Teachers

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Teachers and pupils ‘molested’ in Cameroon attack

Noticias

Africa/Cameroon/08-11-2020/Author and Source: www.kbc.co.ke

Gunmen have attacked a school in the coastal city of Limbe in south-west Cameroon.

A senior official at the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the attackers forced students and teachers to undress before beating them up and molesting some of them.

They then set parts of the school building on fire.

The attackers, numbering about 20, stormed the school at about 8:00 local time on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses said the security force’s Rapid Intervention Battalion arrived at the scene after the attackers had fled.

Schools in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone regions have come under attack recently by unidentified gunmen. The government accuses separatist fighters of carrying out the attacks.

The latest attack comes barely 24 hours after gunmen kidnapped 11 teachers in a Presbyterian school in Kumbo city in the north-west.

The burial of the seven students killed in a secondary school in Kumba city in the south-west on 24 October is due to be held on Thursday.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/teachers-and-pupils-molested-in-cameroon-attack/

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Kenya: School heads to ensure next year’s candidates return to school

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Africa/Kenya/25-10-2020/Author:Muraya Kamunde/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

All school heads in the country have been tasked to ensure that all students who sit for their KCPE and KCSE exams next year return to school.

University Education and Research Principal Secretary Amb. Simon Nabukwesi who was on weeklong visit to several learning institutions in Nyanza and Western Kenya regions to assess the learning progress observed that some learners had failed to report to their respective schools.

School Principals in the affected institutions cited pregnancies as some of the reasons to why some female students failed to turn up as they were nursing their babies whereas a few male students had engaged in business and absconded class.

The PS asked school heads to liaise with their parents and guardians to ensure all students return to school.

The University Education PS said the Government is concerned about the safety, hygiene and health of both learners and teachers and is currently monitoring the progress of the partial school re-opening in all counties to ascertain that the Covid-19 measures and protocols have been adhered to.

“Covid-19 pandemic is here with us but our lives have to continue, I urge you to observe the required protocols such as social distancing, frequent hand washing, wearing of face masks to avoid getting infected,”  he said.

The PS noted that public institutions had challenges but assured the school Heads that the Government is doing its best to ensure funds are availed to aid in the expansion of facilities and purchase of Covid-19 prevention requirements.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/school-heads-to-ensure-next-years-candidates-return-to-school/

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Kenya: Lecturers’ strike blights graduation for UoN medical students

Noticias

Africa/Kenya/11-10-2020/Author and Source: www.kbc.co.ke

Medical doctors, pharmacists and nurses undertaking their studies at the University of Nairobi and who were set to be conferred with honours this year risk missing out following a lecturers’ strike which commenced Thursday.

Lecturers drawn from the College of Health Sciences and Kenyatta National Hospital campus through a statement claim they have resolved to strike due to failure by the employer to pay clinical allowances.

University Academic Staff Union (UASU) Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga says his members feel short-changed over what he says is a unilateral withdrawal of payment of the clinical allowances by the University in complete disregard of employment and labour laws.

“The consequence of the strike is that unless the clinical allowances are reinstated, the UoN shall not graduate medical doctors, pharmacists and nurses this year,” read the statement.

According to Wasonga, staff in other Universities are receiving their clinical allowances without facing similar obstacles.

“….funding required for the clinical allowances was disbursed by the National Treasury in July to the campus accounts. As such, no additional funding is required,” he added.

Wasonga says UASU had given the campus numerous chances to resolve the dispute through dialogue with limited success.

According to UASU, as of Thursday morning, pending allowances which were to be cleared a week from 15th September 2020 have not been paid to the majority of the academic staff.

Wasonga saying the strike would have far-reaching effects because the country is in the middle of a pandemic and will also, derail the implementation of the Universal Health Coverage Agenda as envisaged.

This even as he maintained that his members will not be cowed by threats nor intimidations as they demand their rights.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/lecturers-strike-blights-graduation-for-uon-medical-students/

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Kenya: Govt disburses Free Day Secondary Education funds

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Africa/Kenya/30-08-2020/Author and Source: www.kbc.co.ke

The Ministry of Education has released Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) funds at a capitation rate of KShs 5,151.00 per student.

In a circular Wednesday to Regional Coordinators of Education and County Directors of Education, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education Dr. Richard Belio Kipsang says the data used for this capitation was extracted from National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) earlier this month.

In regards to payment of salaries to school employees, he said in January 2020, the Ministry of Education released 50% of FDSE funds to schools which included P.E funds up to June 2020. In this regard he said Ksh 3,226 per learner should be utilized in the payment of salaries to non-teaching staff, water and electricity bills as well as administrative costs up to December 2020.

On utilization of maintenance and improvement funds, the PS said a total annual allocation for Maintenance and Improvement (M&l) was Ksh 5,000 of which Ksh 4,000 was disbursed in January 2020.  He noted that an additional Ksh 500.00 per learner has been released to enable schools prepare for re-opening in January 2021 to conform to COVID-19 guidelines.

Consequently, he noted that the contents of a circular dated 26th November 2019 on the amounts for M&l will change to Ksh 4,500.00.

