Ministry of Education

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Coronavirus: Schools told to keep staff and students recently in China away from classroom

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Oceania/ New Zealand/ 28.01.2020/ Source: www.stuff.co.nz.

 

School principals are being urged to delay the start of the school year for staff or students who have recently been to China over fears of coronavirus.

Education Secretary for the Ministry of Education, Iona Holsted said the ministry had warned school principals to «err on the side of caution» with the .

On Monday Ministry of Health officials said there was a «high likelihood» of coronavirus reaching New Zealand, with a moderate chance that it would spread when it arrives.

The new virus originated in the Chinese province of Wuhan in December and has rapidly spread to other countries, including Australia.

Cabinet is expected to make the virus a notifiable disease on Tuesday, giving public health officials the power to quarantine people suspected of infection.

Children and young people were currently returning to classrooms and the health of students and staff was a priority, Holsted said.

Official advice for principals included a list of steps to take that advised keeping students away from school if they had been in China.

«For any staff member or student who may be at high risk of exposure because they have recently been to China or have been in close contact with someone confirmed with the virus, I encourage you to ask that the staff member or parent/caregiver of the student delay the start of their school year for 14 days and voluntarily stay away.»

The advice states that anyone who was unwell should not be at school or at their early learning service and provided a number for Healthline.

If a student still attends school while showing symptoms, the principal of a state school could preclude them if they believed on reasonable grounds they may have a communicable disease, her advice said.

«The student has to stay away for the infectious period of the specific disease.»

This did not apply for private schools but principals could request that a student with an infectious disease or is suspected of having an infectious disease, did not attend.

Principals can also request that a staff member with an infectious disease or was suspected of having an infectious disease, did not attend.

Meanwhile, National Party education spokeswoman Nikki Kaye has written to the Education Minister asking about what support was in place for schools, early learning centres and tertiary institutions.

She sought the sought urgent advice on Sunday but was yet to get a response.

«Tens of thousands of international students will be arriving in New Zealand to study over the coming weeks, some of them from places which have been affected by the outbreak.

«There needs to be clear advice for host families, parents, schools and teachers about what they should do if an outbreak were to occur.»

Some schools started back on Monday and more will be starting on Tuesday and later this week.

The University of Canterbury (UC) expected «several hundred» new Chinese students to enrol in person from February 11 to 13. It was exploring late enrolments for students whose travel from China was disrupted.

The university had urged staff and students to reassess whether planned trips to China were essential and had «contingency plans» in case the situation changed, a spokeswoman said.

Kaye said: «It’s time the Government gave clear advice about will happen if this virus reaches New Zealand.»

«The Government is missing in action while the rest of the world is taking this seriously. It’s time for action.»

Source of the notice: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119085941/coronavirus-schools-told-to-keep-staff-and-students-recently-in-china-away-from-classroom

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Child Suicides at Highest Rate Ever in Japan

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Asia/ Japan/ 05.11.2019/ Source: www.nippon.com.

 

A total of 332 Japanese elementary, junior high, and high school students died by suicide in 2018, according to research by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. This was an increase of 33% from the previous year and the highest number since 1988, when the data was first calculated with the current method. The figure included 227 high school students, 100 junior high students, and 5 elementary school students, with high school student suicides showing a year-on-year rise of 42%. Of the 332 students, 193 were boys and 139 were girls.

The total number of suicides in Japan (National Police Agency annual totals) peaked at 34,427 in 2003 and then began to fall. From 2010, this figure has fallen for nine years straight. In contrast, despite decreased student numbers due to the shrinking birthrate, child suicides are on the rise. In 2006, the suicide ratio was 1.2 per 100,000 children, whereas by 2018 this had more than doubled to 2.5.

Among the reasons for suicide (multiple possible), particularly high were family disagreements at 12.3% and being reprimanded by their parents at 9.0%, while bullying remained at a lower ratio of 2.7%. However, the reason for nearly 60% of child suicides was unknown, so it is not clear what is driving young people to take their own lives.

Reason for Suicide (Multiple responses possible)

Total Percentage
Family disagreements 41 12.3%
Reprimanded by parents 30 9.0%
Academic underachievement 17 5.1%
Worries over future prospects 28 8.4%
Issues with teachers 5 1.5%
Issues with friends (excluding bullying) 16 4.8%
Bullying 9 2.7%
Despair caused by illness 9 2.7%
Despair 21 6.3%
Issues with the opposite sex 22 6.6%
Mental disorders 24 7.2%
Unknown 194 58.4%
Other 18 5.4%

Compiled by Nippon.com based on 2018 MEXT Survey on problematic behavior and non-attendance of school children.

