UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes Iran’s efforts to extend education opportunities for nearly half a million Afghan children in the country, and recognizes that the country needs greater humanitarian support because of the economic challenges it faces today.
Iran has been one of the world’s leading refugee hosts for decades and currently has some one million registered refugees from Afghanistan. In addition, over two million Afghans are estimated to live in Iran either without documentation or on national passports.
Iran leads by example in including refugees in national services. Since a law introduced in 2015, all Afghan children can go to school, regardless of whether they are refugees, holders of an Afghan national passport or undocumented. Refugee children study side by side with their Iranian classmates, following the national curriculum.
Official figures estimate that some 480,000 Afghan refugee and undocumented children are currently enrolled in school for the 2019-2020 academic year, a steady increase from the previous years. In 2019 alone, Iran has created places for some 60,000 new Afghan students in its schools.
Particularly in light of ongoing economic challenges, the country needs additional humanitarian support to ensure education and other services to refugees are maintained.
In the past year the cost of living in Iran has skyrocketed, making it harder than ever before for families – Iranians and Afghans alike – to make ends meet.
UNHCR remains concerned that without additional global support for refugee operations in Iran, our ability to continue supporting the government in providing education to Afghan children will be drastically affected.
In 2019, UNHCR co-funded with the government the construction of a dozen school buildings for refugees and Iranians (each with 12 class rooms) at a cost of US$650,000 each. With increasing construction costs and without enough funding the same may not be possible in 2020.
In 2016, the Government of Iran removed the school fee that refugee families had to pay to secure a place in school for their children, putting refugee families on a par with Iranians. However, an increase in the cost of school supplies and uniforms has put further pressure on families’ budgets, and a recent threefold increase in the price of petrol is expected to raise the cost of transportation to school for families that need it.
Currently, some schools operate on two shifts to give the opportunity to as many children as possible to get an education. But many schools are still overcrowded, with teachers often struggling to allocate enough time to each student.
A worrying number of refugee and undocumented families have told UNHCR that, due to increased daily costs, they may have to take their children out of school and send them out to work to so they can contribute to the family income.
So far for our Iran operations, UNHCR has received only 30 per cent of the required US$98.9 million to date.
Source of the notice: https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2019/12/5dea18ac4/support-needed-refugee-education-iran.html
In Japan, more and more children are refusing to go to school, a phenomenon called «futoko». As the numbers keep rising, people are asking if it’s a reflection of the school system, rather than a problem with the pupils themselves.
Ten-year-old Yuta Ito waited until the annual Golden Week holiday last spring to tell his parents how he was feeling – on a family day out he confessed that he no longer wanted to go to school.
For months he had been attending his primary school with great reluctance, often refusing to go at all. He was being bullied and kept fighting with his classmates.
His parents then had three choices: get Yuta to attend school counselling in the hope things would improve, home-school him, or send him to a free school. They chose the last option.
Now Yuta spends his school days doing whatever he wants – and he’s much happier.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionJapanese primary school children (file picture)
Yuta is one of Japan’s many futoko, defined by Japan’s education ministry as children who don’t go to school for more than 30 days, for reasons unrelated to health or finances.
Attitudes to futoko have changed over the decades. Until 1992 school refusal – then called tokokyohi, meaning resistance – was considered a type of mental illness. But in 1997 the terminology changed to the more neutral futoko, meaning non-attendance.
On 17 October, the government announced that absenteeism among elementary and junior high school students had hit a record high, with 164,528 children absent for 30 days or more during 2018, up from 144,031 in 2017.
The free school movement started in Japan in the 1980s, in response to the growing number of futoko. They’re alternative schools that operate on principles of freedom and individuality.
They’re an accepted alternative to compulsory education, along with home-schooling, but won’t give children a recognised qualification.
The number of students attending free or alternative schools instead of regular schools has shot up over the years, from 7,424 in 1992 to 20,346 in 2017.
Dropping out of school can have long-term consequences, and there is a high risk that young people can withdraw from society entirely and shut themselves away in their rooms – a phenomenon known as hikikomori.
In 2016 the rising number of student suicides led the Japanese government to pass a suicide prevention act with special recommendations for schools.
Image copyrightSTEPHANE BUREAU DU COLOMBIERImage captionFree schools set their own rules
So why are so many children avoiding school in Japan?
