It is hoped the computer training will improve young people's communication skills and their school performance.
Twenty young people in Katine sub-county were last month given basic training on how to blog.
Three primary schools and Katine secondary school were contacted and asked to identify pupils for training. Katine primary school sent 10 pupils and the secondary sent another 10.
It took quite an effort to convince the schools, and the pupils, to take up the idea, as they were not familiar with the internet, or with computers.
Of a population now close to 29,000, less than a quarter of Katine residents have any computer skills or have ever had the chance to use a computer.
As Richard Kavuma wrote in his blog on citizenship journalism earlier this week, it is more likely that government officers at the sub-county, health workers or young people visiting Soroti or studying in the town will have seen or used a computer before.
This explains why, over the last year since the media resource centre was set up to encourage more people from the community to engage with the Katine project and learn new skills, it has often been those not in school who have turned up at the centre. When people do come they usually want to read sports news, and possibly listen to music. Getting them to learn the skills usually takes more of an effort on my part.
Despite the formal training that the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) has organised for Katine residents to build their IT skills, the online chats between schools and the wider community and the contribution of some residents to debates on the Katine website, community participation is still low, even though the media centre was designed to support them in raising matters of concern in their daily lives.
Those who have visited the centre have often had their views recorded and transcribed by a journalist or have written them on a piece of paper that the journalist has typed up and uploaded on to the web, which means at least some local voices have been raised in regard to the Katine way of life.
It is hoped training on how to blog will increase young people's confidence to champion their cause and articulate the issues that are of concern to them.
Telling their story
The purpose of offering basic journalism skills to students and pupils in Katine stems from the rational that every individual has the capacity to tell a story ─ and would be the best person to tell it if given an opportunity to do so.
Language barriers do remain a challenge. Interestingly, the primary children have a better command of the English language than secondary students.
Since the blog training, young people from Katine secondary school have agreed to form a writing club where they can learn how to express themselves through the written word and to share ideas.
During the training it was apparent that most students have a problem communicating their views, which could affect their school performance.
I hope the training will, therefore, build on their ability to communicate and reason in class and lead to higher achievement. Whether they will actively contribute to the Katine Chronicles blog is another issue.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/katine-chronicles-blog/2010/apr/08/education-empowerment
Showing posts with label education developing countries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education developing countries. Show all posts
Monday, July 12, 2010
Education Report names and shames countries with poor education funding - 9 July 2010
Today the 1GOAL campaign (as part of the Global Campaign for Education) released its Annual “School Report” which showed that while donors such as Netherlands, Norway and United Kingdom lead the way on aid for education, many of the key donor countries were reneging on their aid commitments with the worst offenders being Japan, Germany, Italy and America. This comes as the UN confirmed that in 2010 African countries may be facing education cuts of up to $4.6 bn from their budgets as a result of the financial crisis.
The “School Report” which comes from data provided in 2008 contains a league table of how donors are being rated on their funding for education. In the top three donors are Netherlands, Norway and Denmark and at the bottom of the list is Italy followed by Japan and then Australia.
A number of western donors including France, Germany and the US give almost two-thirds of their aid to basic education in advice, consultancy and bureaucratic support rather than paying for teachers, classrooms, and children going to school. Not only is the spending directed in the wrong areas, a huge funding gap remains from donors with many not paying their fare share. The cost of paying every child to go to school is just 0.2% the estimated $8 trillion that was spent on bailing out the banks could have paid for every child to go to school.
The report shows that there has been huge success across Africa with 40 million children being able to school in the past ten years. There have been some notable country success stories with the number of children out of school in Tanzania decreasing from 3.1 million to 100,000 and in Zambia decreasing from 600,000 to 100,000 and a 36% increase enrolment for primary education.
1GOAL is calling on poor countries to increase their spending on education to 20% of their national budget and for a roadmap for all African children to be in school by 2014. The real challenge is to ensure that once the basics of education are in place that children are able to leave with an education, for example:
Source: http://www.join1goal.org/news_intern.php?page=1&NewsID=113
The “School Report” which comes from data provided in 2008 contains a league table of how donors are being rated on their funding for education. In the top three donors are Netherlands, Norway and Denmark and at the bottom of the list is Italy followed by Japan and then Australia.
