Botswana

Mmegi Press

Can ICT Help Achieve Education for All?

Last week’s IFIP World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) addressed 12 major goals within the framework of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. One of these was to develop ICT-based alternative educational delivery systems to achieve Education for All targets.

We recognise the importance of teachers in the dissemination of ICT knowledge and propose enhancing the ICT competence of teachers in the developing world through establishing innovative learning and knowledge communities of teachers and defining a professional development model to enhance ICT competence of teachers in order for them to utilise ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways.

A project proposal related to this goal reportedly involves Helsinki University of Technology, the Universities of Helsinki, Mauritius, Botswana and Geneva – through appropriate Centres at each – as well as Botswana’s Ministries of Education, and of Science and Technology.

The project has two objectives. The first is to establish innovative learning and knowledge communities of teachers. The second is to establish a professional development model to enhance ICT competence of teachers in the SADC region in order for them to utilise ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways in schools and other educational institutions.

Essentially, ICT offers a hopefully improved methodology of propagation and acquisition of wider knowledge, based on the knowledge and practice of ICT itself.

How ICT will help achieve Education for All depends to some extent on what one understands Education for All to mean and imply. It surely isn’t just about numbers at different levels of the education system. Does it include Early Childhood Education, Tertiary Education, and Technical as well as Academic Education? And does it incorporate learning of both Skills as well as Knowledge, in other words linking of Theory and Practice?

I tend to the view that Education for All should have a clear, universally applicable, broad objective related to the all-round development of heads, hearts and hands, and the promotion of good health of everyone to the highest level each of us is capable of. In my view, that should be Education for Work and a Better Life for All.

I have argued for the best part of thirty years for the combination of teaching and learning of academic and technical skills, of sociological as well as scientific and technical knowledge, and of whatever mental and manual skills are vital to lifelong practice and useful benefit.

Some sociologists see education as a means by which society reproduces itself but we need to see it as a means by which it can uplift itself and offer better lives to all its people.

Every society needs its professionals and engineers, but also its technicians and artisans, even in an age of automation. We can’t at least not yet rely totally on robots to do our plumbing, attend to electrical faults, repair our vehicles, fix our TVs and telephones and cell phones, and build and repair our roads, homes and offices. We have to rely on, and respect, those with such skills, and to give them the best affordable training.

These days, our motor vehicles are automated, but we still need a mechanic in the garage to fix them. The last and most recent US space flight was potentially endangered by a piece of flapping material on the outside of the spaceship, that one of the astronauts had to go out and repair by hand!

Besides professionals, engineers, technicians and artisans, we need both social and commercial entrepreneurs, and managers of both state and private enterprises to produce as many of the goods and services we all need in this day and age.

If recent analyses of the economy in other publications are correct, we may be losing expatriate managers and entrepreneurs, and perhaps people with technical skills, who are not easily or quickly replaced by qualified locals.

It seems to me that technical training lags behind our needs, and we didn’t need to start turning Brigades into more costly technical colleges. If we want our economy to expand, we need to train more technically and professionally qualified personnel, through new institutions as well as existing ones that we are busy renaming and/or taking over.

The desired expansion and vocationalisation of education and training, and the engagement in useful activities of learners in early childhood education, will be expensive and in ordinary circumstances may be beyond the means of the State. That is why it may be necessary to draw on the Productive dimension of EwP to generate income, or otherwise create resources through use of the labour of those being taught and trained, as Brigades did.

The first challenge to ICT in this context is to devise means to improve teaching and learning of practical skills – and more especially to strengthen education and training with production.

Too many students who go through schooling and higher education fail to find employment because their pass levels are below those required to get jobs ˆ pass levels that put the blame on them as failures, and not on society.

As a result, the more we expand the education system, the greater are the number of those who don’t pass well enough, or simply fail.

EwP would test and rate students, not by exclusive examinations designed to select and reject in highly academic curricula, but by continual assessment of theory and practice in life-related and modern curricula and related practical activity.

If ICT can address this, it would have done the Nation a great service. If, moreover, it can reduce poverty through its appropriate use, the more it does so, the better.

