48% unsuccessful at O/L
Thursday, 29 April 2010 10:30
48% of the candidates who sat the G.C.E. O/L examination in 2009 have failed according to results issued by the Department of Examinations. 2,77,260 candidates sat the O/L examination and only 1,47,000 have qualified to study in the G.C.E. A/L classes.
51% of the candidates have passed Mathematics which equals the proportion that passed the subject in 2008. 45% has passed Science which is 2% less than last year. 25% has failed Sinhalese while the figure for 2008 was only 19% failures. 25% has failed Tamil, the same number that failed in 2008.
There are 16,500 candidates who have passed only one subject and failed in 8 subjects. The number that has passed two subjects and failed in seven subjects is 18,000. There are 20,300 candidates who passed four subjects and failed in five. 22,800 have passed five subjects and failed in four.
Meanwhile there are 19,000 who sat nine subjects and failed all these subjects. Last year this figure was 16,000.
LANKATRUTH.COM
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
A radical new teaching method that has been pioneered in India, Africa and Latin America is catching on in Britain..!!!
Teaching: Inspiring British children, Slumdog style
By Max Davidson
A radical new teaching method that has been pioneered in India, Africa and Latin America is catching on in Britain, says Max Davidson.
"I don’t mind children cribbing answers off other children," says Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Newcastle. "It’s one of the ways they can learn. I also don’t think there should be too many constraints on what they can look at on the internet."
Have your say: How can we encourage children to think for themselves?
Controversial views, perhaps, but then Professor Mitra, originally from India, is no stranger to controversy. He is an educational radical whose unorthodox experiments in the slums of New Delhi – experiments that were part of the inspiration for the blockbuster film Slumdog Millionaire – have sent ripples around the world.
In what became known as the Hole in the Wall project, Mitra simply knocked through a wall in his Delhi office and installed a computer with an internet connection for the local slum children to discover. To his delight he found that they soon became fully fledged autodidacts, teaching themselves English, maths and other subjects.
"It became obvious that children were capable of working by themselves, without help from teachers," Mitra says. More to the point, the children wanted to learn, not just play computer games.
His one quibble about the movie, which drew on his findings, was that it was not called Slumdog Nobel Laureate. "After all, the whole point of the Hole in the Wall project was to encourage children to think beyond monetary gain and want to change the world, not simply become rich."
As his academic standing rocketed, Mitra conducted similar experiments in other parts of the world, from Africa to Latin America. He is now working with children at three schools in the north-east of England, including St Aidan’s C of E primary in Gateshead, where nine-year-old children are to be found researching school topics on computers, unaided by teachers. The result is what Mitra calls a Self-Organised Learning Environment, or SOLE.
How does SOLE work in practice? "The children are given a SATS or GCSE question, then divided into groups of four, each group with its own computer, and given half an hour, say, to find the answer via Google, Wikipedia or other websites. The groups compete with each other, which is good, but children also range freely around the room, seeing what other groups are doing, which is also good. There is a healthy mixture of competition and collaboration," Mitra says.
Sometimes a teacher is there but for Mitra the presence of a teacher can be a problem not a solution. "If children know there is someone standing over them who knows all the answers, they are less inclined to find the answers for themselves. It would be better, in a way, if any adults present were completely uneducated. There is nothing children like more than passing on information they have just discovered to people who may not already have it – an elderly grandmother, for instance."
Gateshead is a long way from New Delhi and these are not slum children, but it is significant that the English schools Mitra has chosen for his experiment are in areas of social deprivation, rather than middle-class enclaves. "The best schools tend to have the best teachers, not to mention parents who supervise homework, so there is less need for self-organised learning," he says. "But where a child comes from a less supportive home environment, where there are family tensions perhaps, their schoolwork can suffer. They need to be taught to think and study for themselves."
© The Telegraph Group
London 2010
www island.lk
By Max Davidson
A radical new teaching method that has been pioneered in India, Africa and Latin America is catching on in Britain, says Max Davidson.
"I don’t mind children cribbing answers off other children," says Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Newcastle. "It’s one of the ways they can learn. I also don’t think there should be too many constraints on what they can look at on the internet."
Have your say: How can we encourage children to think for themselves?
Controversial views, perhaps, but then Professor Mitra, originally from India, is no stranger to controversy. He is an educational radical whose unorthodox experiments in the slums of New Delhi – experiments that were part of the inspiration for the blockbuster film Slumdog Millionaire – have sent ripples around the world.
In what became known as the Hole in the Wall project, Mitra simply knocked through a wall in his Delhi office and installed a computer with an internet connection for the local slum children to discover. To his delight he found that they soon became fully fledged autodidacts, teaching themselves English, maths and other subjects.
"It became obvious that children were capable of working by themselves, without help from teachers," Mitra says. More to the point, the children wanted to learn, not just play computer games.
His one quibble about the movie, which drew on his findings, was that it was not called Slumdog Nobel Laureate. "After all, the whole point of the Hole in the Wall project was to encourage children to think beyond monetary gain and want to change the world, not simply become rich."
