Teachers Without Borders

Rumbek — A one-month teacher training course organized by Save the Children in Rumbek, the capital of Lakes state in South Sudan, has been skipped by some of the teachers due to attend. At the start of the workshop on Wednesday at Riak-Dor primary school, only 45 of the 60 teachers expected to attend arrived for the first day of the training. The teachers are drawn from Rumbek East and Rumbek Central counties. Rumbek East county education director Abel Kook Thong threatened to withhold the February salaries of teachers who have not attended the training as a punishment. He said he was seeking permission to do so from the director general of Lakes state's education ministry.

He said the aim of the workshop is to "equip teachers with knowledge and skills" adding that the absent teachers are refusing to participate in efforts to fight against ignorance in the community. Kook encouraged the teachers attending the training saying teachers will play an important role in bringing development of South Sudan as a new nation.

In June South Sudan is expected to become independent after an overwhelming vote for secession in a referendum in January.

“Kids are enrolling in school in much greater numbers than ever before,” she said, “but that really masks the fact that they’re actually not learning very much. One example is that in Uganda, half the kids in third grade can’t read a single word.”

“We know how to train teachers. We know how to put in curricula. We know what the right things to do for kids are to give them all the right skills,” added Mr. Wong. “But the investment required, and the time and the commitment, is not there if you don’t have the political support.”

A Brookings Institution analysis of the wealthiest philanthropic donors in the United States found that global education was a very low priority for them. Ms. Winthrop said she believed this was because a focus on enrolment – which is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal on education – has “lulled people into thinking that the global education agenda is done, check, we can cross that off the list.”

For many pupils and parents, the dreams of joining the so-called best schools have been shattered because they did not score the required points. Now, they must fight tooth-and-nail to find a place in other schools.

At the root of all this is an archaic colonial education system, which no longer has a place in our situation today. In developed countries, an exam-based education system for primary pupils has long been abandoned.

promotion to secondary school should be on the basis of continuous assessment. Also, let the government increase capital expenditure to secondary schools. Most schools have the space to expand their facilities but they lack capital. As the number and the performance of pupils continue to increase every year, the facilities should be able to increase at the same pace.

Kampala — The government has warned school head teachers against hiking school fees as the new term opens. Closing a two-day Senior One selection exercise at Mandela Stadium-Namboole on Friday, Education Minister Namirembe Bitamazire said the habit of increasing fees by top schools deny hundreds of students a chance to join their dream schools.

"We don't say that they shouldn't increase but let the increment be reasonable, justifiable and they must seek our permission. Our target is to see that all Ugandan children acquire quality education regardless of their parents' financial predicaments," she said.

This means that at least 155,716 students will not be admitted despite having garnered the required aggregate for admission. But the Commissioner for Secondary Education, Mr Francis Agula, said the number of admission could be raised to 350,000 due to expansion of existing education facilities in some schools and establishment of new ones.

an Israeli research group suggests Tunisia's was a textbook revolution. Not in the sense that it was a perfect storm or that it followed a certain formula -- no two revolutions are the same -- but in the sense that it may actually have begun in school textbooks.

A comprehensive study of the Tunisian curriculum, completed in 2009 and presented before the European parliament, found that education in Tunisia cultivates equality and is much more progressive in teaching tolerance than any other Arab country.

The material still takes the Palestinian side in their conflict with Israel, researchers found, but not in a way that negates Jews or Israel. Above all, the study found the educational system to have a "profound understanding of equality and democracy."

The shake-up of the National Curriculum in England's schools should ensure a place for both academic and vocational subjects, MPs have said. A report by the House of Commons education committee says boring lessons fuel bad behaviour and the curriculum should meet the needs of all pupils.

The report by the cross-party committee concluded: "Ministers should bear in mind that if the future curriculum is to have a beneficial effect on standards of behaviour in the classroom, it will need to meet the needs of all pupils and contain a mix of academic and vocational subjects, while being differentiated and enjoyable".

Committee chairman Graham Stuart MP said: "If the curriculum doesn't stimulate children, they will switch off, and the chances are that they will disrupt other children's learning. "The onus is now on the government to draw up a national curriculum which engages all children and meets their aspirations, then let teachers decide how to apply it."

The Bauchi State government is to reintroduce teacher training colleges in the state with the aim of reviving the standard of education.

THE Federal Government has said that the old Senior Secondary Education curriculum will be phased out in September, 2011 to give way for the implementation of the New Senior Secondary Education curriculum developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).

The ministry of Education has announced that the school curriculum currently under review will be ready by March next year.

Minister of Education Dora Siliya says a team of experts will formulate the new syllabus once the review of the curriculum has been concluded.

the school curriculum is being reviewed to incorporate entrepreneurship and Information Communication Technology-ICT- skills.

According to top officials of the state education department, government is all set to effect thorough changes in the curriculum of primary and upper primary education in accordance with the Right to Education Act (RTE). Instead of the current curriculum which focuses more on writing answers, the new syllabus will focus more on activity-based learning.Outdated subjects and chapters will be removed and more informative and knowledgeable ones will be added.

Almost 350 teachers from all over the state will be trained and eventually will be given the responsibility of suggesting changes

A plan to introduce HIV testing for children as young as 13 at schools in South Africa has been fiercely criticised by student and teacher unions.The government believes that enabling sexually active pupils to know their HIV status could allow early access to life-saving treatment and help prevent the spread of the infection. But opponents of the voluntary programme say children may not be psychologically prepared to deal with a positive result or the stigma likely to follow.The tests are expected to begin at secondary schools next month during weekends and holidays. Allen Thompson, deputy president of the National Teachers' Union, said: "We suspect we may be heading for disaster. Even parents are afraid to take HIV tests, so you can imagine a 13-year-old. Some will be afraid to say no to their teachers."