Azertac State telegraph agency of the republic of Azerbaijan

This really makes me sad because it’s so uninformative. There are still countries in the world who can print a story like this with absolutlely no information and make it look like they’re the good guys. I know teachers like that. Teachers who have the information locked up and the child gets nothing.

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT’ PROJECT DISCUSSED
September 10, 2005, 15:15:15

Ministry of Education has hosted a sitting of the Coordinating Council for Early Childhood Development project. Addressing the sitting, Minister of Education Misir Mardanov spoke of the purpose and the main objective of the project.

Chief of the Social Sector Department of the Asian Development Bank Mr. Robert Vichtol, and Head of the Group of International Consultants Mr. Doran Bernard attended the session.

Boosting kids early worth the cost
By John Lively
and Judy Newman
Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Early childhood education can be considered economic development. It improves the quality of the future work force and creates tremendous cost savings for society, according to an analysis done by an economist and researcher at the Minnesota Federal Reserve Bank.

Well-focused investments in high-quality early childhood education programs ensure that children arrive at school ready to learn. Children ready for school are more likely to be ready for life, without need of assistance.

If America is indeed committed to the notion of leaving no child behind, and to making high-quality education for every child a top priority, our efforts and investments must start in the early years of life. Education does not simply begin with kindergarten.

All children are born ready to learn. All of a child’s early experiences, whether at home, in child care or in other preschool settings, are educational. Ninety percent of a person’s brain develops in the first five years of life. It is critically important that children have good nutrition, nurturing relationships, stimulating environments and positive experiences during these formative years. Yet we invest the very least amount of public and private dollars and other resources in this age group.

So why pay early? Several studies provide solid evidence that each dollar invested in good early childhood education programs results in $3 to $8 in benefits. The advantages to the public are greatest when the programs are of high quality and reach children from the poorest families. By investing early, taxpayers benefit later because fewer children need remedial educational services, more children graduate from high school and more children get better paying jobs. Tax revenue is increased, the need for welfare assistance is reduced, and the burden on the criminal justice system is lightened.

Young children do not begin school as equals. Children of poor families generally start kindergarten with significantly lower social, language and cognitive skills than their more advantaged counterparts.

In fact, a University of Kansas study shows that by age 3 the differences are already dramatic. The vocabularies of 3-year-olds who live in poor families are half the size and less complex than those of their peers from professional families. This gap continues to widen until children enter school, and these discrepancies continue throughout their years in school.

Research shows that poor children deprived of early education are more likely as teens and adults to engage in crime, use illegal drugs, commit vandalism, neglect and abuse children, and suffer from poor physical and mental health.

As workers, they generally are less skilled, less productive, earn less money and generate less tax revenue. Failing to invest early results in a larger cost to society later.

Given that children’s success in school largely determines their success in life, significant inequalities at the starting gate predestine a continuing cycle of poverty in America.

Education for all is a defining value of our country. Americans widely consider schools to be places where social and cognitive inequalities are equalized, and where every child is given an equal chance to excel, in school and in life. Yet America is falling far short of this ideal.

Intensive efforts to level the playing field from kindergarten onward are helpful. But by expecting primary and secondary schools to erase the deficits created in many children from birth to age 5, Americans are simply expecting too much.

Investing in young children is investing in our nation’s future. Whatever steps are taken, earlier is better than later – and quality is the key.

However great the costs of investing in early childhood development, it is clear that the costs of doing nothing are far greater.

John Lively and Judy Newman are co-chairs of Lane County United Way’s Success by 6 Initiative. On Sept. 20, Rob Grunewald, regional economic analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, will speak at the Success by 6 Initiative’s annual breakfast.

Child Care Center Helps Hurricane Victims

By Mark Spain
First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL

When Hurricane Katrina’s victims began arriving on the First Coast, child care centers rolled out their welcome mats. Teeter Tikes Christian Learning College is one of them. Owner Pamela Davis opened the doors and will not shut them until there is no longer space or a need.