Family circumstances, personal issues with friends, and bullying are among the main causes, according to a survey by the ministry of education.
In general, the dropouts reported that they didn’t get along with other students, or sometimes with the teachers.
That was also the case for Tomoe Morihashi.
«I didn’t feel comfortable with many people,» says the 12-year-old. «School life was painful.»
Tomoe suffered from selective mutism, which affected her whenever she was out in public.
«I couldn’t speak outside my home or away from my family,» she says.
And she found it hard to obey the rigid set of rules that govern Japanese schools.
«Tights must not be coloured, hair must not be dyed, the colour of hair elastics is fixed, and they must not be worn on the wrist,» she says.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Many schools in Japan control every aspect of their pupils’ appearance, forcing pupils to dye their brown hair black, or not allowing pupils to wear tights or coats, even in cold weather. In some cases they even decide on the colour of pupils’ underwear.
Strict school rules were introduced in the 1970s and 1980s in response to violence and bullying. They relaxed in the 1990s but have become more severe recently.
Now Tomoe, like Yuta, attends Tamagawa Free School in Tokyo where students don’t need to wear a uniform and are free to choose their own activities, according to a plan agreed between the school, parents and pupils. They are encouraged to follow their individual skills and interests.
There are rooms with computers for Japanese and maths classes and a library with books and mangas (Japanese comic books).
Image copyrightSTEPHANE BUREAU DU COLOMBIERImage captionStudents can choose what to activities they want to do in free schools
The atmosphere is very informal, like a big family. Students meet in common spaces to chat and play together.
«The purpose of this school is to develop people’s social skills,» says Takashi Yoshikawa, the head of the school.
Whether it’s through exercising, playing games or studying, the important thing is to learn not to panic when they’re in a large group.
The school recently moved to a larger space, and about 10 children attend every day.
Image copyrightSTEPHANE BUREAU DU COLOMBIERImage captionAbout 10 children attend Tamagawa Free School every day
Mr Yoshikawa opened his first free school in 2010, in a three-storey apartment in Tokyo’s residential neighbourhood of Fuchu.
«I expected students over 15 years old, but actually those who came were only seven or eight years old,» he says. «Most were silent with selective mutism, and at school they didn’t do anything.»
Mr Yoshikawa believes that communication problems are at the root of most students’ school refusal.
Image copyrightSTEPHANE BUREAU DU COLOMBIERImage captionTakashi Yoshikawa first opened a free school in 2010
His own journey into education was unusual. He quit his job as a «salary man» in a Japanese company in his early 40s, when he decided he wasn’t interested in climbing the career ladder. His father was a doctor, and like him, he wanted to serve his community, so he became a social worker and foster father.
The experience opened his eyes to the problems children face. He realised how many students suffered because they were poor, or victims of domestic abuse, and how much this affected their performance at school.
Part of the challenge pupils face is the big class sizes, says Prof Ryo Uchida, an education expert at Nagoya University.
«In classrooms with about 40 students who have to spend a year together, many things can happen,» he says.
Prof Uchida says comradeship is the key ingredient to surviving life in Japan because the population density is so high – if you don’t get along and co-ordinate with others, you won’t survive. This not only applies to schools, but also to public transport and other public spaces, all of which are overcrowded.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionComradeship is key to surviving school
But for many students this need to conform is a problem. They don’t feel comfortable in overcrowded classrooms where they have to do everything together with their classmates in a small space.
«Feeling uncomfortable in such a situation is normal,» says Prof Uchida.
What’s more, in Japan, children stay in the same class from year to year, so if problems occur, going to school can become painful.
«In that sense, the support provided for example by free schools is very meaningful,» Prof Uchida says. «In free schools, they care less about the group and they tend to value the thoughts and feelings of each single student.»
Image copyrightSTEPHANE BUREAU DU COLOMBIERImage captionChildren playing in Tamagawa Free School
But although free schools are providing an alternative, the problems within the education system itself remain an issue. For Prof Uchida, not developing students’ diversity is a violation of their human rights – and many agree.
Criticism of «black school rules» and the Japanese school environment is increasing nationwide. In a recent column the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper described them as a violation of human rights and an obstacle to student diversity.