As his academic standing rocketed, Mitra conducted similar experiments in other parts of the world, from Africa to Latin America. He is now working with children at three schools in the north-east of England, including St Aidan’s C of E primary in Gateshead, where nine-year-old children are to be found researching school topics on computers, unaided by teachers. The result is what Mitra calls a Self-Organised Learning Environment, or SOLE.
How does SOLE work in practice? "The children are given a SATS or GCSE question, then divided into groups of four, each group with its own computer, and given half an hour, say, to find the answer via Google, Wikipedia or other websites. The groups compete with each other, which is good, but children also range freely around the room, seeing what other groups are doing, which is also good. There is a healthy mixture of competition and collaboration," Mitra says.
Sometimes a teacher is there but for Mitra the presence of a teacher can be a problem not a solution. "If children know there is someone standing over them who knows all the answers, they are less inclined to find the answers for themselves. It would be better, in a way, if any adults present were completely uneducated. There is nothing children like more than passing on information they have just discovered to people who may not already have it – an elderly grandmother, for instance."
Gateshead is a long way from New Delhi and these are not slum children, but it is significant that the English schools Mitra has chosen for his experiment are in areas of social deprivation, rather than middle-class enclaves. "The best schools tend to have the best teachers, not to mention parents who supervise homework, so there is less need for self-organised learning," he says. "But where a child comes from a less supportive home environment, where there are family tensions perhaps, their schoolwork can suffer. They need to be taught to think and study for themselves."
© The Telegraph Group
London 2010
www island.lk
Education; planning for the future....!!!
Education; planning for the future
by Douglas King
Few can deny the success of the eradication of the LTTE and the opportunities it has created for Sri Lanka to develop peaceful and economically viable policies. Similar bold decisions need to be taken about education and must surely rank uppermost in priority. Despite numerous initiatives and huge amounts of money, donations or long term loans, most aspects of education remain in the doldrums. No longer can the government rest in the satisfaction of a 95% basic literacy, and a virtually free education system available to every child everywhere in the country. Now is the time to look beyond the here and now towards a future educational system befitting a third millennium perspective.
It surely seems a misguided policy to aim for a laptop for every child. The sheer logistics and cost of such an initiative are prohibitive. Is such an idea deemed a panacea for all educational woes? Is it the magic bullet that will catapult Sri Lanka into the club of first-world countries? The recent donation of 100 laptops by HNB to the children of a rural primary school, makes for good public relations but of little educational improvements. Apart from the security and maintenance difficulties, computer classes for parents were not initiated. Anyone, especially those in rural areas, who uses the internet provided by SLT or Mobitel knows only too well the varying reliability and speed according to day and time. How will these laptops really benefit these children? Has there been any research or pilot studies into such a project? How much better it would have been to provide the school with a small purpose built computer classroom complete with a multi-media projector.
A visitor to many classrooms in schools (or universities) would see little difference from their own school days. For the most part teaching still relies on the chalk and talk monopolized by teachers. Blackboards (and a few whiteboards) still display basic computation sums and spelling lists. New text books come and go, with thousands of outdated books piled high in storerooms. Seminars that give teachers time away from the classroom rather than providing educational inputs, remain the standby of in-service education. A bureaucratic administration includes many thousands employed at the Ministry of Education, the N.I.E., Provincial and Divisional educational offices.
Yet go into numerous schools, not only in rural areas, and all too often several grades will be sharing a common hall, with only a small space separating each class. Teachers may put a brave face on such conditions but know they cannot teach effectively with such visual and noisy distractions from adjacent classes. Even where separate classroom exists, the divide between classes maybe a half wall, so each teacher must still compete to overcome the noise interference from her neighbours. Beyond the classrooms, toilet facilities for students and teachers are basic, and many smaller rural schools have no running water or electricity. Numerous so-called popular schools blatantly ignore rulings on maximum class size by allowing in excess of fifty students in some classes.
One area of success that the government can claim is the gradual privatization of education. In numerous ways it has encouraged private institutions from pre-school to higher education. The rapid bourgeoning of international schools, which in reality are private English medium schools, says much for failed language policies of successive governments. The best of these schools receive official endorsement with key government luminaries invited as special guests for speech days and sport meets. With fees as low as Rs;1500 a month, these schools ensure that their students acquire the advantage of English language, written and spoken, without the need to attend extra and sometimes useless tuition classes. Only a minority of students at government schools achieve a similar standard of English.
Tuition classes are now a parallel education system with an estimated 80% of students attending one or more classes every week. The government turns a Nelsonian eye on thousands of these unregulated classes, as to their operation. Anyone, anywhere at anytime can conduct a tuition class from a few students in the teacher’s home to several hundreds packed into makeshift halls crammed with wooden benches. If students achieve good grades in their ordinary and advanced level examinations, much of the credit is due to the tuition classes that virtually all students attend.
As many as 12,000 pre-schools, wrongly termed Montessoris, can be found in every town and village. The majority are privately run for profit and like the tuition classes abide by few regulations as to physical conditions or qualifications of teachers. Most are little more than playgroups with educational input confined to workbooks that children fill with repetitive copying of the alphabet and numerals. The thousands of teachers with relevant pre-school qualifications appear not to have understood basic good practice in early childhood education.
