Teachers Without Borders

The upcoming workshop will attract over 1,200 teachers according to the list of schools and number of teachers provided by the Nasarawa State Ministry of Education to Teachers Without Borders Regional office in Abuja.

According to  TWB’s Africa Regional Coordinator, Dr. Raphael Ogar Oko, “the teaching mastery workshop program in Nasarawa State was initially designed to educate experienced teachers who will mentor beginning teachers and NYSC members deployed to serve in schools without the basic teaching qualification. After implementing the program in two areas, Karu and Uke, it was discovered that the teachers in schools needed the professional development workshops also in addition to the NYSC members that are being deployed to schools. Based on requests from teachers, school heads and proprietors of schools as well as the local education authority, TWB has decided to make the program open to all teachers in Nasarawa State as a demonstration of our commitment to teacher development and appreciation of the cordial relationship with the Nasarawa State Ministry of Education”.

The Teachers Without Borders Certificate of Teaching Mastery (CTM), which is recognized by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria as a teacher professional development course is a free, self-paced, peer- and mentor-supported teacher professional development program.

New Delhi: Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said that a Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) will soon be made mandatory for teachers as the Right to Education Act is implemented.

Speaking at the meeting of central and state regulatory institutions for School education, the minister said that this test will be as per the norms of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

With the goal of changing teaching and learning in its classrooms, Singapore's Nanyang Girl's High School has replaced its textbooks with iPad tablet computers.

"We found that it was a very good personal learning device, extremely mobile, light weight and it is easy to use. I think if you talk to the girls you will realize that they practically don't need training. I think if anything, the joke is the teachers probably taking a little bit longer time in getting used to it. So it seemed to be a device that was just the thing that we were looking for and we were glad that it came out and so we grabbed the opportunity to use it."

According Singapore’s Ministry of Education, there’s only one primary school and three secondary schools in the country that are giving the iPads a try.

A drought in Kenya has hurt enrollment at schools for the start of New Year's classes. Families who need green grass for their livestock to graze upon have moved away from the drought areas. A school district in the driest parts of the country have as many as 1000 children who will not be able to show up for school. Meanwhile, the districts in Southern Ethiopia that have more water will see a strain on their resources as the new children arrive.

The Mexican town of Ciudad Juarez is one of the deadliest in the world. Controlled by two waring drug gangs and a corrupt police, the town witnesses over 3,000 murders a year.

Investments designed to counter the poverty and disenchantment that supply cartels with foot soldiers are injected throughout the city: parks and new high schools in some of the poorest neighborhoods, new hospitals and clinics and more police patrols in commercial districts to stop the extortion that has devastated Juarez's local economy.

For every high school built under Todos Somos Juarez, the city is short another.

This document presents a comprehensive methodology for school safety considering school-specific hazards, such as earthquake, flood, flash flood, cyclone, landslide, and tsunami. It also focuses on fire and road hazards and considers climate change related issues. This manual is specific to Bangladesh and aims to guide teachers and students to develop a disaster management plan that includes mitigation, preparedness and response planning.

Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, today condemned the demolition of homes, and partial demolition of a school, by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on 12 January in the Bedouin herding community of Dkaika, in the West Bank. He said: "I condemn this demolition in the strongest terms. Fifty people have been made homeless, including 30 children, many of whom were about to take an exam when the bulldozers arrived to destroy part of their school. Instead of sitting down to their exam, the children faced the traumatic scene of watching their homes and classroom be demolished. This is unacceptable.

Since yesterday, 15 children have been attending classes outdoors. UNRWA has given the community emergency food parcels, mattresses and blankets, and will be granting cash assistance to cover expenses related to the lost homes. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) handed out tents and kitchen sets to the affected families.

Forced displacement disrupts livelihoods, sharply reduces living standards, and limits access to basic services, such as water, education and health care. In most cases, demolitions affect families and communities that already live close to or below the poverty line.

The educationist was speaking at a ceremony to award certificates to teachers who had attended an in-service training with Teachers without Borders (TWB). The US organisation supports teachers worldwide with professional development opportunities.

In the TWB course, teachers learn how they can enlighten learners and the society on MDGs to fast-track their achievement."One chooses an MDG to focus on. They either teach it in their schools/community or contribute to an existing initiative that focuses on the MDG," said Mr Mathias Osimbo, a representative of teachers without borders.

Osimbo said the course, taught free to teachers at primary and secondary schools, aims at increasing the impact of teachers in society."It makes teachers to be instruments of change beyond the classroom border by working with communities," he said.Michael Ndung’u, a beneficiary of the program says that the course has helped him enrich his teaching skills."It makes one move from being a passive disseminator of information to an active collaborator and inquirer," he notes.Besides MDGs, teachers also train in effective classroom management methods and teaching multi-cultured learners.Members of the organisation are also offered a platform where teachers can interact with others across the world and share experiences.