The care is being offered for free. “I’m a parent first. I have a daughter. I would wonder what would I do if it were me,” said Davis. If it’s only for an hour or an entire day, nobody will be turned away.” It’s just an awful thing that happened. They’ve already been through enough and to add extra charges and things would be outrageous,” remarked Davis.

Reflections on a Classic: Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care, 8th Edition
By Christopher J. Stephens

Sep 12, 2005

There were three types of books in my house when I was a child in the late sixties and through the seventies: classics, coffee-table art collections, and child care guides. The classics contained [but were by no means limited to] a small hardcover collection of the complete Shakespeare and handsome mock leather bound editions of ANNA KARENINA and THE GRAPES OF WRATH. The art collections featured removable prints of Renoir, Degas, and Monet. The child care guide was Dr. Spock’s BABY AND CHILD CARE, the alpha and omega of reference books then, now, and probably forever.

Everything was sensation and immediate gratification when I was five in the summer of 1969. Books played a huge role in my world from the earliest of memories because they satisfied my need to know things. I remember my mother had a thoroughly dog-eared Pocket Books 1957 edition of Spock’s classic. True to the name of its publisher, it was conveniently pocket sized and filled with sound, cogent advice to the new mother about everything from diapering, weaning from bottle to cup, and readiness for toilet training. I did not know at five that this book featured cogent advice.

All I knew was the kind-looking old man on the yellow cover, in black-rimmed glasses, stethoscope dangling from around his neck, connecting with a rosy-cheeked baby who didn’t seem to mind being there. I knew nothing then of staged book cover photographs and other means by which a reader can be made to feel secure. All I knew was that my mother seemed to trust the man who wrote this book and it was always within arm’s length in those early days.

Of course, the late sixties were a tumultuous time in which to raise a family. Rules were constantly being adapted and challenged. The 1957 edition of BABY AND CHILD CARE probably could not have predicted many of the issues that popped up in its 1968 edition. That my mother hadn’t updated in eleven years probably says more about her needs than Spock’s approach. She was a brand new mother in 1957. Spock’s book was already twelve years old.

The issues that parents encountered raising children in an immediate post-WWII environment turned around by the late sixties, and what was perhaps seen in 1945 as effective and focused advice to young mothers was eventually interpreted as patronizing and demeaning. Anything sacrosanct for one generation is eventually and naturally going to be seen with suspicious eyes.

The practicality and comfort of Spock remains intact with the 2004 8th edition of this text, updated and revised by Dr. Robert Needlman “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” This was Spock’s primary rule of parenting, and it is understandable that some fossilized experts might have seen that as a threat. How dare he empower the young parent? Is he trying to get them to draw on their natural nurturing instincts and tap their endless potential to simply love their own children? It must have been revolutionary fifty years ago when Spock promoted self-empowerment. History shows that childcare approaches and techniques before

Spock would be questionable now, if not possibly barbaric. What, then, was the key to his success? Simply put, there is a calm and focused nature to this narrative that cannot be beat. From the opening, Spock sets forth an agenda that remains as refreshing and comforting in 2005 as it must have been in 1945: Don’t take too seriously all that the neighbors say. Don’t be overawed by what the experts say. Take it easy, trust your instincts.”

In a section that is as touching as it is re-assuring, he notes that we are all immigrants in one form or another. He adds that what might have been appropriate in one’s home country can be construed as child abuse in this new one. He acknowledges that parents have needs as well and they should look at life in a wider perspective. Being totally absorbed in your baby is initially normal, but after about six months, things naturally fall back into place.

In the section “accepting the child you have,” we feel echoes of issues that have haunted families for years. Johnny isn’t the little boy I’d wanted. Mary has become a monster. The graceful and once again touching way he approaches these ideas remains timeless and priceless advice. It is almost as if Spock had forecasted by thirty years the pop psychology of the mid-seventies in which troubled adults were first compelled to embrace their own “inner child.”

The book is arranged in chronological order. After all, putting aside all political implications, the life of a baby begins long before they are taken from the womb if only as an idea, a concept, a solid feeling. The pregnant woman knows she is changing and can feel different needs.