Student numbers in private higher educational colleges far exceed those attending government universities. A walk along the full length of the Peradiniya Road in Kandy indicates clearly how many of these colleges exist. There are few regulations, government supervision or quality control, and degrees covering every subject are awarded, usually endorsed by a foreign university. Competitions to enroll students is intense, and various inducements are offered by way of minimum entry requirements and extended loans. No need to study for A levels, as some colleges offer direct enrollment to degree courses after completing O level examinations. The fact that many of these graduates will be adding to the list of the unemployed, seems of little consequence.
Whether because of, or in spite of government policies, education has become an obsession with so many families. What is not questioned or properly understood, is that quantity is replacing quality. Many primary schools now begin intensive scholarship examination tuition from grade three, whether from parental pressure or from improving their status and image. Research indicates that such measures make little difference to results, since the tuition is confined to an endless completion of previous test papers rather than intellectual development.
Only massive investment will ensure a real improvement, and although hundreds of millions of dollars have been fed into the system, the gains are marginal. Like too many policies, solutions are arrived at before a proper understanding of the problems. State education is so politically entrenched, that it requires the authority of an executive President to initiate a change of direction and even then his subordinates are reluctant to follow through. The best education is available to a minority of students in both government and private schools. A recent Presidential donation of Rs:30 million to the Ananda School swimming pool in Kandy, may have boosted his popularity for election, but other schools in the vicinity could have benefited from this money to have improved their very basic facilities.
Computers and ICT must become part of a modern educational system. Virtually every school in the UK maintains a website, often designed and maintained by students. Very few schools in Sri Lanka have websites and even fewer schools incorporate computer technology into their administration. Traditional typewriters are still in wide use. Real computer literacy among government servants is still low and institutions such as the courts, police and hospitals have hardly been touched by IT. Exploring web sites of Ministries and few have web sites that show innovation or creativity, and too often links don’t function and information is out of date. The Ministry of Education has never exploited basic audio-visual materials such as audio cassettes or more recently CD and DVD disks. In language studies there are easy ways to make stimulating and meaningful lessons. Few schools can provide the science equipment or experiments that could be made available on purpose-made DVDs displayed on a large screen from a multi-media projector. Studying aspects of science, maths, history and music through high quality multi-media could greatly complement the chalk, talk and textbooks that do little to inspire many students. The best and gifted teachers can now be available in every classroom even in remote rural schools. All that is required is a laptop computer with a multi-media projector at a combined cost of around Rs 130,000. A further Rs: 50,000 would provide a small petrol generator.
At the heart of such innovation is the quantity and quality of the multi-media content. Several years ago the author offered to personally fund in full a project to produce suitable cassettes, CDs and DVDs, mainly for English language but also for science. He suggested that a team of four experienced teachers be seconded to the project for an initial 3 months. Despite numerous letters to departments, colleges and individuals, as usual, not a single response was forthcoming. Had the same proposal emanated from the World Bank along with a multi dollar donation, the interest would have been immediate since money would have been available in a "flexible" way. It seems that the adage "we do what we know and we know what we do" is all pervasive.
With current technology, making multi-media lessons and content has become simplified. A good working knowledge of PowerPoint, Adobe and Audacity programs are ample to produce CD or DVD lessons. Producing quality websites is easily learnt using WYSIWYG applications. Since recordable disks cost less than 20 rupees each they are well within the budget of schools and individuals. As for hardware, computers and quality cameras, are now relatively inexpensive and filming and editing skills easily acquired. The sooner government realizes that a computer is just a piece of technology and the real question is how it is utilized and for what purposes.
Already some influential people in government are saying that interactive whiteboards are the way forward. Educational research, which seems not to have been consulted, points out conclusively that at the heart of educational excellence is a teacher who thoroughly knows her subject; how to teach and test it effectively; has suitable teaching conditions, and is dedicated to her students. The computer, and its multi-media applications, can make teaching more stimulating and effective, but since such teachers are only found in the top 10% of the profession, even more reason to provide the remaining 90% a technological backup.
Meanwhile, the political gains from a "laptop for every student" and "2009 Year of IT and English" will continue to dominate the education scene, albeit that they will have little real educational impact. The President has an opportunity to appoint a new Minister of Education. Hopefully he will offer such an important Ministry to someone with political will and educational experience, and of equal importance a person who is innovative and pro-active.
Douglas King douglasking1939@yahoo.com
Footnote: Take a look at the internet site www.youtube.com/jarjumsinkandy to view many short pre-school teacher training videos made by the author using a small digital camera and laptop with a total value of Rs:60,000. He has also made many short programs to assist with teaching English.