Dr Kipsang said the Ministry of Education will support teachers employed by the Boards of Management (BOMs) as at 15th March 2020 for six months only form July to December 2020 by paying them Ksh.10,000.00 per month.

“Each teacher must sign for the money personally and records kept for later auditing. Payment should be made monthly and not in advance, Schools with BOM teachers will receive a separate commensurate disbursement based on the data obtained from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in to their operation account. Only teachers with TSC numbers will benefit from this package. This circular supersedes the one dated 20th August, 2020.” He said

He further stated that Edu Afya medical cover for students in public secondary schools is operational and principals are required to advise students accordingly and offer support to learners/parents whenever they encounter any challenge with their UPI.

He said all principals must acknowledge receipt of funds by issuing official school receipts to the Principal Secretary, State Department of Early Learning and Basic Education for both Tuition and Operation Accounts with copies to the Sub County Directors (SCDEs) and County Directors of Education (CDEs); acknowledging receipt of funds through NEMIS by uploading a copy of the official receipt for both accounts where applicable; providing to the County Director of Education through the Sub- County Director of Education an allocation of funds dully signed by individual students and having Individual students sign form-lists that show their admission numbers and full names as in the admission register and the amount awarded. These lists should be attached to the payment voucher kept in the school as per procedure and every student issued with a school official receipt for the allocation.

He specified that this must be accomplished within two weeks of receipt of funds, failure to which further release of grants to such schools will be suspended.

“It is the responsibility of every County Director and Sub-County Director of Education to authenticate and monitor the accuracy of enrolment data of their schools as reflected in NEMIS. All County Directors of Education are asked to circulate the contents of this letter to all principals of public secondary schools within their jurisdiction.” He added.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/govt-disburses-free-day-secondary-education-funds/

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Lessons to be learned from Scottish exam fiasco: Protesting can change results… and the SNP are absolutely bulletproof

Damian Wilson

By: Damian Wilson

A plan to downgrade 124,000 school exam results has been reversed in Scotland in the face of a massive outcry. Is this a precedent for unpopular results in future? And how shambolic do the SNP have to be before they lose support?

Timing is everything in politics and no one is more aware of that today than Scotland’s under-fire education secretary John Swinney. After days of protests by school students and teachers, which led to a reversal of the decision to downgrade 124,000 exam results, Swinney faces the humiliation of a no-confidence motion in the devolved parliament.

But it’s not game over for him yet, thanks to the increasingly tight grip the Scottish National Party (SNP) has on politics north of the border.

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, which slammed school doors shut five months ago, exam grades needed some careful consideration to ensure the entire academic year was not wasted.

In Scotland, the idea was to use teacher estimations of final grades which the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) would then run through a moderation algorithm for adjustment, using the previous performances of each particular school.

Even the class idiot could see what was about to happen here: schools that struggled in the past would be deemed to be still struggling, while those that enjoyed success would be considered as continuing on an upward trajectory. The disastrous outcome led to 124,000 exam results being downgraded, affecting 76,000 pupils.

What this looked like to those studying for their all-important Higher – the Scottish equivalent of the A-Levels – was that those pupils in deprived areas were marked down by 15.2 percent on the grades their teachers had calculated, while the wealthiest pupils suffered downgrading of only 6.9 percent.

The student protest signs said it all: “Judge my work, not my postcode.”

A full U-turn on the decision means that teacher estimates of grades will now be used. But for the SNP, a centre-left party that ostensibly promotes social democracy, this is an unnecessary shambles, reinforcing a divisive ‘us-and-them’ sentiment across Scottish society and setting a messy precedent.

No wonder Scottish Labour went for the jugular with its no-confidence motion. But even that is doomed to fail, for which the education secretary will be grateful.

YouGov’s latest opinion poll predicts the SNP is headed for a landslide election win next May, with 57 percent of those polled planning to support Nicola Sturgeon’s nationalists and a massive 53 percent supporting independence.

Both figures are the highest yet recorded by the polling organisation on these issues, and are indicative of the huge support that Sturgeon commands.

While these figures are impressive, it is the support of just six people that will save Swinney’s skin.

The half dozen Green members of the Scottish Parliament have said they will oppose tomorrow’s no-confidence motion proposed by Scottish Labour and supported by the Scottish Conservatives and Lib Dems, and along with Swinney’s SNP colleagues, that will be enough to ensure his survival for now.

And while a successful no-confidence motion can certainly end a political career, it’s the Scottish government’s hugely unpopular approach to deciding upon academic grades which caused the totally avoidable shambles in the first place.

Sturgeon announced on March 18 that schools in Scotland were to shut and were unlikely to open again before the end of summer, so surely there should have been a clear, fair approach to deciding how academic grades would be awarded from that point?

Instead, the horrifically unjust “computer says no” method that was used blew up in the government’s face.

While Downing Street faces its own issues with exam grades and looks set to follow Scotland’s lead in allocating grades, lucky Prime Minister Boris Johnson has managed to sidestep this particular steaming pile of mess that Sturgeon ploughed straight through.