In August, the campaign group «Black kosoku o nakuso! Project» [Let’s get rid of black school rules!] submitted an online petition to the education ministry signed by more than 60,000 people, asking for an investigation into unreasonable school rules. Osaka Prefecture ordered all of its high schools to review their rules, with about 40% of schools making changes.
Prof Uchida says the education ministry now appears to accept absenteeism not as an anomaly, but a trend. He sees this as a tacit admission that futoko children are not the problem but that they are reacting to an education system that is failing to provide a welcoming environment.
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Media captionThe women trying to coax Japan’s reclusive young men out of their bedrooms.
At least half a million young men in Japan are thought to have withdrawn from society, and refuse to leave their bedrooms. They’re known as hikikomori.
Their families often don’t know what to do, but one organisation is offering «sisters for hire» to help coax these young men out of their isolation.
Source of the article: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50693777
Issuing a suo moto rule on November 20, the High Court questioned the legality of the expulsion of children from Primary Education Completion Examination (PECE) and its madrasa equivalent Ebtedayee terminal examinations. The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman issued the rule following a report published in a Bangla daily. The daily reported that around 15 students had been expelled from PEC and Ebtedayee terminal examinations which had started on November 17. The hearing has been set for December 10.
The court will consider the circumstances and justification of children being expelled from the exam. According to some reports, the expelled children were proxy examinees on behalf of other children, an offense, if true, that cannot be tolerated. The larger and more serious concern is how a primary school exam has such high stake that children, their parents, and perhaps teachers find it necessary to collude to commit a crime.
This is the question, we hope, the HC will consider. The education authorities have failed to address this question. It has been raised persistently by education researchers, child development experts, and parents ever since the nationwide public examination at the end of class 5 was introduced in 2010.
Until 2010, school-based assessment of students in primary school was the common practice. A small number of students of class 5, aspiring for a government scholarship, sat for a centrally administered test. The rest went on to secondary school after obtaining a certificate from their school.
Since then, highly competitive, high-stake, national, centrally administered public examinations at the end of grades 5 and 8, were added to the already existing SSC and HSC exams at the end of grade 10 and 12. The intention was to put teachers and schools under scrutiny, set some common standards of performance, and satisfy over-anxious parents.
The potential effect on children and teaching-learning in school from frequent public exams was forgotten. Education experts were sceptical about this move. But there was a great hype about the virtues of frequent examinations by politicians and officials, always on the lookout for quick-fixes. A dispassionate look was not taken at the consequences of making students totally pre-occupied with preparing for and taking tests, instead of engaging in and enjoying learning. Frequent exams became the remedy for the perceived decline in students’ learning outcome.
The counter-productive and perverse consequences of too many public exams since 2010 have been well documented. These included a surge of private coaching, commercial guidebooks, rote memorisation, desperation for guessing questions, cheating in exams, question leaks, incentive for authorities to show high pass rates and so on. (Education Watch Report 2014, Whither Grade 5 Examination, CAMPE.)
Evidence collected by researchers and CAMPE led to the recommendation to the government in 2016 to drop the grade 5 public exam and rethink student assessment. The then Minister of State for Primary and Mass Education, Mr Mostafizur Rahman, MP accepted the recommendation, but was not able to persuade his cabinet colleagues to change the status quo. Exams continue to reign supreme—and learning a lesser priority.
A Bangla daily, under a banner headline, “A Primary Education Board in the Offing,” reported that establishment of a new education board along the line of secondary education boards, is under consideration to conduct the nationwide PECE. An institutional structure, it is argued, is needed to administer the exam for over three million examinees at the end of class 5. The parliamentary committee on primary and mass education apparently has suggested such a step.
This move would be wrong on at least three counts. First, with grave doubts and ongoing debate about the PECE, it is not right to double down to take measures for institutionalising this exam. Secondly, it is necessary to get beyond the past fragmentation of school education management into primary and secondary and start thinking about curriculum, learning assessment and quality improvement for school education, pre-primary to grade 12, as a whole; universal quality primary and secondary education is the SDG 2030 goal which is also a pledge of Bangladesh’s. Thirdly, we need a technical body for learning assessment research, development and application, rather than an examination board of the type that exists today at the secondary level.
