Britain Wants To Fine Parents To Cut Truancy

Incensed by the rising levels of truancy amongst school kids, the British prime minister David Cameron is now calling for fines to be placed on parents of kids who do not turn up for school. 

Culled from the BBC

Parents in England who refuse to pay a penalty after their children play truant will have their child benefit docked, the prime minister has said.

A civil penalty of up to £120 would be claimed through child benefit if the fine is not paid after 28 days. Currently, 40% of fines go unpaid.

David Cameron told BBC Breakfast it was about making sure children get "the great start in life that they need".

Teaching unions said docking child benefit could end up hurting children.

'Less good prospects'

The existing system sees non-payment of the £60 civil penalty in England being doubled to £120 after 21 days, and subject to prosecution after 28 days. But many parents do not end up in court because councils do not take legal action.

David Cameron said the system must be changed because truancy was harmful to children's life chances.

"All the evidence is that if children consistently miss school, they get a worse education, they get worse results and as a result they have less good prospects for the rest of their lives," he told BBC Breakfast.

"So this is about making sure our children get the great future and the great start in life that they need."

At the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, he is expected to say: "There is nothing responsible about allowing your child to go without an education.

"So for parents who let their child play truant and refuse to pay truancy penalties, we will deduct it from their child benefit."

Care requests

The Press Association says it obtained figures earlier this year which showed 16,430 people in England were prosecuted last year for failing to ensure that a child went to school.

About three-quarters - 12,479 - of these were found guilty, and courts issued 9,214 parents with fines worth an average of £172.

Mr Cameron first spoke of the idea of cutting benefits for parents of regular truants in September 2011.

And a key government adviser on school behaviour called for the same measure in April 2012.

But Chris Keates, general secretary of the teachers union NASUWT, said docking benefits was not the answer.

"For some families all that this will do, of course, is increase the chaos and it will increase the deprivation," he said.

"It won't actually solve the problem and in the middle of all of this is a child who's not getting their entitlement to education..."

Meanwhile, the prime minister will also announce a new right for parents in England to request that schools provide breakfast and after-school clubs or holiday care.

Schools will not be obliged to provide these when asked, but will have to publish reasons why they do not respond to such requests from parents or childcare providers.

This will apply to all state-maintained primary schools, as well as new academies and free schools.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34450882

Do you think this will work? 

Examination Malpractice In Africa - Who Is Truly Responsible?

Examination Malpractice in Africa...Who Is Truly Responsible?

The West African Examinations Council WAEC in Ghana seized 6812 results  belonging to some of the candidates who sat the June 2015 Basic Education Certificate Examination BECE as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged examination malpractice.

In August  2015, 118,101 candidates who sat the West African Senior School Certificate Examination WASSCE  in Nigeria had their results withheld for similar reasons.

Kenya reported that 1,702 students who sat the Certificate of Primary Education CPE were involved in examination malpractices.

The issue of examination malpractice and the subsequent seizure of candidates results have been part and parcel of the African education scene for over 30 years.  In some instances, the education body has gone all the way to even blacklist some schools thereby stopping students from these institutions from participating in national examinations.  

However what seems to be more baffling is the increase in numbers of candidates allegedly involved and their age range too. For example in Ghana, the BECE is written by students in the third year of junior secondary school and aged 15. In Kenya the students involved were aged around 12.

So how does a 12 year old get involved in examination malpractice?  First it is pertinent to note that there are varying degrees of examination malpractice from candidates asking their colleagues for answers during the examination, to having full access to examination question paper prior to the official examination date and preparing the answers well beforehand.  And this is what makes up over 70% of the cases.