The writer is an educational consultant specializing in Early Childhood Education, TEFL and ICT. His experience includes teaching at every level from pre-school to university, in several developing and developed countries.
www island.lk
by Douglas King
Few can deny the success of the eradication of the LTTE and the opportunities it has created for Sri Lanka to develop peaceful and economically viable policies. Similar bold decisions need to be taken about education and must surely rank uppermost in priority. Despite numerous initiatives and huge amounts of money, donations or long term loans, most aspects of education remain in the doldrums. No longer can the government rest in the satisfaction of a 95% basic literacy, and a virtually free education system available to every child everywhere in the country. Now is the time to look beyond the here and now towards a future educational system befitting a third millennium perspective.
It surely seems a misguided policy to aim for a laptop for every child. The sheer logistics and cost of such an initiative are prohibitive. Is such an idea deemed a panacea for all educational woes? Is it the magic bullet that will catapult Sri Lanka into the club of first-world countries? The recent donation of 100 laptops by HNB to the children of a rural primary school, makes for good public relations but of little educational improvements. Apart from the security and maintenance difficulties, computer classes for parents were not initiated. Anyone, especially those in rural areas, who uses the internet provided by SLT or Mobitel knows only too well the varying reliability and speed according to day and time. How will these laptops really benefit these children? Has there been any research or pilot studies into such a project? How much better it would have been to provide the school with a small purpose built computer classroom complete with a multi-media projector.
A visitor to many classrooms in schools (or universities) would see little difference from their own school days. For the most part teaching still relies on the chalk and talk monopolized by teachers. Blackboards (and a few whiteboards) still display basic computation sums and spelling lists. New text books come and go, with thousands of outdated books piled high in storerooms. Seminars that give teachers time away from the classroom rather than providing educational inputs, remain the standby of in-service education. A bureaucratic administration includes many thousands employed at the Ministry of Education, the N.I.E., Provincial and Divisional educational offices.
Yet go into numerous schools, not only in rural areas, and all too often several grades will be sharing a common hall, with only a small space separating each class. Teachers may put a brave face on such conditions but know they cannot teach effectively with such visual and noisy distractions from adjacent classes. Even where separate classroom exists, the divide between classes maybe a half wall, so each teacher must still compete to overcome the noise interference from her neighbours. Beyond the classrooms, toilet facilities for students and teachers are basic, and many smaller rural schools have no running water or electricity. Numerous so-called popular schools blatantly ignore rulings on maximum class size by allowing in excess of fifty students in some classes.
One area of success that the government can claim is the gradual privatization of education. In numerous ways it has encouraged private institutions from pre-school to higher education. The rapid bourgeoning of international schools, which in reality are private English medium schools, says much for failed language policies of successive governments. The best of these schools receive official endorsement with key government luminaries invited as special guests for speech days and sport meets. With fees as low as Rs;1500 a month, these schools ensure that their students acquire the advantage of English language, written and spoken, without the need to attend extra and sometimes useless tuition classes. Only a minority of students at government schools achieve a similar standard of English.
Tuition classes are now a parallel education system with an estimated 80% of students attending one or more classes every week. The government turns a Nelsonian eye on thousands of these unregulated classes, as to their operation. Anyone, anywhere at anytime can conduct a tuition class from a few students in the teacher’s home to several hundreds packed into makeshift halls crammed with wooden benches. If students achieve good grades in their ordinary and advanced level examinations, much of the credit is due to the tuition classes that virtually all students attend.
As many as 12,000 pre-schools, wrongly termed Montessoris, can be found in every town and village. The majority are privately run for profit and like the tuition classes abide by few regulations as to physical conditions or qualifications of teachers. Most are little more than playgroups with educational input confined to workbooks that children fill with repetitive copying of the alphabet and numerals. The thousands of teachers with relevant pre-school qualifications appear not to have understood basic good practice in early childhood education.
Student numbers in private higher educational colleges far exceed those attending government universities. A walk along the full length of the Peradiniya Road in Kandy indicates clearly how many of these colleges exist. There are few regulations, government supervision or quality control, and degrees covering every subject are awarded, usually endorsed by a foreign university. Competitions to enroll students is intense, and various inducements are offered by way of minimum entry requirements and extended loans. No need to study for A levels, as some colleges offer direct enrollment to degree courses after completing O level examinations. The fact that many of these graduates will be adding to the list of the unemployed, seems of little consequence.
Whether because of, or in spite of government policies, education has become an obsession with so many families. What is not questioned or properly understood, is that quantity is replacing quality. Many primary schools now begin intensive scholarship examination tuition from grade three, whether from parental pressure or from improving their status and image. Research indicates that such measures make little difference to results, since the tuition is confined to an endless completion of previous test papers rather than intellectual development.
Only massive investment will ensure a real improvement, and although hundreds of millions of dollars have been fed into the system, the gains are marginal. Like too many policies, solutions are arrived at before a proper understanding of the problems. State education is so politically entrenched, that it requires the authority of an executive President to initiate a change of direction and even then his subordinates are reluctant to follow through. The best education is available to a minority of students in both government and private schools. A recent Presidential donation of Rs:30 million to the Ananda School swimming pool in Kandy, may have boosted his popularity for election, but other schools in the vicinity could have benefited from this money to have improved their very basic facilities.