Early on we read sections called “Classic Spock” which comments on the natural wonder of watching a baby grow and the need for close physical connection with the infant. It can boggle the mind that American society at one time did not put priority on regular physical bonding with an infant, but it’s true. The reader of this 8th edition should keep in mind how revolutionary [and for some incendiary] Spock’s advice became.

Nothing good in life comes without a fight, and childcare is probably the greatest example of that saying. We are always wondering about our motives, or second-guessing our approach. Spock is there not to set things straight but rather to assure the young parent that their role is a work in progress. Go with the punches. If there’s a serenity prayer that means something, memorize it.

In quick succession Spock effectively takes the reader through pre-schooler age [three to five], school age [six to eleven] and adolescence [twelve to eighteen.] In each section he maintains a calm, measured tone and keeps re-assuring the parent by helping them see their childholistically. Everything is everything. The tangible presence of your rugrat is riddled with implications that are connected with heart, mind, spirit food intake, peer pressure, environment, and life and life only. Take a deep breath, buckle up, and relax. You’re in for a bumpy ride, but the end result is always going to be worthwhile.

Spock’s approach seems most effective when dealing with toddlers. He is there with diet, physical development, diaper rashes, and a calm “laissez-faire” approach to toilet training. It can be understandable to see where he might have gotten criticized about advocating breast feeding and embracing all manner of family arrangements, but such understanding can only be made within the context of his time.

Mainstream society was scared of such practical and calm advice. He was rocking the boat, leveling the playing field between parent and child. No longer would Mom and Dad be the definitive experts as exemplified by June and Ward Cleaver from “Leave it to Beaver.”Bob Dylan would say it well in 1963: “Come mothers and fathers throughout the land/Don’t criticize what you can’t understand/your sons and your daughters are beyond your command.”

My favorite parts of this book are the “Classic Spock” sections. They speak most clearly to me perhaps because I can finally appreciate [at forty-one] how closely my parents took these sentiments to heart: Enjoy children as they are. One baby is born to be big-boned and square and chunky, while another will always be small-boned and delicate.They’ll never be able to make full use of what brains, what skills, what physical attractiveness they have.

It would be difficult to find such graceful and true writing in many contemporary novels, let alone parenting books. I can imagine new parents wearing out yellow highlighters on such passages.

Punishment, Gender differences and homosexuality, manners and the facts of life are but a few of the hot-button topics Spock approaches here with the same calm, practical tone. There is no judgement or hidden moral agenda. Spock has not etched these chapters into stone and brought them down from the mountain to give to his people. Take from them what you will. Mix and match, combine elements, and throw everything into a huge, simmering ideological stew. One can only imagine the late Doctor Spock brimming with delight that the ideas here are still being discussed.

It’s a complicated world in which BABY AND CHILD CARE has come kicking and screaming, but everything is adapted with the same measured approach. A great textbook, after all, lives and dies by its tone and theme. In this way, this new edition is able to effectively discuss the Internet, ADD/HD, Learning Disabilities, and saving for college.

No matter what get thrown at a good book, it can’t tarnish the strength of its original premise. It’s the classic elements here that remain strongest. Dr. Needlman and his other associates who worked on this 8th edition respect the essence of Spock’s vision without simply making this a re-packaging of a sixty year old book with extra features. We need to know about safety and illnesses. We need to know immunization risks and the best way to buckle our children in when we go for a ride. Spock gives the new parent a great deal of credit and a wide highway in which to drive their car, but to his great credit he does not hesitate to set up definitive road blocks and traffic cones so as to guarantee the smoothest of rides.

Good books remain stuffed deep in the recesses of my mind. I can still picture all the books my parents had when I was a child, and all the tattered paperbacks I collected as a result. At times, they were a huge burden. I drew close to them when everything else seemed to let me down. I do not have any children of my own, but like many people my age I want them and I know from my life as an Uncle that I am a natural caregiver. DR. SPOCK’S BABY AND CHILD CARE 8th edition will join my library now, stuffed in the corners of the same bookshelf I remember when I was nine years old. An essential text is like a great bottle of wine. It only gets better with age.

