Quality Education

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Armenia: Access to education and equity. Live discussion

Noticias

Armenia/September 26, 2017/Source: http://en.a1plus.am

“PROBLEMS OF AVAILABILITY AND EQUALITY OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN THE GENERAL EDUCATIONAL SPHERE OF RA”

The presentation and discussion of the REASERCH

Open Society Foundations – Armenia and “Article 3” Club invite to the presentation and discussion of the preliminary findings of the “Problems of Availability and Equality of Implementation of the Right to Education in the General Education Sphere of RA” research report.

The research objective is to evaluate and identify the equality and justice issues in public education that hinder the full realization of the right to education, as well as develop alternative policy solutions in cooperation with various stakeholders.

In recent years, numerous studies held by the Armenian education system, as well as official statistics have been continuously alarming about the linkage between the level of education of the population and poverty, the lack of access to quality education for socially vulnerable families and / or rural children, especially girls.

The figures speak for themselves, and the study recorded the most profound picture of the problems and their causes:

  • During the period of 2010-2015, poverty among the population with a higher education has dropped by about 3%, while the proportion of people with elementary and lower education has increased by about 16.8%.
  • Compared to 2009 (6.8%), in 2015, the share of payments for education in general household expenditure has essentially decreased, with the costs being substantially different in urban and rural areas. In 2015 they were 2.5% and 0.7%, meanwhile in 2009 they were 8% and 3.6%.
  • During 2016/2017 academic year, 34.3% of children of families in need, got scores 9 and 10, meanwhile, in the case of the children of well-provided families, the indicator was 42.8%. In the same period, the children of the well-provided families did not score 0-5, whereas 8.7% of children of families in need received such scores.

Speakers are:

DAVID AMIRYAN – Deputy Director for Armenian Programs of Open Society Foundations

LILIT NAZARYAN Coordinator of Educational Programs in Armenia OF Open Society Foundation

https://www.facebook.com/article3club/videos/1938960212983058/

 Source:

http://en.a1plus.am/1263977.html

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New loan program makes education more accessible in Armenia

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Armenia/ August 26, 2017/Source: http://www.panarmenian.net

Byblos Bank Armenia CJSC and American University of Armenia have teamed up for a new student loan project which makes higher education more accessible and affordable. AUA graduate students who need financial support can get student loans to cover their tuition fee.

The project provides up to 80% funding of the education fee with an annual interest rate of 5% interest rate and a grace period. During the period of studies at AUA and the following six months only the interest will be paid off. The principal and the interest will be paid during the next thirty months.

Hayk Stepanyan, Chief Executive Officer of Byblos Bank Armenia noted: “Education has always been in the focus of attention of Byblos Bank. This loan project with American University of Armenia will help more students have access to quality higher education programs, reveal their potential and succeed in the job market. Moreover, starting from 2017 academic year the Bank has granted scholarships to AUA students. We hope that our cooperation with AUA will contribute to the development and well-being of our society.”

The loan with preferential terms will be provided in Armenian dram to students with good credit history and two guarantors.

Armen Der Kiureghian, President of the American University of Armenia noted, “The amount of money spent for quality education can become the most profitable investment ever made. Due to the education at AUA there is growing demand for our graduates in the labor market. There is also growing trust in their ability to fulfill their loan commitments. With this partnership our university makes a step forward towards making education accessible for students who most need financial support. We are confident that many students will benefit from this unique opportunity.”

Students can apply for the project by 4 September of the current year, by writing an e-mail to to the American University of Armenia at financialaid@aua.am.

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Kenia: Prepare teachers for new education system

Noticias

Kenia / 16 de agosto de 2017 / Por: EGARA KABAJI / Fuente: http://www.nation.co.ke/

One of the key pillars in building a strong nation is a sound education system that produces thinkers and entrepreneurs.

The government has demonstrated its commitment to realigning the education system to the Constitution and Vision 2030, provide quality education, expand access to education, empower the youth to participate fully in national development and enhance national cohesion.

That is why it has become mandatory to overhaul the 8-4-4 system.

Mastering the courage to overhaul the 8-4-4 education system has not been easy, especially with many stakeholders having developed a romantic attachment to the system.

It is characterised by massive wastage and cut-throat competition for grades.

The new competency-based education system is aimed at making the education system responsive to the imperatives of Vision 2030.

ACHIEVED OBJECTIVES

In changing the education system, the Government was in essence acknowledging the fact that the 8-4-4 system of education has not largely achieved its objectives.

So what is this new system all about? It is all about acquisition of skills to perform various tasks.

Competency based education is now popular all over the world. At the core of competency based education is the focus on what learners can do rather than on what they know.

It, therefore, focuses on measurable outcomes. The knowledge and skills they acquire should stretch beyond the classroom and be useful in the learners whole lifetime.

That is why teachers have to be carefully prepared to handle this curriculum.

Under this system, the role of the teacher has to change from an information giver to a facilitator.

GUIDANCE

Teachers have to only provide the democratic environment, materials, the activities and guidance to the learners.

The teacher has to identify each competency and plan for activities to instil the skills.

The teacher should give learners opportunity to learn and practice those skills until they acquire them.