Computers and ICT must become part of a modern educational system. Virtually every school in the UK maintains a website, often designed and maintained by students. Very few schools in Sri Lanka have websites and even fewer schools incorporate computer technology into their administration. Traditional typewriters are still in wide use. Real computer literacy among government servants is still low and institutions such as the courts, police and hospitals have hardly been touched by IT. Exploring web sites of Ministries and few have web sites that show innovation or creativity, and too often links don’t function and information is out of date. The Ministry of Education has never exploited basic audio-visual materials such as audio cassettes or more recently CD and DVD disks. In language studies there are easy ways to make stimulating and meaningful lessons. Few schools can provide the science equipment or experiments that could be made available on purpose-made DVDs displayed on a large screen from a multi-media projector. Studying aspects of science, maths, history and music through high quality multi-media could greatly complement the chalk, talk and textbooks that do little to inspire many students. The best and gifted teachers can now be available in every classroom even in remote rural schools. All that is required is a laptop computer with a multi-media projector at a combined cost of around Rs 130,000. A further Rs: 50,000 would provide a small petrol generator.
At the heart of such innovation is the quantity and quality of the multi-media content. Several years ago the author offered to personally fund in full a project to produce suitable cassettes, CDs and DVDs, mainly for English language but also for science. He suggested that a team of four experienced teachers be seconded to the project for an initial 3 months. Despite numerous letters to departments, colleges and individuals, as usual, not a single response was forthcoming. Had the same proposal emanated from the World Bank along with a multi dollar donation, the interest would have been immediate since money would have been available in a "flexible" way. It seems that the adage "we do what we know and we know what we do" is all pervasive.
With current technology, making multi-media lessons and content has become simplified. A good working knowledge of PowerPoint, Adobe and Audacity programs are ample to produce CD or DVD lessons. Producing quality websites is easily learnt using WYSIWYG applications. Since recordable disks cost less than 20 rupees each they are well within the budget of schools and individuals. As for hardware, computers and quality cameras, are now relatively inexpensive and filming and editing skills easily acquired. The sooner government realizes that a computer is just a piece of technology and the real question is how it is utilized and for what purposes.
Already some influential people in government are saying that interactive whiteboards are the way forward. Educational research, which seems not to have been consulted, points out conclusively that at the heart of educational excellence is a teacher who thoroughly knows her subject; how to teach and test it effectively; has suitable teaching conditions, and is dedicated to her students. The computer, and its multi-media applications, can make teaching more stimulating and effective, but since such teachers are only found in the top 10% of the profession, even more reason to provide the remaining 90% a technological backup.
Meanwhile, the political gains from a "laptop for every student" and "2009 Year of IT and English" will continue to dominate the education scene, albeit that they will have little real educational impact. The President has an opportunity to appoint a new Minister of Education. Hopefully he will offer such an important Ministry to someone with political will and educational experience, and of equal importance a person who is innovative and pro-active.
Douglas King douglasking1939@yahoo.com
Footnote: Take a look at the internet site www.youtube.com/jarjumsinkandy to view many short pre-school teacher training videos made by the author using a small digital camera and laptop with a total value of Rs:60,000. He has also made many short programs to assist with teaching English.
The writer is an educational consultant specializing in Early Childhood Education, TEFL and ICT. His experience includes teaching at every level from pre-school to university, in several developing and developed countries.
www island.lk
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sri Lankan students can now get a university degree through online education..!!!
Online degree chance for Lankans.............by Dasun Edirisinghe
Sri Lankan students can now get a university degree through online education, Higher Education Minister Prof Wiswa Warnapala announced yesterday.
The Minister said that he was delighted at the revolutionary introduction which is also a realisation of one of the promises pledged under the ‘Semata Sarasavi’ (University Education for All) theme of the Mahinda Chinthana manifesto.
The innovative scheme is offered by NODES, the National Online Distance Education Service, commenced under the Distance Education Modernisation Project (DEMP) of the Higher Education Ministry.
He said the NODES programme was declared open for students on March 1.
NODES, introduced under the DEMP, started in 2004 and 26 centres had been set up islandwide, he said.
This innovation would create greater opportunities for tertiary education through Online Distance Learning (ODL).
Universities, professional associations, private and public sector education institutions are instructed to adopt this mode of learning to cater to a larger student population.
The Minister said the NODES had introduced 46 courses of studies and these courses allowed the students to choose a course of study leading to a degree, diploma or certificate, depending on their qualifications.
A loan agreement signed between the Asian Development Bank and the Sri Lankan government on August 18, 2003 launched the DEMP.
www island.lk
Sri Lankan students can now get a university degree through online education, Higher Education Minister Prof Wiswa Warnapala announced yesterday.
The Minister said that he was delighted at the revolutionary introduction which is also a realisation of one of the promises pledged under the ‘Semata Sarasavi’ (University Education for All) theme of the Mahinda Chinthana manifesto.
The innovative scheme is offered by NODES, the National Online Distance Education Service, commenced under the Distance Education Modernisation Project (DEMP) of the Higher Education Ministry.
He said the NODES programme was declared open for students on March 1.