Kuapa Kokoo Constructs Day Care Centre at Sankore

Sankore
Sept.14, 2005

The Management of Kuapa Kokoo, a licensed cocoa buying company on Tuesday inaugurated a 450 million cedi day care centre at Sankore in the Asunafo South district of the Brong Ahafo region.

The three classroom block project with a sleeping bay for the kids, staff room, head teacher’s office, place of convenience was financed by the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Trust, a subsidiary of the company which provides social amenities to people within its area of operations.

The centre was named after Nana Osei Yaw Akoto, one of the founders of Kuapa Kokoo in the Sankore area in appreciation of his immense contribution to the formation of more farmers’ societies and the growth of the company in the area.

Nana Kwadwo Appiah-Kubi Chairman of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, said greater percentage of the company’s profit each year was channelled into the provision of social amenities such as boreholes, schools, KVIPs to benefit farmers within its areas of operation.

He commended farmers in the Sankore area for their immense contribution to the growth of the company, adding” the centre is in recognition of your efforts.

“Nana Appiah-Kubi said the company had introduced fermentation boxes on experimental basis within its areas of operation to check the purple beans menace, which had affected operations of most licensed buying companies.

He said the Kuapa Kokoo Credit Union had disbursed about 25 billion cedis as loans within the last two years to its members to expand their farms and support the educational needs of their children and therefore, urged other farmers to join the credit union to benefit from the loan scheme.

Mr Lawrence Ackah Santanah, Chairman of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Trust, said the day care centre was the fifth of such facilities provided by the trust in five regions where the company was operating in recognition of the farmers’ contribution to the growth of the company.

He said Sankore, where the company started in the Brong Ahafo region, had the largest number of societies and was optimistic the farmers would take good care of the centre and other facilities, provided by the company for the benefit of the people.

Mr Eric Opoku, Member of Parliament for the area, said education was the bedrock of every society and commended the company for the gesture.

He appealed to the farmers to take advantage of the facility and send their children to school to enable them acquire education that would sustain their future.

Nana Tabiri Gyansah, Krontihene of Sankore, thanked the company for the gesture and appealed for the extension of electricity and water to the centre.

This could not have been better said. It is a remarkable piece and this woman is to be congratulated for her insight.

Battle Creek Enquirer

September 11

Parents Are First Teachers
Ruth Kavalhuna

Parents are their children’s first and most important teachers. No one can match the devotion that families give to the well-being, healthy development and educational success of their children. Multiple studies have shown that children are more likely to reach their full potential when their parents take an active role in their education. Throughout a child’s growing-up years, adults play a decisive role in all aspects of their development and no period is more important than the first years.

When we can say “yes” to these critical questions, we will see all children entering school ready to become competent readers and communicators by the end of third grade.
Ruth Kavalhuna is director of early childhood programs for the Calhoun Intermediate School District. She may be contacted via e-mail at Kavalhur@calhoounisd.org.

The Rising Nepal

Japanese Scholars to Support Early Childhood education

By Our Correspondent Kathmandu

A Japanese University is now trying to add a new chapter in the history of cooperation between Nepal and Japan by supporting Nepal in introducing early childhood education.

Fukui Seiji, Professor of Faculty of Humanities, Seiwa College Japan, is now in the capital to observe the condition of early childhood education system of Nepal.

Prof. Seiji is leading a seven-member delegation of his college under the exchange visit programme coordinated by international cultural centre with AIMS Academy, Lalitpur.

Seiwa College has 125 years history in the field of early childhood education. Their team visited the orphanage and transit home of CWIN, Mithila Art Centre Janakpur, traditional metal, brick, carpet weaving and textile factories of Kathmandu to observe the working environment, interview the workers and the employers, estimate and observe the education status of the workers,” said professor Seiji.

Under the exchange visit, students of both college work on the same project, producing reports on ,” Condition of Workers in the factories of Nepal and status of education of their children”.

Students studying at the graduate level are happy with this kind of exchange visit programme.

“Now, we have better ideas about how things are moving in the third world countries,” one of the participants said.