But in all these, the teacher has to take into consideration personal differences of the learners and deal with each learner as an individual.

More significantly, teachers need ample time to assess students and provide specific, directed and personalised feedback.

The teacher should be keen on outcomes and assess the application of what has been learned in the form of actions and performances.

INFORMATION

The role of the student under the new system has to also change. Students should no longer rely only on the teacher and the classroom as the primary sources of information.

They are expected to be active agents that interrogate, produce and extend knowledge.

They should be made to think critically and to adapt, transfer and apply knowledge across a variety of settings.

That is why the classroom has to be an interactive space that encourages experimentation and exchange of ideas.

Classroom activities and teaching strategies have to equally change. Learning is considered a social activity. Teachers should develop strategies that are progressive.

Performance activities should aim at making the students to practice the requisite skills. And that is why class materials must be oriented to doing rather than knowing.

RE-TRAINING

My plea to the Ministry of Education is to provide enough funding if this system has to succeed.

We also need a well co-ordinated national strategy for the training and re-training of teachers.

In the same vein, we have to overhaul the whole assessment system. Use of formative assessments will help determine how well a student is progressing along the path to competency.

These assessments have to be frequent and specific. Their goal should be to assess progress and provide information about strengths and weaknesses towards achieving a competence.

Now that we have all accepted to cross to the new system, we now have to embark on re-orienting our teacher training institutions, including universities.

 Prof. Kabaji is the Founding Principal of Turkana University College (TUC) egarakabaji@gmail.com

Fuente noticia: http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Prepare-teachers-for-new-education-system-/440808-4054166-k6n1r6/index.html

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Free SHS A Challenge To Bridging Gap In Education Between Northern And Southern Ghana

Noticias

Ghana, August 15, 2017/By ANANPANSAH,B ABRAHAM/Source: https://www.modernghana.com

The razzmatazz that heralded the 2012 and 2016 general election can still be recollected fresh.Free education. Free education. Free education.Now it’s here…Indeed,if government says yes,who can say no(apart from God).Thank you your Excellency Nana Addo.Thank you sedulously tax payer.

The handwriting is bold enough.Free Senior High School (SHS) is here to stay despite your right to say.This is a fact all «priviledged person’s» must accept or feel free to to burn the sea!»Chai, I feel you well well Mr . Education Minister like Don Jazzy feel Omotolla.Hard talk be what?

The baseline remains September 2017.(Ghc400 million cool and we’ve started).This is albeit the gritting concerns on the table yet to be addressed.

Infact,I should say that government’s decision to expand access by redefining basic education to include secondary education is commendable.It’s a constitutional must-have.Financially distressed parents can now sleep with all two eyes closed.The ‘School Fees BP’ of poor parents will reduce.I celebrate government for this effort.

Yes,the policy is laudable.But no matter how letter-perfect the policy on Fee Free Education may appear to be,in the absence of clear information and a government white paper on the implementation of the policy,the genuine concerns of critics should well be understood.It’s therefore,very important we hasten slowly in our attempt to render every dissenting view nugatory.Dissenters may not necessarily be ‘priviledged persons’ or ‘antagonist’, but citizens who care for the system.

Hiding in my little ‘somewhere’ as a village blogger fully raised in the ‘village situation’,I smile miserably at every mention of free education.I have always had genuine issues to raise about the policy.I see a good policy on one hand, and on the other hand,I prevision challenges for that ‘village student’.(My previous articles on the subject matter speaks volumes).As I’ve always maintained,the policy in itself is good.But a good thing may be done wrongly defeating its intended purpose.

We’ve also heard it all.The voice of the Minister of Education is loud enough…»You don’t need to be brilliant to enjoy free SHS…;Sit the BECE,pass, get placed in a public SHS,and you benefit from Free SHS».Two sides of the same argument,I guess!And this position seem to provoke my curiosity.

The emphasis is the usual «grade producing educational system».Pass.Pass.Pass.Well!

The ‘Cut off pass mantra’ is the clear reason why most people are classifying the policy as a scholarship package.Thus, you must meet a pass condition(Cut off grade) before you can enjoy the policy package.If you don’t meet the condition,count yourself out.

Expanding the argument by taking a closer look at the wisdom contained in article 25 (1) of the 1992 constitution,the very basis of this policy,which says «All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities….», I ask myself:Do we all have equal educational opportunities and facilities in this country?Article 17 (4 )(a) makes it beautiful by empowering parliament to enact laws that are reasonably necessary to provide «for the implementation of policies and programmes aimed at redressing social,economic or educational imbalances in the Ghanaian society.»

In an attempt to create such equal opportunities and redress the imbalances in our educational system as a country,particularly between the North and South,the Northern Scholarship was instituted in 1957 by Ghana’s first president Dr.Kwame Nkrumah as a gap bridging mechanism.Feeding grants and examination registration fees are covered under the scholarship.The policy, distributive as it’s, aims at addressing equity challenges and ensuring social justice.

But it appears we have now grown pass the stone age of «so-called Northern Scholarship to negotiating Free SHS policy that is going to be universally proportional in nature regardless of the existing systemic imbalances.The playing field will be levelled irrespective of environmental,socioeconomic and existing conditions.The policy is going to treat unequals as equals.The benchmark is simple,»pass your BECE and enjoy».