It is plain to see that such an operation is definitely beyond the abilities of the students alone. There are other collaborators who could be but not limited to teachers / invigilators, school owners, examination body staff, security agents, parents – yes parents and the students and even organized criminal gangs. All previous investigations seemed to have focused on the students and the schools only.  This is evident from the penalties often meted out which usually falls on students and schools. For over three decades there has not been a case of a member of the examination board, a parent or security personnel being put on trial for partaking in examination malpractice.  If it’s just the schools and the students alone who seem to be involved going by the investigations, then by now the problem ought to be on the decline and not on the increase.

There is much more than meets the eye in this matter. Government and stakeholders need to work hand in hand to deal a decisive blow to this ugly menace before it eats up the entire African education system.

Africa Needs Free and Qualitative Education

Africa Needs Free & Qualitative Education

By Sina Adelaja-Olowoake

We know politicians the world over make promises some of which they never plan to fulfil once the elections are over yet we still believe them and vote for them based on these empty promises. In Africa, politicians have identified the magic words that gets the young, the old, the strong, the feeble trooping to campaign grounds and polling stations – free education. From Ghana to Uganda, Nigeria to Zimbabwe, African voters are still being wooed with promises of free education by politicians.

With the 2016 elections fast approaching in Ghana, the ruling party last Friday rolled out its “progressive” free education programme which also includes the construction of new classroom blocks across the country.  

Free education in Africa is not a new phenomenon. Many African countries in the period immediately following independence from the colonial masters, embarked on free and in some cases compulsory education programmes to help create a new set of trained administrators to fill the void left by the departing colonialists. During this time, the quality of education from the major providers namely the government, religious bodies and private organizations was at par with what was obtainable in the developed world. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for what passes for free education today.

Today across the continent especially in primary and secondary schools the quality of teaching and teachers leaves much to be desired. Gone are the days when teachers chose the profession for the love of it. A lot of the teaching staff in schools currently are not trained or qualified to teach. Many only became emergency teachers after many years of unemployment.

Closely related to the issue of poor quality of teaching is the state of infrastructure. I am always shocked to see children studying under roofless classes or under trees in Africa in this day and age. In some cases, even the teachers and the school head sit under trees all day long. We have had many cases of schools lacking basic amenities such as water, toilets, etc.  What kind of education are the children receiving?

The role of parents too must come under scrutiny. In the early days, parents worked through the Parents Teachers Association to improve the overall quality of the schools which sometimes using their influence to get good staff posted to their children’s school, erecting buildings, purchasing transportation etc.  A lot of parents are no longer involved in the day to day lives of their children which invariably means they no longer participate in the affairs of the school.

It is very sad to see in the current clime, politician after politician promising free education, with nobody is tasking them on the quality of education they are promising to provide. Not only is the government failing and has failed in providing good quality education, she is also failing to properly regulate private providers. Many private organizations engaged in this sector continue to cut corners by using unqualified staff, unsuitable buildings and environment and charging astronomical fees without any form of regulation from the government.

 

If Africa is to move forward towards realising its full potential then African governments engaged in providing free education must go the extra mile by investing heavily in the quality of education she provides.

·         Schools must be staffed by trained and qualified staff and must commit to further training and re-training programmes.

·         Housed in buildings with basic amenities such as water, electricity, and ICT equipments in a safe environment.

·         Task school heads and teaching  staff with constantly improving performance

·         Equip and empower school authorities to enforce and maintain discipline in schools

·         Increase the education budget and ensure the money voted for the sector is properly managed and disbursed.

·         Promote healthy rivalry and competition amongst schools

·        Seek the cooperation of foreign agencies to improve overall quality.

Sina Adelaja-Olowoake is the creator of the youth mentor app. He is also a youth coach and public speaker. He regularly contributes on matters concerning education in Africa on the blog Chalk, Pen & Boards.

sina@sinaolowoake.com

State School Pupils Do Better At University.....Can You Believe This?

Culled From BBC News

State school pupils do better at university than independent school candidates who have achieved the same A-level grades, a study shows.

The Higher Education Funding Council (Hefce) tracked 130,000 students beginning degrees in 2007, looking at schooling, background and ethnicity.