The exchange programme was initiated a few years back. Students and teachers from AIMS academy had visited Seiwa College. They were so much impressed from the education system of Japan that they have decided to introduce new techniques in nursery education. Another beauty of this exchange visit is that all the delegates were given the opportunity to experience first hand Japanese life through home stays in different Japanese families.

BRADLEY HOSPITAL
A Lifespan Partner
Carol Lin Vieira
Senior Marketing and Communications Officer
Bradley Hospital

Helping children adjust to a new school Providence, RI

For many kids, starting a new school can be an exciting, yet challenging experience. Parents can do a lot to help ease their child’s transition, says Alison Miller, Ph.D., a developmental psychologist atBradley Hospital, the nation’s first psychiatric hospital for children.

“When a child knows that his or her parents are taking the time to familiarize themselves with their new school, it can go a long way in boosting their self-confidence as the new kid,” says Miller.

She recommends that parents make an appointment to meet with the teacher before their child starts classes. Miller also suggests that parents call the school and find out if there is an orientation for new students and if not, to arrange a tour for their child before classes begin.

Parents can also do a practice run for getting to and from school and should ask their children about their concerns and offer solutions. Forexample, if a child is worried that she won’t be able to open her locker, have her practice before school starts. “Addressing your child’s fears of the unknown,” says Miller, “Should help ease his or her concerns.”

Other parents in the neighborhood can also be an invaluable resource since they are familiar with the school environment and after-school activities. Befriending other parents also affords a new kid the opportunity to meet aclassmate before school starts, and knowing someone beforehand can help alleviate a child’s anxiety.

Miller emphasizes that having a close and well-informed connection between home and school is very important for a child’s adjustment and school success. “Volunteer in the classroom or on class trips if possible, and ask the teacher if there are any classroom rituals, or if you could provide any special supplies that would make your child feel prepared and more included,” she suggests.

Parents can also review social skills with their children by coaching them on how to introduce themselves, how to ask questions to get to know others, and to remember to share with classmates and smile.

Miller recommends that parents solicit their child’s opinions about the newschool and continue asking questions about the new routine. “Your child should feel that they have a forum in which to discuss their positive and negative feelings about the new school – keeping yourself informed is important for many reasons, but most crucially, to ensure that adjustment is progressing normally,” says Miller.

Since it may take a few weeks or months for kids to feel comfortable in a new school, it is important that parents do not dismiss their child’s concerns. “If you notice that your child is complaining excessively about illness on school days, actively avoiding any discussion of school, having trouble sleeping, or wetting the bed, you may wish to schedule an appointment with your child’s teacher and/or school counselor to discuss your child’s adjustment,” says Miller.

Additionally, a hearing and vision test should be performed to rule out physical problems.

Here’s a series of reports from every corner of the country about a problem that can’t seem to be solved.

Report: Child Care Teachers Lack Training and Education
By Dana Hull
Mercury News, California

A national report jointly published by three research institutes has found that early childhood educators — the people who take care of our nation’s youngest children — often earn less than $10 an hour, lack college degrees, and have no specialized training in childhood development.

The “Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education” report largely focuses on “center-based” child care, as opposed to individuals who care for children in their own homes. It includes for-profit and not-for-profit child care centers, Head Start programs, and stand-alone preschools and nursery schools.

Among the findings for California:

• The median hourly wage for teachers and directors is $11.33.

• Only 25 percent of center-based teachers and administrators have a college degree.

“There is more and more research that shows the benefits of investment in quality preschools,” said Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center and one of the report’s authors. “We hope our report drives home that we’re not making enough public investment now.”

The report’s release comes as supporters of California’s Preschool for All initiative gather signatures to qualify the measure for the June 2006 ballot. Spearheaded by Rob Reiner, the initiative would fund voluntary preschool for all California children in the year before kindergarten by taxing state residents who earn more than $400,000 a year.

The initiative would require preschool teachers, over time, to earn credentials comparable to those in the K-12 system, and to be similarly compensated. It would provide financial aid so that preschoolteachers could get bachelor’s degrees and additional training in early childhood development.