The Education Systems of Africa

The Education Systems of Africa
Author: Kolawole Samuel Adeyemo
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 984
Release: 2021-02-24
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9783030442187

This research handbook provides meaningful coverage on current trends in the dynamic education systems of Africa. It presents the main findings on current issues in the education systems from different African countries. Specifically, it examines education policies and what can be done differently by African nations to strengthen these policies. The objective is to highlight African nations’ capacity to address issues of social justice to generate ideas that can help translate the increasing strengths of the continent into achieving sustainable development.

Implementing Deeper Learning and 21st Century Education Reforms

Implementing Deeper Learning and 21st Century Education Reforms
Author: Fernando M. Reimers
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2020-11-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3030570398

This open access book is a comparative analysis of recent large scale education reforms that broadened curriculum goals to better prepare students for the 21st century. The book examines what governments actually do when they broaden curriculum goals, with attention to the details of implementation. To this end, the book examines system level reforms in six countries at various levels of development. The study includes system level reforms in jurisdictions where students achieve high levels in international assessments of basic literacies, such as Singapore and Ontario, Canada, as well as in nations where students achieve much lower levels, such as Kenya, Mexico, Punjab-Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The chapters examine system-level reforms that focus on strengthening the capacity to teach the basics, as in Ontario and Pakistan, as well as reforms that aim at building the capacity to teach a much broader set of competencies and skills, such as Kenya, Mexico, Singapore and Zimbabwe. The volume includes systems at very different levels of spending per student and reforms at various points in the cycle of policy implementation, some just starting, some struggling to survive a governmental transition, and others that have been in place for an extended period of time. From the comparative study of these reforms, we aim to provide an understanding of how to build the capacity of education systems to teach 21st century skills at scale in diverse settings.

Abolishing School Fees in Africa

Abolishing School Fees in Africa
Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2009
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0821375415

Progress in literacy and learning, especially through universal primary education, has done more to advance human conditions than perhaps any other policy. Our generation has the possibility of becoming the first generation ever to offer all children access to good quality basic education. But it will only happen if we have the political commitment -- at the country as well as at the international level -- to give priority to achieve this first in human history. And it will only happen if also those who cannot afford to pay school fees can benefit from a complete cycle of good quality primary education. Investment in good quality fee-free primary education should be a cornerstone in any government's poverty reduction strategy.

What Works in Girls' Education

What Works in Girls' Education
Author: Gene B Sperling
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2015-09-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0815728611

Hard-headed evidence on why the returns from investing in girls are so high that no nation or family can afford not to educate their girls. Gene Sperling, author of the seminal 2004 report published by the Council on Foreign Relations, and Rebecca Winthrop, director of the Center for Universal Education, have written this definitive book on the importance of girls’ education. As Malala Yousafzai expresses in her foreword, the idea that any child could be denied an education due to poverty, custom, the law, or terrorist threats is just wrong and unimaginable. More than 1,000 studies have provided evidence that high-quality girls’ education around the world leads to wide-ranging returns: Better outcomes in economic areas of growth and incomes Reduced rates of infant and maternal mortality Reduced rates of child marriage Reduced rates of the incidence of HIV/AIDS and malaria Increased agricultural productivity Increased resilience to natural disasters Women’s empowerment What Works in Girls’ Education is a compelling work for both concerned global citizens, and any academic, expert, nongovernmental organization (NGO) staff member, policymaker, or journalist seeking to dive into the evidence and policies on girls’ education.