It found on some measures state pupils were significantly more likely to get a 2:1 than their private school peers.

Private schools said a bigger share of its pupils overall got a 2:1 or above.

The Independent Schools Council highlighted figures in the report showing that 67% of independent school pupils achieved a 2:1 or above, compared with 62.3% of state school and college pupils.

But when students with the same A-level grades were compared, the results were different.

Of those students who achieved ABB at A-level, some 69% of students from independent schools went on to gain 2:1 or a above compared with about 77% of students educated at state schools.

And at three Bs, 61% of independent students pupils got a 2:1 or above compared with 70% of state school students.

'Advantages'

Prof Madeleine Atkins, Hefce chief executive, said the findings confirmed an earlier study by her organisation.

But she stressed that this research, tracking around 80% of English-based undergraduates starting at all UK universities in a single year, was the most comprehensive of its kind.

The findings are important because it adds to the debate about how universities select their candidates.

Nearly all universities use what is known as "contextual data" to decide which candidates should be offered a place.

This is when those from state and other backgrounds are made lower offers, in terms of the A-levels required for entry to courses, than private school counterparts.

The idea behind this is that these pupils have not had the advantages of a private education but still have potential and should not miss out because they did not go to private school.

'Inform debate'

Prof Atkins said the report showed that independent school candidates came into university with better A-levels but that they were performing less well by the end of their degree courses. But she would not offer any explanation as to why this may be the case.

She said: "The study presents a robust and independent set of findings to inform discussion and debate, and to stimulate action. Further work - by Hefce, by the sector and by government - will be needed to understand why these effects are happening, and what sorts of interventions will be most effective in bringing about positive change."

But Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, said: "Dividing the school population into 'state' and 'private' is too crude to yield anything of value.

"The majority of our pupils' A-levels were graded A or A* last summer and we note that Hefce, despite their best efforts, are unable to show that our pupils did less well at university than other groups."

Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of high-performing universities, said: "As the report reiterates, A-level and equivalent qualifications are still, without doubt, the key source of information about academic ability.

"Students with better A-levels do better in higher education. But Russell Group universities take a range of factors into account when deciding which students are offered a place.

"So the candidate's qualifications are considered in a broader 'context'. The bottom line is we want to give places to the pupils with the qualifications, potential and determination to succeed."

The study also found that students from disadvantaged areas tended to do less well than those from more advantaged areas - even though they had achieved the same A-level grades.

Prof Les Ebdon, director of fair access to higher education, said: "This important research shows that a student's background influences their likely degree outcome.

"This is a worrying finding, suggesting that disadvantage continues to follow disadvantaged young people, even after they have overcome often significant barriers to get into university."

NO NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY IN WORLD'S FIRST 700 INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING

Culled from Daily Times

No Nigerian university is in the first 700 higher institutions of learning in the world and the first 18 in Africa, according to the QS World University Rankings 2015/16.

However, South Africa has nine institutions while Egypt has five. Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have one institution each.

“This is the 12th edition of QS’s annual ranking of the world’s top universities, which uses six performance indicators to assess institutions’ global reputation, research impact, staffing levels and international complexion,” the report said.

In Africa, the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is ranked first on the continent and 171st in the world. The Stellenbosch University, South Africa, is rated second in Africa and 302nd in the world. The University of the Witwatersrand is the third on the continent and 331st globally.

On the global scale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, scored 100 per cent to retain its top spot in the QS rankings for the fourth year consecutively. Harvard University (US) climbed two places to rank second, followed by the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), and Stanford University (US) in joint third. MIT came first in the 2012 global rating – a position which Harvard and Cambridge universities had once occupied – and has remained there ever since.