Source of the notice: https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00572/child-suicides-at-highest-rate-ever-in-japan.html

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Children return to school in Ebola-affected regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Africa/ Congo/ 17.09.2019/ Source: www.unicef.org.

Schools have reopened for an estimated two million children living in communities affected by the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

“Ebola has had a devastating and disruptive impact on families and communities here,” said UNICEF Representative in the DRC Edouard Beigbeder. “Ensuring that these children have access to safe, protective and welcoming schools is key to helping them regain normalcy and continue their learning.”

There are 6,509 primary and secondary schools in Ebola-affected areas of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu Provinces – 3,800 of them are in high-risk areas.  Most have reopened for the new school term.

“At the start of the last academic year, the Ebola outbreak was still very new,” said Fati Bagna Seyni, UNICEF’s education lead in the Ebola response. “Many parents were scared to send their children to school fearing they could be infected in class. Teachers lacked the information and training to teach children about the disease or assist vulnerable children from Ebola-affected families. A lot has changed.”

Over the past year, UNICEF has worked closely with the Ministry of Education and other partners to map and deliver targeted assistance to schools, teachers, parents and students in affected areas.

This includes equipping schools with thermometers, hygiene supplies and handwashing stations and training school administrators and teachers on everything from prevention measures to basic case management if a student or teacher begins to show symptoms.  Teaching materials were produced, including an instruction guide with child-friendly illustrations that helps teachers teach children about how the disease spreads, how to prevent it and good hygiene practices.

Teachers have also received psychosocial training, so they can identify and assist a child suffering from stigma or discrimination or a child grieving the loss of loved ones, whether from Ebola, other diseases or violent conflict, which also afflicts the region.

Among the students returning to class include hundreds of school-age Ebola survivors and children orphaned to Ebola.

In preparation for the new school term, UNICEF and partners have been assessing which schools need additional health and hygiene supplies, updating instruction guides and messaging based on feedback from teachers, printing new posters and informational materials and increasing outreach to parents and communities to encourage children to return to school.

“Informed teachers are incredibly valuable to the Ebola response because they are respected and listened to,” said Bagna Seyni. “Children learn how to prevent the spread of Ebola from teachers and bring those messages home to their parents and communities. Teachers and children can be great amplifiers and influencers and it’s essential we take advantage of that.”

To date, UNICEF and partners have:

  • Trained over 32,400 teachers on how to teach children about Ebola prevention and how to make schools a protective environment for children
  • Reached more than 928,000 students with vital information about Ebola
  • Provided school support, including school fees, uniforms and supplies, to 432 child survivors and children orphaned to Ebola
  • Equipped nearly 2,350 schools in high-risk areas with handwashing stations, thermometers and hygiene supplies

Source of the notice: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-return-school-ebola-affected-regions-democratic-republic-congo

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China makes great leaps in education over 70 years

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Asia/ China/ 16.09.2019/ Source: www.xinhuanet.com.

China has made great leaps in developing basic and higher education over the past 70 years as the country endeavors to improve its comprehensive strength.

In the early days after the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the illiteracy rate in the country stood at 80 percent. Today the newly-added labor force has received over 13.3 years of education on average.

Over the decades, compulsory education coverage in China has been expanded to the average level of high-income countries as the country has given strategic priority to education and included compulsory education into legislation.

This year the Ministry of Education announced that China has built the world’s largest higher education system with the gross enrollment ratio in higher education rising to 48.1 percent from 0.26 percent in 1949.

China’s higher education will enter a new phase which will see over half of the college-age population being able to have access to higher education.

Vocational education has also registered marked progress as the country has cultivated 270 million high-caliber laborers and skilled workers.

Source of the notice: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-09/08/c_138375346.htm

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China makes great leaps in education over 70 years

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Asia/ China/ 10.09.2019/ Source: www.china.org.cn.

 

China has made great leaps in developing basic and higher education over the past 70 years as the country endeavors to improve its comprehensive strength.

In the early days after the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the illiteracy rate in the country stood at 80 percent. Today the newly-added labor force has received over 13.3 years of education on average.

Over the decades, compulsory education coverage in China has been expanded to the average level of high-income countries as the country has given strategic priority to education and included compulsory education into legislation.

This year the Ministry of Education announced that China has built the world’s largest higher education system with the gross enrollment ratio in higher education rising to 48.1 percent from 0.26 percent in 1949.

China’s higher education will enter a new phase which will see over half of the college-age population being able to have access to higher education.