A number of western donors including France, Germany and the US give almost two-thirds of their aid to basic education in advice, consultancy and bureaucratic support rather than paying for teachers, classrooms, and children going to school. Not only is the spending directed in the wrong areas, a huge funding gap remains from donors with many not paying their fare share. The cost of paying every child to go to school is just 0.2% the estimated $8 trillion that was spent on bailing out the banks could have paid for every child to go to school.
The report shows that there has been huge success across Africa with 40 million children being able to school in the past ten years. There have been some notable country success stories with the number of children out of school in Tanzania decreasing from 3.1 million to 100,000 and in Zambia decreasing from 600,000 to 100,000 and a 36% increase enrolment for primary education.
1GOAL is calling on poor countries to increase their spending on education to 20% of their national budget and for a roadmap for all African children to be in school by 2014. The real challenge is to ensure that once the basics of education are in place that children are able to leave with an education, for example:
- In Malawi, Uganda and Chad less than 40% of children that enrol complete primary school
- In Central African Republic, Rwanda, Malawi and Mozambique there are more than 65 pupils for every teacher
- In Togo currently only 15% of primary school teachers have received appropriate training
Source: http://www.join1goal.org/news_intern.php?page=1&NewsID=113
1GOAL: Education for All
1GOAL is a campaign seizing the power of football to ensure that education for all is a lasting impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. By bringing together footballers and fans, charities and organisations around the world, together we can call on world leaders to make education a reality for 72 million children by 2015.
In 2000, 164 world governments came together to create the Education for All goals, 189 governments also created the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Two of the eight goals involve ending poverty through education:
* to ensure that all boys and girls complete primary schooling by 2015
* to ensure that girls have the opportunity for education at all levels by 2015.
They promised to make sure there was enough money and that the policies were in place to make it a reality. Since then many countries have abolished school fees, spending was increased by $4 billion and an extra 40 million children are now going to school.
The campaign has captured unprecedented support and political will across the world. 1GOAL is supported by the football world and its governing body, FIFA. 1GOAL supporters and ambassadors include a multitude of global football stars, celebrities and world leaders, all working to achieve the shared vision of education for all.
On October 6th 2009, the 1GOAL campaign was officially launched in a satellite-linked ceremony led by the 2010 FIFA World Cup host, South Africa President Jacob Zuma, Her Majesty Rania Al-Abdullah, Queen of Jordan, President of Ghana John Atta Mills, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, President of Spain, Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General and Sepp Blatter, the FIFA President.
Source: http://www.join1goal.org/
In 2000, 164 world governments came together to create the Education for All goals, 189 governments also created the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Two of the eight goals involve ending poverty through education:
* to ensure that all boys and girls complete primary schooling by 2015
* to ensure that girls have the opportunity for education at all levels by 2015.
They promised to make sure there was enough money and that the policies were in place to make it a reality. Since then many countries have abolished school fees, spending was increased by $4 billion and an extra 40 million children are now going to school.
The campaign has captured unprecedented support and political will across the world. 1GOAL is supported by the football world and its governing body, FIFA. 1GOAL supporters and ambassadors include a multitude of global football stars, celebrities and world leaders, all working to achieve the shared vision of education for all.
On October 6th 2009, the 1GOAL campaign was officially launched in a satellite-linked ceremony led by the 2010 FIFA World Cup host, South Africa President Jacob Zuma, Her Majesty Rania Al-Abdullah, Queen of Jordan, President of Ghana John Atta Mills, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, President of Spain, Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General and Sepp Blatter, the FIFA President.
Source: http://www.join1goal.org/
Monday, May 31, 2010
One Laptop per Child targets Middle East and East Africa - BBC - 29 April 2010
By JONATHAN FILDES
The group behind the "$100 laptop" has formed a partnership which it hopes will deliver computers to every primary school child in East Africa.
The partnership between One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and the East African Community (EAC) aims to
deliver 30 million laptops in the region by 2015.
OLPC has also announced a partnership with a UN agency which aims to deliver 500,000 machines in the
Middle East.
Both the UN agency and the EAC first need to raise cash for the laptops.
The two groups aim to find donors to help pay for the machines, which currently sell for more than $200, despite intentions to sell them for less.
"At the end of the day, it all comes down to money," Matt Keller of OLPC told BBC News, talking about the EAC partnership.