The State, Business and Education

The State, Business and Education
Author: Gita Steiner-Khamsi
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2018-10-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1788970330

Businesses, philanthropies and non-profit entities are increasingly successful in capturing public funds to support private provision of schooling in developed and developing countries. Coupled with market-based reforms that include weak regulation, control over workforces, standardization of processes and economies of scale, private provision of schooling is often seen to be convenient for both public authorities and businesses. This book examines how the public subsidization of these forms of private education affects quality, equality and the realization of human rights. With original research from leading experts, The State, Business and Educationsheds light on the privatization of education in fragile circumstances. It illustrates the ways in which private actors have expanded their involvement in education as a business, and shows the influence of policy borrowing on the spread of for-profit education. Case studies from Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India and Syrian refugee camps illustrate the ways in which private actors have expanded their involvement in education as a business. This book will be of interest not only to academics and students of international and comparative education, but also to education development professionals in both the private and public sectors, with its empirical assessment of case studies, and careful consideration of the lessons to be learned from each. Contributors include: M. Avelar, J. Barkan, M. de Koning, A. Draxler, C. Fontdevila, S. Kamat, F. Menashy, M.C. Moschetti, E. Richardson, B. Schulte, C.A. Spreen, G. Steiner-Khamsi, A. Verger, Z. Zakharia, A. Zancajo

Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics

Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics
Author: Nanjala Nyabola
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2018-11-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 178699433X

From the upheavals of recent national elections to the success of the #MyDressMyChoice feminist movement, digital platforms have already had a dramatic impact on political life in Kenya – one of the most electronically advanced countries in Africa. While the impact of the Digital Age on Western politics has been extensively debated, there is still little appreciation of how it has been felt in developing countries such as Kenya, where Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other online platforms are increasingly a part of everyday life. Written by a respected Kenyan activist and researcher at the forefront of political online struggles, this book presents a unique contribution to the debate on digital democracy. For traditionally marginalised groups, particularly women and people with disabilities, digital spaces have allowed Kenyans to build new communities which transcend old ethnic and gender divisions. But the picture is far from wholly positive. Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics explores the drastic efforts being made by elites to contain online activism, as well as how 'fake news', a failed digital vote-counting system and the incumbent president's recruitment of Cambridge Analytica contributed to tensions around the 2017 elections. Reframing digital democracy from the African perspective, Nyabola's ground-breaking work opens up new ways of understanding our current global online era.

The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia

The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia
Author: Mohammed Hassen
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 1847011179

First full-length history of the Oromo 1300-1700; explains their key part in the medieval Christian kingdom and demonstrates their importance in shaping Ethiopian history.

A Dime a Day

A Dime a Day
Author: Tahir Raza Shah Andrabi
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2006
Genre: Ability
ISBN:

Abstract: This paper looks at the private schooling sector in Pakistan, a country that is seriously behind schedule in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Using new data, the authors document the phenomenal rise of the private sector in Pakistan and show that an increasing segment of children enrolled in private schools are from rural areas and from middle-class and poorer families. The key element in their rise is their low fees-the average fee of a rural private school in Pakistan is less than a dime a day (Rs. 6). They hire predominantly local, female, and moderately educated teachers who have limited alternative opportunities outside the village. Hiring these teachers at low cost allows the savings to be passed on to parents through low fees. This mechanism-the need to hire teachers with a certain demographic profile so that salary costs are minimized-defines the possibility of private schools: where they arise, fees are low. It also defines their limits. Private schools are horizontally constrained in that they arise in villages where there is a pool of secondary educated women. They are also vertically constrained in that they are unlikely to cater to the secondary levels in rural areas, at least until there is an increase in the supply of potential teachers with the required skills and educational levels.

THE EARLY GRADE READING ASSESSMENT

THE EARLY GRADE READING ASSESSMENT
Author: Amber K. Gove
Publisher: RTI Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2011-09-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1934831085

The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) measures students' progress towards reading. EGRA gauges early literacy skills through a 15-minute individual oral assessment of five fundamental reading skills. RTI worked with education experts to develop the EGRA in 2006, and it has been piloted and implemented in more than 40 countries. This volume aims to take stock of the substantial amount of information and experience generated through the use of EGRA, and to share this knowledge with practitioners, policymakers, and international donors. Chapters cover not only particular applications of the instrument but also put EGRA in the context of broader issues and developments in literacy and education.