It is not that all exams and student assessment should be ditched. The value of traditional school-based annual exams needs to be restored. Public assessment at key stages should be for assessing basic competencies in language, math and science rather than using these as a substitute for the annual school-based exams. Schools, teachers, parents and the education authorities need to prioritise teaching and learning, rather than preparing for and taking public exams.
The example of Singapore or Finland having primary level public exam is sometimes mentioned in justifying our primary completion examination. This is based on a misunderstanding of student assessment in advanced systems. Singapore has a Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) at the end of grade 6, which, among other things, determines school choice for students. It is held over four days in October, about two hours each day, on students’ skills in English, mother tongue, math and science, rather than on all school subjects and is not linked to textbooks. Elimination of even this form of PSLE is under consideration, to be replaced by an assessment approach in line with the “learning for life” goals (“Testing and Learning – How Singapore Does It,” The Daily Star, October 5, 2018).
In Finland, a grade 6 external exam is optional for students, and is used to assess schools and the system rather than individual students who are not given a specific mark or grade based on the exam.
Moreover, the learning resources and teacher skills and competencies are very different in Singapore and Finland and similar advanced systems. Assuring the quality of teaching-learning is the priority there; assessment in school and external ones are a secondary means to this end.
The original introduction of PECE and class 8 public exam (JCE/JDE) and the prospective exam board are examples of how decisions affecting millions of children should not be taken. It is a closed and bureaucracy-dominated approach without due consideration of all the consequences and lessons from research. Could the Parliamentary Committees for Primary and Mass Education and for Education hold a joint public hearing inviting experts and stakeholders on these issues?
Source of the article: https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/education/news/high-stake-exams-children-1834363
Africa/Kenya/16-10-2019/Author: Margaret Kalekye/Source: www.kbc.co.ke
Starehe Girls Centre has been closed indefinitely after an outbreak of what has now been established to be a common flu.
There was panic at the prestigious school after 52 students were quarantined when they started coughing, sneezing and having fever.
“The Starehe Girls Centre Community confirms that there has been an increasing number of cases presenting with an unknown cause of high-pitched cough, sneezing and low-grade fever amongst some of the students, 52 girls have since been isolated for observation within the school” read a statement issued by the school on Monday.
Following a crisis meeting between education ministry officials and the school management Thursday morning, Forms 1, 2 and 3 students were sent home for four days to recuperate.
“In consultation with MoE/MoH officials and BOM the school management has taken the considered decision to allow the girls to go home. This is to accelerate their individual recuperation from what’s has been established to be a common flu said the schools’ communication manager Victoria Miguda.
She added” to dissipate the anxiety that has been building up amongst the girls. The students will resume studies on Monday 7th October 2019. The decision has also been taken into consideration of the form four candidates preparing for the national examination”.
Affected form four candidates will continue receiving treatment in the school.
Samples had been taken to Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) for analysis.
‘When Greta Thunberg and other young campaigners met US legislators this week, it was not to propose a specific course of action but to assert their right to a liveable future.’ Thunberg listens to speakers during a climate change demonstration at the US supreme court in Washington DC on Wednesday. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
This Friday’s school strike, which adults around the world have been asked to join, is the largest mobilisation yet attempted by the youth climate movement launched last year by the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. As such, it is an event of international significance. History shows not only that social change is possible, even when the interests ranged against it are formidable, but that peaceful protest is among the most effective ways to bring it about. The campaigns against slavery, for female suffrage and for workers’ and civil rights, as well as the independence movements of former colonies including India, all harnessed new forms of civic participation and activism to the cause of progress.
Movements on behalf of people who lack voting rights, of course, have little choice but to try to exercise influence outside the ballot box. As adults in democracies, we have become used to making our political choices in elections, with only a small minority in most countries actively involved in parties or campaigning. That does not mean political action should end there. And except for 16- and 17-year-olds in a handful of countries, children cannot vote. If they want their voices to be heard they must seek other means – such as a school strike.
Some of the young people demonstrating on Friday will have been influenced by adults. But teenagers, who are typically rebellious and open to new ideas, have been important in social movements before. No one should be surprised if young people are more alarmed than their grandparents about effects that are predicted to become more severe in 20 or 30 years’ time.