NODES, introduced under the DEMP, started in 2004 and 26 centres had been set up islandwide, he said.
This innovation would create greater opportunities for tertiary education through Online Distance Learning (ODL).
Universities, professional associations, private and public sector education institutions are instructed to adopt this mode of learning to cater to a larger student population.
The Minister said the NODES had introduced 46 courses of studies and these courses allowed the students to choose a course of study leading to a degree, diploma or certificate, depending on their qualifications.
A loan agreement signed between the Asian Development Bank and the Sri Lankan government on August 18, 2003 launched the DEMP.
www island.lk
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode is a viable option in the educational arena...!!!
Monday, 22 March 2010
Open distance learning
Alternative provider of quality education:
H. M. Guneratne Banda
The Open School Department in NIE has completed six years of its journey and has proved that the Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode is a viable option in the educational arena. The NIE with the assistance of Prison Department in Welikada will organise a series of activities to create awareness on open schooling among all the stakeholders of the country.
[Advancement]
* Lanka achieves higher HDI than all S Asian countries
* Adult literacy rate 90.7 percent
* Infant mortality rate 17 per 1,000
* Life expectancy 7.1 percent
* Annual population growth rate 1.1 percent
* NIE created Department for Open Schooling in 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definition
A short definition of Open Schooling is
“the physical separation of the school level learner from the teacher and the use of unconventional teaching methodologies, and information and communication technologies to bridge the separation and provide the educational and training” (Phillips, 2006)
National Institute of Education, Maharagama. Pic. courtesy: Google
Open Schools design flexible programs to meet learner needs without requiring full time attendance at a traditional school. It recognises that students learn in different ways, at different speeds and at different times of their lives. Distance learning combined with periodic face-to-face contact sessions allow students to learn at their own pace.
Commonwealth of Learning (COL) defines usually there are no rules dictating student ages, prerequisites, content of courses. As a result, open schooling meets the needs of a broad range of learners.
Global vision for Education Provision
UNESCO, in its report and ‘Learning - The Treasure within’, of 1996, aimed to provide a frame of reference to cope with the challenges and demands of the new millennium. It proposed the following four pillars of education, as essentials for all whether young or older to function effectively in the new millennium.
These are:
(a) Learning to do or becoming competent
(b) Learning to learn or remaining a life-long learner.
(c) Learning to live with others or learning to relate
(d) Learning to be or live by a set of principles; be a person of character
Sri Lankan context
Sri Lanka has experienced a series of changes in its overall education policy since attaining independence from British colonial rule in 1948. The new education policy has been prepared with the consultation of relevant stakeholders and it is ready to be submitted to the Parliament in due course. We forwarded our suggestions and comments the importance of open schooling systems especially in a country like Sri Lanka.
Interaction was key as teachers participated at several group
projects at NIE, Maharagama. Pic. courtesy: Google
Sri Lanka has achieved Human Development Indicators (HDI) higher than all South Asian countries. The adult literacy rate is 90.7 percent, infant mortality rate 17 per 1,000; and life expectancy is 7.1 and annual population growth rate is 1.1 percent.
Sri Lanka provides free education and university entrance is confined to 1 percent and rest is compelled to pursue higher education through professional institutions. With all these provisions every year a considerable number of children dropped out from the school.
Thus the natural question arises: what is the chance that children will continue his/her schooling in present condition of education? Hence an attempt has been made to find out the survival chance for each school going age.
Realizing the importance of providing educational opportunities the NE created a separate Department for Open Schooling in 2004 and first open school was established at Negombo Open Prisons Camp with the assistance of Prison Department.
Methodology
The Open School Department in NIE is responsible to provide academic input such as learning materials, modules and A.V. material for the course participants. Internal as well as external resource persons are engaged to prepare learning material and submit to the Academic Affairs and the NIE Council for approval before distributing to the learners.
An Advisory Committee consisting of eminent educationists will take policy decisions in consultation with the Director General of the NIE. Already ten centres have been established throughout the country in taking into consideration of local demands. More than 1,000 learners enrolled during the year 2009. Each centre is supported by a senior tutor who provides learner support.
The Millennium Development Goals set by the UN in 2000 had the following items:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve material health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
International context
We live in a knowledge-dominated world today. We witness tremendous progress made in science and technology. Hence, the fundamental division among the peoples of the world today is due to the knowledge gap. We also witness today massive poverty and gross inequalities and injustices in many fields of life. Open Schooling could be regarded as a one of the options to provide learning opportunities.
Developing countries will not be able to achieve the goal of providing Education For All (EFA) without including ODL programs as part of their response the challenge.
Developing countries are taking steps to spread open school system to remote areas.
Open schools are not new. The figures refer to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in India. NIOS has enrolled more than 1.5 million students over the past four years. 16 states established Open Schools for the benefit of distant learners.
In this context, the future workforce will need high levels of knowledge and skills to deal with new technologies and integrated production systems. Services and facilitate learning on individual basis. Tutors will come to the NIE with problems encountered during teaching and learning processes and possible remedial measures will be discussed. This could be regarded as sharing of best practices among other tutors.
