better country in the future.»

‘Gender imbalance’

In a bid to prioritise education in recent years, the Solomons government made primary school free. But Plan International claims that policy has not been implemented in many parts of the country. School attendance, both in primary and high school, is also not compulsory.

Seventy-two per cent of girls finish primary school, but as fees increase every of secondary school so too do dropout numbers, whereas one-third of boys are able to complete high school.

Plan International found that two out of five girls are forced to drop out of school due to teen pregnancy or child marriage, with the former seeing many girls expelled as they are often blamed for betraying customary practices.

Simple things like walking home, particularly in remote provinces, can deter girls from attending where there is a high rate of sexual assault.

Eighteen-year-old Judy says she used to walk six kilometres a day to and from her previous school and feared every day she would be attacked.

«I feel scared and maybe we don’t know what is going to happen when you follow the road, that there is no house and someone to help you,» she explained.

«And sometimes if you go to school by yourself and you meet someone who tried to kill you, you don’t have anyone to help you.»

ls for Australia to step up education focus

Australia is by far the biggest contributor of aid to the Solomon Islands, set to donate almost $200 million this year alone.

It bankrolls five per cent of the Solomons’ education budget, of which almost two-thirds funds scholarships and programs to improve school facilities, such as bathrooms and access to clean water.

But coordinator for International Programs at the Solomon Islands Ministry for Education, Christina Bakolo, told SBS News only a sliver goes towards secondary education, let alone the education of girls.

«There needs to be collaborative work if Australia would like to assist the Solomon Islands. For me, personally, there needs to be resourcing. This is one of the gaps here,» Ms Bakolo said.

«It would be very great to see Australia focusing on the marginalised ones in the Solomon Islands, and that includes girls.»

Plan International hopes Mr Morrison uses his overseas trip to take a stand to support young women.

«Gender equality in this country is very imbalanced,» Ms Kauhue said.

«I think the country, the government, will have to see that investing in girls is important and not for today but for the future of this country.»

Source of the notice: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-urged-to-act-on-girls-education-in-solomons-as-93-per-cent-dropout-rate-revealed

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NZ’s education sector must move fast to support edtech

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Oceania/ New Zealand/ 10.06.2019/ Fuente: itbrief.co.nz.

New Zealand’s education sector needs to face up to automation and the way it will affect people’s jobs in years to come – and it needs to move quickly to do so, according to industry body EdTechNZ.

In a submission to the New Zealand Productivity Commission on the topic of how technology will impact the future of work in New Zealand, EdTechNZ says that New Zealand’s education sector needs a serious shake up.

According to EdTechNZ chair Shane Kerr, New Zealand’s education and skills system does not have a shared view of current or desirable outcomes for New Zealand’s digitally dependent society.

“Consideration should be given to how the skill needs of the tech industry can be better understood by the education sector, perhaps through an industry body forum,” says Kerr.

“Future workers will need advanced technical skills to operate in an increasingly digital working environment but also skills for the roles that cannot be easily automated.”

EdTechNZ says it has witnessed the impact that automation technologies are having on people’s jobs.

“Workers now and in the future will need an education system that can keep up with the pace of global technical change,” says Kerr.

“We’re already seeing firms and companies question the validity of traditional courses of study as their industries undergo rapid transformation.

“It is imperative that the 20% of adults described in the commission’s report with low levels of literacy and/or numeracy are provided with effective access to tools and training that can lift their capability.”

He says the Commission should consider the World Economic Forum’s 21st century skills concept, which includes collaboration, critical thinking, digital literacy, and problem solving.

“There are a number of edtech products and pedagogies that can be further deployed in this area, and the edtech sector could be more effectively incentivised to address this priority.”

He adds that the education sector is struggling to keep up with workplace change. The education sector is often held back by difficulty innovating and scaling new initiatives quickly enough.

“In addition, due to the relatively large numbers of small to medium companies, employers are less likely to plan for or invest in future skills at the expense of the immediate needs and daily pressures of their business,” Kerr says.

The mismatches between capability and expectation will only grow, Kerr adds.

“Not all firms do or will have the same understanding of the skill challenges or make the same level of investment in training beyond their immediate needs.

“Government has a role to raise awareness and urgency of the issue and also encourage the development of training for future skills needs which may not be readily apparent to the employer such as digital literacy. Government investment is required in every scenario.”