How the SNP ever allowed the SQA to convince them it was acceptable is a mystery, and should form a question on any future politics exams. The claims that a skewed set of results this year would affect results in future years is typical nonsense.

It demonstrates the unhealthy political preoccupation with statistics, even when granting them primacy messes with people’s lives. A school pupil’s successful grades or an uptick on a statistician’s graph?

A second question could look at how despite the obvious unfairness of the botched plan, to which they have now held up their hands, the SNP still manages to thrive on seemingly bulletproof public support.

Class, discuss.

Source and Image: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/497823-exam-results-snp-protests-scotland/

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United Kingdom: Teachers to film 10,000 lessons in case schools can’t fully open in September

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Europe/ United Kingdom/ 30.06.2020/ Source: www.theguardian.com.

 

The online school set up by the government to support pupils in lockdown is preparing to record 10,000 lessons in July, as the government splashes out £4.3m on providing an online learning “backup” during the new academic year.

Boris Johnson told the House of Commons last week that primary and secondary schools will return in September “with full attendance”, but headteachers suggested it was “pure fantasy” to suggest schools could accommodate all of their pupils while maintaining a safe social distance, even at one metre.

Now, the Observer has learned that Oak National Academy, the government’s new, funded online school, is recruiting 300 teachers to create and record a huge bank of video lessons next month, covering the entire national curriculum for both primary and secondary schools.

“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for schools to have a really good-quality backup plan if, for whatever reason – and we hope this doesn’t happen – all their pupils can’t be back in school full time for the year ahead,” said Matt Hood, the academy’s principal. “We’re in a slightly weird position where a great outcome for us is that no one uses us.”

He added: “There might be a local lockdown, or pupils shielding, or schools might need to have a rota [where pupils attend part time], we don’t know. In any of those situations, schools need to be as resilient as possible – that means they need to deliver lessons for pupils in their schools and they need to be ready to deliver lessons for some pupils who might be at home.” Oak Academy will provide schools with a “plan B”, he said.

Since the lockdown began, the academy’s 80 teachers have been recording more than 200 online lessons each week from their homes. In total, they have managed to deliver 14m lessons to around four million pupils.

But Hood is concerned that many children from poorer backgrounds haven’t had the technology to be able to access education like their wealthier peers. He said: “This crisis has exacerbated the same age-old problem. On top of all the disadvantages some kids already have, they’ve found themselves in a situation where they’ve been sent home, their home is less likely to have a device and a nice, quiet place where they can study, their parents are more likely to be key workers, and they are more likely to get whacked on [mobile] data charges [because they don’t have broadband].”

As a former recipient of free school meals himself, he is “working on” getting the Department for Education to supply all pupils who need one with a device. The Observer this month revealed that the government’s promise made in April to deliver laptops to disadvantaged teenagers had not yet been fulfilled, with the majority of headteachers saying that they had yet to receive any.

Hood said that, as well as access to laptops, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport needed to ensure that all online learning platforms could be accessed via a mobile phone connection for free. It could achieve this, he said, by “whitelisting” sites such as his own and BBC Bitesize, another online learning platform – excluding them from all data-streaming charges.

A former economics teacher, Hood set up the online school in a week during the Easter holidays and did not have to compete for the new £4.34m contract because the government used emergency powers to forgo its normal selection process.

The academy had recently been rightly criticised, Hood said, for not having enough teachers from diverse backgrounds. He explained: “The team were some teachers who knew each other, who started messaging each other in a WhatsApp group to see if we could help out. The consequence is that we haven’t been thoughtful or deliberate about diversity, particularly around people from different ethnic backgrounds being well represented.”

He is planning to address this issue during his current recruitment drive and to make sure the academy’s curriculum covers black history and the slave trade, promotes gender equality and reflects the diversity of its learners.

Source of the news: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/28/teachers-to-film-10000-lessons-in-case-schools-cant-fully-open-in-september
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Kenya: KUPPET wants teachers cushioned from Covid-19 effects

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Africa/Kenya/07-05-2020/Author: Muraya Kamunde/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) now wants the Education Ministry to cushion over 72,000 Board of Management teachers from the adverse economic effects during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Since the first case of Covid19 in Kenya was announced on 13th March 2020 subsequent closure of schools on 15th March 2020, about 72,000 workforces of teachers comprising of what is commonly referred to as Board of Management (BOM) teachers lost their jobs,” said KUPPET National Chairman Omboko Milemba.

KUPPET chair said that over 120,000 teachers from private and public schools and the Board of Management teachers have been affected by Covid-19.

“Its three months down the lane and this group of workers are forgotten despite the fact they fill in appropriately the gap of lack of enough teachers in our schools. These groups of teachers together with their counterparts in private schools have families which depend on them,” he said.

The union boss further questioned the decision by the Ministry of Education to recall Ksh 720 million activity money that had been sent to public schools.

He asked the Ministry to use part of that money to the affected teachers and support staff that has not been paid their salaries for the last three months because of non-remittance of capitation from the ministry to schools.

“These are extraordinary times and the Ministry must also deal with its workers in an extraordinary way that is humane and considerate,” he added.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/kuppet-wants-teachers-cushioned-from-covid-19-effects/

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