“The primary aim of the QS World University Rankings is to help students make informed comparisons of leading universities around the world,” stated the report. “Based on six performance indicators, the rankings are designed to assess universities in four areas: research, teaching, employability and internationalisation. Each of the six indicators carries a different weighting when calculating the overall scores (see below). Four of the indicators are based on ‘hard’ data, and the remaining two are based on major global surveys – one of academics and another of employers – each the largest of their kind.”

The reports said the universities were placed on 40 per cent scale of academic reputation; employer reputation, 10 per cent; student-to-faculty ratio, 20 per cent; citations per faculty, 20 per cent; international faculty ratio, five per cent; and international student ratio, five per cent.

A total of 82 countries are represented in the QS World University Rankings this year, with the largest shares claimed by the US (154), UK (71), Germany (43) and France (41). Japan has 38 entries; Australia, 33; China, 30; Canada and Italy, 26 apiece; Brazil, 22; and Russia 21. After the US, UK, Switzerland and Singapore, the highest entry is claimed by Australia, with the Australian National University in joint 19th. France makes its first appearance with the École Normale Supérieure (ENS Paris) in 23rd place, followed by Canada’s McGill University in 24th. China’s top entrant, Tsinghua University, climbs 22 places to rank 25th while the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology gains 12 positions to reach 28th

Cost of Education in Ghana Is Too Expensive - Ghanaian MP's Cry Out

University and Senior High school education has become outrageously expensive.

That’s the verdict of the Minority in Parliament on Ghana’s educational system.
They believe astronomical increases in the cost of education are forcing many Ghanaians, especially parents to resort to illegitimate means to make ends meet.

According to the group, whilst fees in the senior high schools have witnessed a 170 percent increase in the last three years, the situation is even worse in the tertiary institutions.

Minority spokesperson on education, Professor Dominic Fobih told journalists at a news conference in Accra today, “the cost of education is becoming unbearable and out of reach of the ordinary Ghanaian”.

He cited for instance between 2008/2009 academic year and 2014/2015 academic year, university fees have increased by 738.2% in Humanities; 732.9% in Administration, Science and Agriculture; and 658.7% in Applied Sciences.

“No wonder most people these days are resorting to illegitimate means to make ends meet. Bribery and corruption are rampant and become the order of the day and the slogan, ‘the end justifies the means’ has become the catchphrase,” he said.

The former education minister also said despite government claims of achieving quality education at the basic level, figures available rather shows a gloomy picture for the sector.

Prof. Fobih also said non-payment of money to the statutory funds is resulting in low enrolment, strikes and inadequate provisions of educational materials.

“Senior High School students’ subsidy for feeding are always in arrears for months and heads of public senior high schools often have to threaten to close down schools before portions of arrears are released to them. Subsidy allocation of GHC8.7 million (38%) out of GHC22.7 million for senior high school students in 2010/2011 academic year was not released.

Click here to read more. 

A case for outdoor education in Nigeria

A case for outdoor education in Nigeria

Pupils can also learn outside the classroom

By Sina Adelaja-Olowoake

“ There’s no substitute for experience, so children should be given the opportunity to visit new places – and have a few adventures along the way “ - Mike Abraham

I have been waiting for a long time to do this article but having just finished working through the summer with a number of youth organizations at various summer camps in the United Kingdom, I felt there was no better time than now as most of summer camps made fantastic use of the outdoors.

Despite the great benefits associated with outdoor education, I am still at a loss as to why it is not yet a popular part of our education curriculum in Nigeria.

Outdoor education includes things like engaging in physical activities, going on excursions, camping, adventure treks to drawing lessons out in the open and going to observe certain insects or animals in relation to the biology lessons.  Pupils learn many skills by taking full advantage of the great outdoors – working on their own initiative as well as working as part of a team.  The activities they engage in challenge them helping them to find solutions by thinking outside the box.

However only a few schools are doing this. Many still do not see it as something that should be provided by the school – saying parents can help out at home.  While others say students are more likely to get hurt while out and about.

No matter the arguments against it, I think outdoor education is something that should be embraced widely.