Source of the news: https://itbrief.co.nz/story/nz-s-education-sector-must-move-fast-to-support-edtech

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Jokowi wants to improve the quality of Indonesia’s labour force

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Asia/ Indonesia/ 10.06.2019/ Source: www.economist.com.

The best way to do that would be to attract skill-hungry businesses

Victoria opai, a teacher in a remote part of West Kalimantan, Indonesia’s slice of Borneo, is charmed by the new road connecting her school to Putussibau, the nearest town. It is smooth, reasonably straight and cuts through swathes of jungle. It used to take three hours to get into town, she says. Now it takes 40 minutes.

Over the past five years new roads, airports and railways have popped up across Indonesia. Reviving its ailing infrastructure was a pledge of Joko Widodo, the president, known as Jokowi, during his first term. Along with poverty-reduction measures, it helped him win re-election on April 17th. In his first term Indonesia grew by 5.1% annually; last year the imf said ambitious economic reforms could enable Indonesia to grow at 6.5% by 2022. Jokowi promises to improve “human resources”, meaning education and the quality of the labour force. In a speech on April 30th he talked about “upskilling” Indonesia.

Source of news: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2019/05/30/jokowi-wants-to-improve-the-quality-of-indonesias-labour-force

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Nigeria’s state schools need 6,000 teachers amid Boko Haram insurgency

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Africa/ Nigeria/ 10.06.2018/ Source: www.xinhuanet.com.

 

About 6,000 additional teachers are required to improve the quality of education in northeast Nigeria’s state of Borno, an official said Sunday.

«The government is building a state of the art schools with a decent environment, but our teachers lack motivation,» Jibril Muhammed, chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) said in Maiduguri, the state capital.

«It is my firm belief that with the necessary motivations for our teachers, the problems in our education sector will be solved.»

He spoke against the backdrop of 40 mega schools constructed by the government to cater for the education of 53,000 children orphaned by Boko Haram insurgency in the state.

Borno state in northeast Nigeria has been devastated by the insurgency.

Muhammed said at least 5,000 teachers are required for primary schools while additional 1,000 be deployed to secondary schools to boost teaching and learning.

He commended the government for prioritizing education in the state but said it should also accord priority to teachers welfare.

The teachers union chief said that teachers were among the worst hit by the Boko Haram insurgency, with about 530 killed and 32,000 displaced.

Teachers are some of the lowest paid public sector employees in the oil-rich West African country.

About 27,000 people have been killed in Borno and two neighboring states since 2009, in one of the world’s most violent conflicts that have destroyed homes and infrastructure.

 

Source of the notice: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-06/09/c_138129326.htm

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A child’s brain develops faster with exposure to music education

Reseñas

By: musiceducationworks.

A two-year study by researchers at the Brain and Creativity Institute (BCI) at the University of Southern California shows that exposure to music and music instruction accelerates the brain development of young children in the areas responsible for language development, sound, reading skill and speech perception.

The study of 6-7-year-old children began in 2012, when neuroscientists started monitoring a group of 37 children from an underprivileged neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Thirteen of them received music instruction through the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles Program where they practiced up to seven hours each week.

Eleven children were enrolled in a community-based soccer programme, and another 13 children were not involved in any training programme at all.

The researchers compared the three groups by tracking the electrical activity in the brains, conducting behavioural testing and monitored changes using brain scans.

The results showed that the auditory systems of the children in the music programme had accelerated faster than the other children not engaged in music. Dr. Assal Habibi, the lead author of the study and a senior research associate at the BCI, explained that the auditory system is stimulated by music and the system is also engaged in general sound processing. This is essential to reading skills, language development and successful communication.

SOURCES:
Science Direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929315301122
Science World Report: http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/42317/20160615/childrens-brain-develop-faster-exposure-music-instruction.htm
University of Southern California: https://dornsife.usc.edu/bci/brain-and-music/
Southern California Public Radio: http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/06/15/61697/usc-study-continues-to-provide-data-on-music-and-b/
News Medical: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20160616/Music-instruction-improves-cognitive-socio-emotional-development-in-young-children.aspx
Slipped Disc: http://slippedisc.com/2016/06/la-phil-research-learning-music-speeds-up-kids-brains/

DETAILS:

BENEFIT: BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
TARGET GROUP: CHILDREN
AGE: 6-7 YEARS OLD
MUSIC TYPE: CLASSICAL (EL SISTEMA)
TYPE OF STUDY: ACADEMIC RESEARCH
NOs INVOLVED: 37
PERIOD OF STUDY: 2 YEARS (OF A 5 YEAR STUDY)
DATE: 2016
PLACE: USA

Source of the review: https://musiceducationworks.wordpress.com/2016/06/19/a-childs-brain-develops-faster-with-exposure-to-music/?fbclid=IwAR1KjoZiJP_BJVWFWJF_JjDZ6ZFQgQPkIZIFKcjr_9IKUd0a8U5b_EdlOgQ

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India: Hindi in schools. Education policy should not play games of domination

Noticias

Por: telegraphindia/05-06-2019

The gift of plenty can sometimes be troublesome. India is brimming over with languages — the 2011 census shows that although 96.71 per cent of the population speaks one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, there are 121 mother tongues including the listed languages spoken by more than 10,000 people. The number of rationalized mother tongues is 1,369, but not many of these are spoken by 10,000 people or more. It is no wonder that successive education policies in the country have been rather indecisive about language learning, wavering between two languages and three for children.

The latest hullabaloo over the three-language system enumerated by the draft national education policy of the new Narendra Modi-headed government was incited by a cleverly-written provision that, by implication, makes Hindi compulsory in non-Hindi speaking states. Protest exploded from parties in non-Hindi-speaking states, especially Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from the south, and Maharashtra and Bengal among others. Earlier efforts to make Hindi the lingua franca failed too, with the southern states perceiving it as politico-linguistic domination of the north.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s renewed attempt to slide in Hindi seems to have sharpened suspicions of not just an imposition but also an effort to force India into the homogeneous mould favoured by the BJP. That the draft national education policy appeared almost at the same time that members of the new government took oath of office did little to allay suspicions. It might look to the Opposition as though the BJP was just waiting to make sure of a firmer hold on power the second time before making Hindi compulsory in schools.

Maybe it was a bit too eager. The protests have forced a change in the draft so that, in effect, the languages learnt will be a choice of the states. The frantic assurances of ministers that this is merely a draft did nothing to stem the protests. The spirit of the Constitution encourages respect for all languages. Given the number of languages, even when the medium is the dominant regional language, many children would still be deprived of learning in their mother tongue. This is often a serious hurdle in learning among many minority groups. Education policies should focus on these problems instead of playing tug-of-war with games of domination.

Fuente de la Información: https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/hindi-in-schools-education-policy-should-not-play-games-of-domination/cid/1691737

Fuente de la imagen: https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/hindi-in-schools-education-policy-should-not-play-games-of-domination/cid/1691737

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China warns students: Be careful if studying in the US

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Asia/ China/ 04.06.2019/ S0urce: edition.cnn.com.

The Chinese Ministry of Education has warned students to be careful if studying in the United States — the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the two countries.

In its first «study aboard alert» of the year, issued on Monday, the ministry said students and academics must «prepare accordingly» if they wanted to study in the US.
«It has been the case for a while that some Chinese students who want to study in the US have been encountering visa restrictions, prolonged review times, shortened time validity and a rising rate of visa rejections,» the ministry statement said.
«(This) affects Chinese students’ successful study in the US.»
The ministry rarely issues alerts of this nature — and when it does they often relate to one university rather than an entire country.
China’s new propaganda song goes viral 02:03
The hashtag for the alert has gone viral since it was announced late Monday local time, and has already been read more than 21 million times on Chinese social media site Weibo.
Ahead of the official statement, ministry International Cooperation and Exchange Department deputy chief Xu Yongji said education exchanges had become «increasingly complicated.»
«The US and the federal government have been politicizing the normal exchanges between the countries and suppressing China in the name of the China threat and infiltration theory,» he said.
In March, a group of Republican congressmen introduced a bill into the US Congress which would ban any individuals employed or sponsored by the Chinese military from receiving student or research visas to the US.
Relations between the US and China have deteriorated rapidly since hopes for a trade deal were dashed in early May, with each government blaming the other.
The Trump administration raised tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on May 10, and later threatened technology giant Huawei with a potential export ban.
In response, China increased tariffs on $60 billion worth of US goods.
US President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G20 in Japan in June, where some experts hope progress could be made towards restarting a trade deal.
Source of  news: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/03/asia/us-china-education-warning-intl/index.html
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