The following courses are conducting by Open School Department in NIE:
Foundation Course
Secondary Course
Life Enrichment Course
Language Skill Development Course
GTZ provides financial assistance to carry out planned activities during the last two years. It is intended to get the cooperation from local, regional and international organisations to strengthen the Open School system in Sri Lanka.
The writer is Assistant Director General, National Institute of Education, Maharagama.
gune@nie.lk
.............................dailynews.lk
Open distance learning
Alternative provider of quality education:
H. M. Guneratne Banda
The Open School Department in NIE has completed six years of its journey and has proved that the Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode is a viable option in the educational arena. The NIE with the assistance of Prison Department in Welikada will organise a series of activities to create awareness on open schooling among all the stakeholders of the country.
[Advancement]
* Lanka achieves higher HDI than all S Asian countries
* Adult literacy rate 90.7 percent
* Infant mortality rate 17 per 1,000
* Life expectancy 7.1 percent
* Annual population growth rate 1.1 percent
* NIE created Department for Open Schooling in 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definition
A short definition of Open Schooling is
“the physical separation of the school level learner from the teacher and the use of unconventional teaching methodologies, and information and communication technologies to bridge the separation and provide the educational and training” (Phillips, 2006)
National Institute of Education, Maharagama. Pic. courtesy: Google
Open Schools design flexible programs to meet learner needs without requiring full time attendance at a traditional school. It recognises that students learn in different ways, at different speeds and at different times of their lives. Distance learning combined with periodic face-to-face contact sessions allow students to learn at their own pace.
Commonwealth of Learning (COL) defines usually there are no rules dictating student ages, prerequisites, content of courses. As a result, open schooling meets the needs of a broad range of learners.
Global vision for Education Provision
UNESCO, in its report and ‘Learning - The Treasure within’, of 1996, aimed to provide a frame of reference to cope with the challenges and demands of the new millennium. It proposed the following four pillars of education, as essentials for all whether young or older to function effectively in the new millennium.
These are:
(a) Learning to do or becoming competent
(b) Learning to learn or remaining a life-long learner.
(c) Learning to live with others or learning to relate
(d) Learning to be or live by a set of principles; be a person of character
Sri Lankan context
Sri Lanka has experienced a series of changes in its overall education policy since attaining independence from British colonial rule in 1948. The new education policy has been prepared with the consultation of relevant stakeholders and it is ready to be submitted to the Parliament in due course. We forwarded our suggestions and comments the importance of open schooling systems especially in a country like Sri Lanka.
Interaction was key as teachers participated at several group
projects at NIE, Maharagama. Pic. courtesy: Google
Sri Lanka has achieved Human Development Indicators (HDI) higher than all South Asian countries. The adult literacy rate is 90.7 percent, infant mortality rate 17 per 1,000; and life expectancy is 7.1 and annual population growth rate is 1.1 percent.
Sri Lanka provides free education and university entrance is confined to 1 percent and rest is compelled to pursue higher education through professional institutions. With all these provisions every year a considerable number of children dropped out from the school.
Thus the natural question arises: what is the chance that children will continue his/her schooling in present condition of education? Hence an attempt has been made to find out the survival chance for each school going age.
Realizing the importance of providing educational opportunities the NE created a separate Department for Open Schooling in 2004 and first open school was established at Negombo Open Prisons Camp with the assistance of Prison Department.
Methodology
The Open School Department in NIE is responsible to provide academic input such as learning materials, modules and A.V. material for the course participants. Internal as well as external resource persons are engaged to prepare learning material and submit to the Academic Affairs and the NIE Council for approval before distributing to the learners.
An Advisory Committee consisting of eminent educationists will take policy decisions in consultation with the Director General of the NIE. Already ten centres have been established throughout the country in taking into consideration of local demands. More than 1,000 learners enrolled during the year 2009. Each centre is supported by a senior tutor who provides learner support.
The Millennium Development Goals set by the UN in 2000 had the following items:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve material health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
International context
We live in a knowledge-dominated world today. We witness tremendous progress made in science and technology. Hence, the fundamental division among the peoples of the world today is due to the knowledge gap. We also witness today massive poverty and gross inequalities and injustices in many fields of life. Open Schooling could be regarded as a one of the options to provide learning opportunities.
Developing countries will not be able to achieve the goal of providing Education For All (EFA) without including ODL programs as part of their response the challenge.
Developing countries are taking steps to spread open school system to remote areas.
Open schools are not new. The figures refer to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in India. NIOS has enrolled more than 1.5 million students over the past four years. 16 states established Open Schools for the benefit of distant learners.
In this context, the future workforce will need high levels of knowledge and skills to deal with new technologies and integrated production systems. Services and facilitate learning on individual basis. Tutors will come to the NIE with problems encountered during teaching and learning processes and possible remedial measures will be discussed. This could be regarded as sharing of best practices among other tutors.
The following courses are conducting by Open School Department in NIE:
Foundation Course
Secondary Course
Life Enrichment Course
Language Skill Development Course
GTZ provides financial assistance to carry out planned activities during the last two years. It is intended to get the cooperation from local, regional and international organisations to strengthen the Open School system in Sri Lanka.