Vocational education has also registered marked progress as the country has cultivated 270 million high-caliber laborers and skilled workers.

Source of the notice: http://www.china.org.cn/china/2019-09/08/content_75184892.htm
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China’s Education Authority Calls for More Electives, Choice

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Asia/ China/ 24.06.2019/ By: Ni Dandan/ Fuente: www.sixthtone.com.

 

China wants more high schools to offer the elective courses known as “zouban” — literally “roaming classes” — in order to better meet students’ diverse developmental needs and interests, an official with the country’s top education authority said at a press conference Thursday.

The conference came a day after the State Council — China’s Cabinet — issued sweeping new guidelines on secondary education reform. According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, the document is the first of its kind to be released since the start of the 21st century.

“Taking into account talent cultivation rules, university department admissions requirements, and students’ interests and strengths, as well as the specific conditions at each school, zouban systems should be implemented in an orderly fashion,” Lü Yugang, director of the Ministry of Education’s Department of Basic Education, said at the conference.

Local school districts around China have experimented with zouban electives to increase student choice for decades, but the system has become more widespread in recent years as provinces and municipalities continue to add elective sections to their college entrance examinations. The new guidelines represent the first time the central government has explicitly endorsed zouban and encouraged local authorities to implement the model.

In his remarks at the conference, Jia Wei, deputy director of Shanghai’s Municipal Education Commission, framed the move as a change from the current exam-oriented model of education to a more comprehensive approach. “The goal of high school studies will no longer be simply getting into a university, but also figuring out students’ interests in life and targets for their future career,” he said.

Currently, zouban implementation is carried out at the local level, meaning the systems in place and degree of choice they offer can vary. Shanghai schools require students to choose three elective zouban from a list of six potential options, with each subject corresponding to an elective section on the municipality’s college entrance exam.

In addition to advancing the zouban system, the new reform guidelines also call on schools to explore more “interactive, inspirational, and experiential teaching methods,” and state that teaching management should be optimized and student workloads eased by reducing the frequency of exams and banning schools from forcing students to take extracurricular classes.

Cao Bingsheng, a teacher at Nantong Normal College in eastern China, says he’s pessimistic as to whether the new guidelines will have the desired effect, especially if schools continue to be graded primarily on test scores.

“It’s highly difficult to ban extra classes as long as university admissions rates are still used to evaluate the performance of (secondary) education authorities,” Cao told Sixth Tone.

Education officials also used Thursday’s press conference to announce that work on new high school textbooks is almost complete. In late 2017, the Ministry of Education issued guidelines for revising the country’s textbooks, which included adding more content related to socialist core values and both traditional Chinese and “revolutionary” culture.

Source of the notice: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1004162/chinas-education-authority-calls-for-more-electives%2C-choice#

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Education Ministry: Malaysian students in Sudan safe

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Africa/ Sudan/ 30.01.2019/ Source: www.malaymail.com.

One hundred and nine Malaysian students studying in Khartoum, Sudan are safe in the country facing civil unrest, says the Ministry of Education (MOE).

From the total, 104 Malaysian students are still in Khartoum while the other five had returned to Malaysia, said the ministry in a statement today.

«They can carry on with their daily life as usual,” said the ministry as informed by Education Malaysia (EM) in Egypt which contacted the Malaysian Embassy in Khartoum to obtain further information on the position of Malaysian students following the unrest in Sudan.     According to MOE, the protests around Khartoum involved Araba which is 10 to 15 kilometres from the residence of Malaysian students.

According to the MOE statement, riots had also broke out in Atbara and Gedarif which are 350 kilometres from Khartoum

According to MOE, universities in Sudan were closed two weeks ago and would reopen after being informed by the authorities in Sudan.

“The Malaysian Embassy in Sudan continues to take precautionary measures and advised Malaysian students to return home as universities are closed,” it said.

Yesterday, the Malaysian Embassy had issued an advise all Malaysian students not to participate in any political gathering and stay away from public places such as public squares and markets.

Malaysian Armed Forces chief Gen Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin was reported as saying the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) was prepared to fly to Sudan to bring back Malaysian students stranded in the country following a civil unrest.

He said the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) is in contact with the Malaysian Embassy in the country to obtain the latest information before bringing back the students.

«For the time being, they were ordered to rest at home there and the Embassy is monitoring their status while ATM is waiting for the latest development to move into action,” he told a media conference after presenting the Armed Forces chief’s message to personnel at Wisma Pertahanan here today. — Bernama

Source of the notice: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2019/01/04/education-ministry-malaysian-students-in-sudan-safe/1709202

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