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It is the simplicity of the movement’s message, as well as the youth and determination of the protesters, that has made them unignorable. Less than a year ago, the world’s leading climate scientists issued a warning that we are running out of time to avert the worst effects of global heating, at a meeting at which some scientists were reported to be in tears. Temperatures are continuing to rise and the effects are already punishing, particularly in poorer parts of the world. But increases of more than 1.5 degrees celsius would lead, scientists warn, to food scarcity and water stress for hundreds of millions more people. Heat-related deaths, forest fires and mass displacements by flooding become far more likely in this scenario, while for species including coral the consequence would be extinction.
Yet despite these dire warnings and the attempts at decarbonisation overseen since 1988 by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world is failing. Carbon emissions in 2018 reached a record high of 37.1bn tonnes. There has been some progress, measurable in pledges by governments and notably a decade of emissions cuts in the EU. The profile of green issues is higher, the cost of renewables is falling fast and public opinion in many countries is shifting. But our path is taking us towards a painful and dangerous future.
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Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot make short film on climate crisis – video
The climate strikers demand that the world faces these facts. Their aim is to force us to confront a problem that, for far too long, we have found it convenient to ignore. When Greta Thunberg and other young campaigners met US legislators this week, it was to assert their right to a livable future. In a short film with George Monbiot, also this week, she was more specific, advocating the protection and restoration of ecosystems as a natural climate solution.
A reckoning is overdue with those who, seeking to avoid the transition to clean energy, misled the public. Without the lost decades of inaction and denial, global heating need never have become the emergency it now is. Many politicians as well as fossil fuel industry executives and lobbyists are deeply culpable. But Friday is an opportunity to take action – as the Guardian is doing by declaring a climate emergency.
Environmental campaigners, scientists and others deserve praise for their climate work over many decades. That we are nowhere near where we should be, in spite of their efforts and knowledge, is a cause for anger. The freshness and seriousness of the school strike movement is a reason to hope
Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-the-school-climate-strike-protests-that-matter
Students at one Australian school will soon be bringing home more than just their homework at the end of each day. They’ll be taking their trash, too.
Melbourne Girls’ College is set to launch a new initiative this school year that aims to create what they hope will be a zero-waste environment by having students carry out their garbage.
The principal of the school says the plan is aimed at raising the consciousness of its 1,400 student body with the hope the ideas of reusing, recycling, and repurposing, will stick with them.
One thing they’ll notice for sure — the classrooms will have no trash cans.
There will be three «exception bins,» the principal said, where students can dispose of things that might be too difficult to take home. She added that there will also be recycling stations that students will be able to utilize.
Money told ABC Radio Melbourne that part of the aim if to have students bring their lunch in containers made from recycled plastic. She also hopes they will minimize the use of disposable wrapping and packaging.
«We’re just trying to make it about education,» she said. «Not everyone is convinced yet, but I think we at least need to give it a go.»
Source of the notice: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/29/world/australia-school-take-home-trash-trnd/index.html
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education today released a comprehensive set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on schools’ and districts’ responsibilities under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in the context of school safety.
The Federal Commission on School Safety (FCSS) released an in-depth report last December, which observed that “substantial misunderstanding remains at the local level among officials and educators concerning (FERPA), and in particular its application to school-based threats.”
«One key takeaway from the commission’s work was that the federal government needs to do a much better job of providing useable information that’s simple, streamlined and clear,» said Secretary DeVos. «FERPA is an area where widespread confusion remains, and this clarification will give local school leaders and law enforcement the tools they need to protect student privacy while ensuring the health and safety of students and others in the school community.»
The document consists of 37 commonly asked questions about schools’ and school districts’ responsibilities under FERPA relating to disclosures of student information to school resource officers (SROs), law enforcement units and others, and seeks to explain and clarify how FERPA protects student privacy while ensuring the health and safety of students and others in the school community.
The FAQ document includes answers to common FERPA questions involving school safety, such as:
Can law enforcement unit officials who are off-duty police officers or SROs be considered school officials under FERPA and, therefore, have access to students’ education records?
Does FERPA permit schools and districts to disclose education records, without consent, to outside law-enforcement officials who serve on a school’s threat assessment team?
When is it permissible for schools or districts to disclose student education records under FERPA’s health or safety emergency exception?
Does FERPA permit school officials to release information that they personally observed or of which they have personal knowledge?
For additional information on the meetings, field visits, listening sessions, roundtables and other resources used to produce the FCSS report, please visit the school safety website.
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