The writer is Assistant Director General, National Institute of Education, Maharagama.
gune@nie.lk
.............................dailynews.lk
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The so-called sunshine vitamin, which can be obtained from food or manufactured by human skin exposed to the sun, is boosting the immune system..!!!
Vitamin D ‘triggers and arms’ the immune system........By Richard Alleyne,
Science Correspondent
Vitamin D is crucial to the fending off of infections, claims new research.
The so-called sunshine vitamin, which can be obtained from food or manufactured by human skin exposed to the sun, plays a key role in boosting the immune system, researchers believe.
In particular it triggers and arms the body’s T cells, the cells in the body that seek out and destroy any invading bacteria and viruses.
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defences and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system – T cells – will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body.
For T cells to detect and kill foreign pathogens such as clumps of bacteria or viruses, the cells must first be ‘triggered’ into action and "transform" from inactive and harmless immune cells into killer cells that are primed to seek out and destroy all traces of invaders.
The researchers found that the T cells rely on vitamin D in order activate and they would remain dormant, ‘naïve’ to the possibility of threat if vitamin D is lacking in the blood.
Professor Carsten Geisler from the Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, said: "When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signalling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D.
"This means that the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won’t even begin to mobilise. "
The discovery, the scientists believe, provides much needed information about the immune system and will help them regulate the immune response.
This is important not only in fighting disease but also in dealing with anti-immune reactions of the body and the rejection of transplanted organs.
Active T cells multiply at an explosive rate and can create an inflammatory environment with serious consequences for the body.
After organ transplants, T cells can attack the donor organ as a ‘foreign invader’. In autoimmune diseases, like arthritis or Crohns Disease, T cells mistake fragments of the body’s own cells for foreign invaders, leading to the body launching an attack upon itself.
For the research team, identifying the role of vitamin D in the activation of T cells has been a major breakthrough.
"Scientists have known for a long time that vitamin D is important for calcium absorption and the vitamin has also been implicated in diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, but what we didn’t realise is how crucial vitamin D is for actually activating the immune system – which we know now, " said the researchers.
The findings, continues Professor Geisler, "could help us to contain infectious diseases and global epidemics.
They will be of particular use when developing new vaccines, which work precisely on the basis of both training our immune systems to react and suppressing the body’s natural defences in situations where this is important – as is the case with organ transplants and autoimmune disease."
Most Vitamin D is produced as a natural by-product of the skin’s exposure to sunlight. It can also be found in fish liver oil, eggs and fatty fish such as salmon, herring and mackerel or taken as a dietary supplement.
The findings are published in the latest edition of Nature Immunology
(C) The Telegraph Group
London 2010
www island.lk
Science Correspondent
Vitamin D is crucial to the fending off of infections, claims new research.
The so-called sunshine vitamin, which can be obtained from food or manufactured by human skin exposed to the sun, plays a key role in boosting the immune system, researchers believe.
In particular it triggers and arms the body’s T cells, the cells in the body that seek out and destroy any invading bacteria and viruses.
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defences and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system – T cells – will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body.
For T cells to detect and kill foreign pathogens such as clumps of bacteria or viruses, the cells must first be ‘triggered’ into action and "transform" from inactive and harmless immune cells into killer cells that are primed to seek out and destroy all traces of invaders.
The researchers found that the T cells rely on vitamin D in order activate and they would remain dormant, ‘naïve’ to the possibility of threat if vitamin D is lacking in the blood.
Professor Carsten Geisler from the Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, said: "When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signalling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D.
"This means that the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won’t even begin to mobilise. "
The discovery, the scientists believe, provides much needed information about the immune system and will help them regulate the immune response.
This is important not only in fighting disease but also in dealing with anti-immune reactions of the body and the rejection of transplanted organs.
Active T cells multiply at an explosive rate and can create an inflammatory environment with serious consequences for the body.
After organ transplants, T cells can attack the donor organ as a ‘foreign invader’. In autoimmune diseases, like arthritis or Crohns Disease, T cells mistake fragments of the body’s own cells for foreign invaders, leading to the body launching an attack upon itself.
For the research team, identifying the role of vitamin D in the activation of T cells has been a major breakthrough.
"Scientists have known for a long time that vitamin D is important for calcium absorption and the vitamin has also been implicated in diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, but what we didn’t realise is how crucial vitamin D is for actually activating the immune system – which we know now, " said the researchers.
The findings, continues Professor Geisler, "could help us to contain infectious diseases and global epidemics.
They will be of particular use when developing new vaccines, which work precisely on the basis of both training our immune systems to react and suppressing the body’s natural defences in situations where this is important – as is the case with organ transplants and autoimmune disease."
Most Vitamin D is produced as a natural by-product of the skin’s exposure to sunlight. It can also be found in fish liver oil, eggs and fatty fish such as salmon, herring and mackerel or taken as a dietary supplement.
The findings are published in the latest edition of Nature Immunology
(C) The Telegraph Group
London 2010
www island.lk
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