In effect,students who use stones as computer mouse are expected to score the same grade in ICT as those who enjoy ultramodern ICT facilities in the cities.Children from underserved communities and deprived backgrounds must compete in the imbalanced system with their affluent counterparts and obtain the same grades if not better…No more preferential treatment.Whether in «King’s or Queen’s JHS or Kotito Number 10 JHS»,you must pass the same exams with or without the needed TLM’s, facilities or learning support.That is now the system.

And it’s or should be said that,in such a system,I envision a deliberate attempt to further widen the already widened inequality gap in education between Northern and Southern Ghana.The existing gap in education between the two halves of our country may not be plucked any sooner.

Educational standard in the three Regions of the North and some deprived communities in Ghana is generally accepted to be low.Not because children from these parts of the country are born ‘stupid’,but the clear established gap in resources and facilities «cause am».

Taking the 2014 BECE results as an example,only 60% of students who sat for the examination qualified to enter SHS.In the three Regions of the North particularly,22% qualified from Northern Region,11% from Upper West and Upper East Regions.In the same year under review,80% of students qualified from Greater Accra and Ashanti Region to enter SHS.So you see the clear disparity?

Students from the north who hitherto didn’t patronise the ‘big public SHS’s» in the south for fear of the fees would now want to ‘dare there’.The requirements and the challenge of competing with students exposed to improved learning environments for limited space in such schools may,however, limit their chances.We are gradually going to have a system where students from advanced Junior High Schools get not only the best of the policy but the most out of it.The poor and disadvantaged students can’t catch up with the system.The very people for whose reason the policy is being implemented.

A good policy among other things,must aim at increasing the equity and fairness of all members and sectors of society by balancing the existing conditions.

The policy if not prioritised will create undue added advantage for our brothers in the south,whilst creating added disadvantage for those down north.

It’s on this note that I wish to call on the Northern Caucaus of Members of Parliament to seek clear answers and demand for a fair implementation of the policy along the existing imbalanced conditions.A wise man once said there no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals.The gap between the north and south is already wide enough.Any any attempt to widen it the more can only spell doom for our common good .It’s not for nothing that nations usually rise against nations.

Let’s beware!
May God bless our homeland Ghana.
The writer of this article is a teacher by profession,a freelance journalist,youth/community advocate,blogger/writer and a student.

Read more of his works on ( ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com ).

By ANANPANSAH,B ABRAHAM(AB)
(The Village Writer)
0241129910/0200704844

Source:

https://www.modernghana.com/news/795199/free-shs-a-challenge-to-bridging-gap-in-education-between-no.html

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Free college education could be ‘game changer’ for Filipino families

Noticias

Philippine/August 8, 2017/ By: Gilbert P. Felongco/ Source: http://gulfnews.com

After passage of law, hard part is to fund it.

The passage into law of a measure providing free college education could be a «game changer» for many Filipinos families as having a graduate could be a ticket out of poverty.

“A college diploma is the most decisive tool a Filipino can carry in the struggle to give his or her family a better life, and President Duterte has just given every Filipino the means to have it,” Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel said, adding that the free college education law gives more Filipino families better pathways out of poverty.

Quality education is difficult to come by in the Philippines for families who have little money to pay for their children’s education.

 

While deserving students who could pass admission in state colleges and universities are provided with free tuition, they are required to maintain certain grades.

To get free quality education, some apply for admission to the Philippine Military Academy, the Philippine National Police Academy or enter priesthood or apply for scholarship from big companies, which would likely provide them with work upon graduation, or secure really high grades that comes with scholastic honours.

Free tertiary education signed

Under the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education act, which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte last Thursday, Filipino college students — including those wishing to take up medicine — could be provided free education in state colleges or universities.

“I have always believed that education is the great equaliser. I am where I am today because of my education,” said Pimentel, who graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1990, and topped the Bar exams the same year.

The Senate chief says that the law is a boost for the country and not just for individuals.

Pimentel said: “With this law, our country will have a bigger pool of skilled professionals who are necessary for the development of a modern economy.”

Funding

But while Duterte’s move to sign the free college education law was widely welcomed, some Senators caution that funds should be ensured to make it feasible.

Earlier, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno had said that such an undertaking may not be possible since it would provide a great drag on the country’s fiscal flow.

“We laud the President’s decision to sign the law even when there was some hesitation from his economic managers. The challenge now, however, is to ensure that the new law will be effectively and completely implemented in 112 state colleges and universities nationwide,” members of the Senate minority bloc said in a statement on Saturday.

The minority bloc is largely made up of members of the opposition Liberal Party.

“The new law will only become a reality if government allocates enough and accessible funding for SUCs nationwide. The executive branch and Congress must work closely to make tertiary education accessible to all through tuition subsidies and financial assistance,” they stressed.

Source:

http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/philippines/free-college-education-could-be-game-changer-for-filipino-families-1.2069703

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

Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación (CLADE)

By CLADE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The statement above can be downloaded in English.

Source:

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

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