"Ideally, we would live in a world where governments can equip every kid to be educated, but that's not
the case."
Tech trials
He said the EAC was currently drafting a letter to US President Barack Obama to ask if the US could
provide assistance to pay for the project. The countries were also exploring links with the aid community, he said.
"This is a very ambitious project for which we will have to partner with various people and institutions to mobilise and fund the resources required to meet our objectives by 2015," said Ambassador Juma
Mwapachu, secretary general of the EAC.
The organisation represents the governments of Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi. Some of the countries have already run small trials with the machines, including Rwanda which has more
than 20,000 pupils using them.
Mr Keller said the country already had an order for 70,000 more and had shown the other countries in the
area the benefit of technology in schools.
The partnership with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) aims to distribute half a million laptops to
Palestinian children throughout the Middle East.
UNRWA looks after more than four million Palestinian refugees in five countries
It has been conducting trials with 1,500 machines in the region and has begun to distribute a further 2,100
to a school in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza strip.
"For us it is vital to get computers to our kids," Adnan Abu Hasna of UNRWA told BBC News.
"We think many people and individuals will support the idea."
'Tipping point'
OLPC has had difficulty selling its computers and its alternative vision of education around the world.
The organisation - a spin out from US university MIT - originally aimed to sell the low-cost laptops in lots of
one million to governments in developing countries for $100 each.
However, it had difficulty getting governments to commit to bulk orders.
The rugged machines - which are designed specifically for children in the developing world and run both
Linux and Microsoft Windows - are now offered in single units for around $200 each.
Mr Keller said that there were currently around 1.6 million machines distributed around the world, with
commitments for another 400,000.
He admitted the project had still not reached its "tipping point", but said if the EAC was successful it may
prove to be the decisive moment for the project.
"We want [these computers] to be as a fundamental as electricity," he said.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10091177
The group behind the "$100 laptop" has formed a partnership which it hopes will deliver computers to every primary school child in East Africa.
The partnership between One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and the East African Community (EAC) aims to
deliver 30 million laptops in the region by 2015.
OLPC has also announced a partnership with a UN agency which aims to deliver 500,000 machines in the
Middle East.
Both the UN agency and the EAC first need to raise cash for the laptops.
The two groups aim to find donors to help pay for the machines, which currently sell for more than $200, despite intentions to sell them for less.
"At the end of the day, it all comes down to money," Matt Keller of OLPC told BBC News, talking about the EAC partnership.
"Ideally, we would live in a world where governments can equip every kid to be educated, but that's not
the case."
Tech trials
He said the EAC was currently drafting a letter to US President Barack Obama to ask if the US could
provide assistance to pay for the project. The countries were also exploring links with the aid community, he said.
"This is a very ambitious project for which we will have to partner with various people and institutions to mobilise and fund the resources required to meet our objectives by 2015," said Ambassador Juma
Mwapachu, secretary general of the EAC.
The organisation represents the governments of Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi. Some of the countries have already run small trials with the machines, including Rwanda which has more
than 20,000 pupils using them.
Mr Keller said the country already had an order for 70,000 more and had shown the other countries in the
area the benefit of technology in schools.
The partnership with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) aims to distribute half a million laptops to
Palestinian children throughout the Middle East.
UNRWA looks after more than four million Palestinian refugees in five countries
It has been conducting trials with 1,500 machines in the region and has begun to distribute a further 2,100
to a school in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza strip.
"For us it is vital to get computers to our kids," Adnan Abu Hasna of UNRWA told BBC News.
"We think many people and individuals will support the idea."
'Tipping point'
OLPC has had difficulty selling its computers and its alternative vision of education around the world.
The organisation - a spin out from US university MIT - originally aimed to sell the low-cost laptops in lots of
one million to governments in developing countries for $100 each.
However, it had difficulty getting governments to commit to bulk orders.
The rugged machines - which are designed specifically for children in the developing world and run both
Linux and Microsoft Windows - are now offered in single units for around $200 each.
Mr Keller said that there were currently around 1.6 million machines distributed around the world, with
commitments for another 400,000.
He admitted the project had still not reached its "tipping point", but said if the EAC was successful it may
prove to be the decisive moment for the project.
"We want [these computers] to be as a fundamental as electricity," he said.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10091177
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