Posts

Cambodia to Teach Anti-corruption in Schools

in /by

Children of Roteang Village SchoolThe Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, declared that the state will incorporate anti-corruption curricula into the national school system. This decision came in time for International Anti-Corruption Day. It is also a response to Cambodia’s reputation as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. According to Transparency International’s annual corruption index, Cambodia ranked 160 out of 177 countries evaluated, making it the most corrupt country in Southeast Asia as perceived by investors and the private sector.

Cambodia‘s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport is working together with the country’s Anti-Corruption Unit to develop lessons that will teach students about corruption. Once completed, a committee will convene to review these lesson plans before they are incorporated into the national school system’s curricula in 2014.

This educational initiative is part of the Cambodian government’s ongoing battle to stop corruption in the country. Most recently, 25 government officials were sent to a 20-day course this month at the China Academy of Discipline Inspection and Supervision to learn strategies for avoiding and preventing corruption. There have been several attempts to improve anti-corruption strategies over the past few years, most notably the 2010 creation of the Anti-Corruption Unit. Although this development offered hope for improvement, according to Global Witness the Anti-Corruption Unit cannot stop corruption among high government officials because it is not run independent of the government.

Hun Sen has revisited the issue of corruption as he begins his new term as Prime Minister (from 2013-2018). He considers corruption to be a a factor in a variety of social, economic and political issues that continue to affect Cambodia’s development. For this reason, he announced “I would like to reiterate the firm commitment of the fifth term government in stamping out corruption, which is a major obstacle to economic development and poverty reduction.”

The question is whether new attempts to address corruption will be any more effective than those that have been tried in recent history.

The executive director of Transparency International Cambodie, Preab Kol stated “the government needs to enforce the anti-corruption law without exception. It needs to enhance its auditive and investigating systems to increase accountability. Third, raise awareness in the public to put pressure on and report crimes of corruption. If there is just political rhetoric and threats without any concrete measures, there is no hope for any improvement.”

Creative Commons Love: Beth Kanter at Cambodia4kids.org on Flickr.com

Despite Educational Reforms Turkey Remains Behind Other OECD Countries

in /by

Think!Over the past decade, the Turkish government has more than tripled its spending on education in an effort to implement a wide array of reforms to improve student performance. Despite these efforts, Turkey continues to lag behind other member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

In the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, Turkey’s educational system ranked 42nd when compared with the 65 countries evaluated. In each of the three subjects measured, mathematics, reading and science, Turkish students demonstrated low performance. In all categories they scored below the mean score for OECD countries.

Although still behind other OECD countries, Turkish students have demonstrated improvement since the last survey was performed in 2009. Specifically, their average scores improved 6.4 points in the sciences, 4.1 points in reading, and 3.2 points in mathematics when compared with previous years. These scores reflect progress that has been made with students with the weakest educational records and with low socioeconomic backgrounds.

In an effort to continue with this progress, the Turkish government anticipates increasing its educational expenditure by 15% to $38.5 billion in 2014. Despite these efforts, it remains uncertain whether these funds will be enough to fix ongoing problems with the educational system.

Turkey’s educational system currently struggles largely due to inconsistent policies and an overwhelming number reforms. Not only have there been five different Ministers of Education in the past eleven years, but there have also been yearly changes made to the educational system. With change happening so quickly, students, teachers and parents are unable to keep up.

Işil Oral, at Sabanci University’s Educational Reform Initiative commented on these educational reforms, stating “if you have a sustainable education policy, there is no need to make all these changes all the time. These changes are affecting kids. It looks like a trial-and-error policy. You can’t try something for a year and then change it, saying it’s not working…It is not a good influence on students, teachers, parents and school principals. Everybody is confused.”

Creative Commons Love: Ccarlstead on Flickr.com

Pakistan Observes International Literacy Day

in /by

DIL - 2012 Education Award Recipient: Asia - PacificThis year, Pakistan observed International Literacy Day on Sunday, September 8th, with vows to increase government spending on education, ramp up efforts to enroll the country’s 25 million out-of-school children, and increase its literacy rate. The United States has also contributed to the celebrations with the announce of its new Pakistan Reading Project.

With an adult literacy rate of 62.8% and the world’s second highest number of children out of school, Pakistan is currently facing a severe educational crisis. Around half of all enrolled children drop out before completing primary schoo;. Additionally, based on current numbers, Pakistan will not be able to reach the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goal for Education, which strives to achieve universal primary education by 2015.

At an assembly to mark International Literacy Day, Baligh ur Rehman, Pakistan’s Education Minister, announced new government education reforms aimed at enhancing the quality of education, increasing enrollments, and lowering the school dropout rate. The government will also supplement the reforms with a special three-day nationwide campaign to enroll half a million children in school.

The Pakistan Reading Project, the United States’ contribution to the International Literacy Day celebrations, will focus on boosting the reading skills of 3.2 million primary school children. The project will fund reading instruction and reading assessment in 38,000 public schools over the next five years.

International Literacy Day, established by UNESCO in 1966, is celebrated each year on September 8th.

Creative Commons Love: StarsFoundation on Flickr.com

High School Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina Demand Their Rights

in /by

Student protest Auckland 16Oct1997More than 200 BiH high school students gathered at the major city square in the capital of Sarajevo demanding their rights. With duct tape placed over their mouths, they symbolically expressed their powerlessness when it comes to speaking their minds and being heard by the proper authorities. Students were seeking answers to the questions such as “who can we turn to when our rights are violated?”, “how can we take part in creation of class curricula?” and “why aren’t there any teacher evaluations?”

Students also placed 13 chairs in the city square representing the 13 ministries of education that operate in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only the minister of education from the Sarajevo Canton, Mr. Damir Marjanovic, was present to talk to students and answer their questions. Minister Marjanovic expressed his hope that this generation of students will be the one that will change the country for the better, and emphasized that only if and when they speak loudly and clearly enough will politicians listen. He urged them to talk to their school administrator, principal and even their education ministers if they feel their rights have been violated.

This protest is part of a wider movement called “We want to know” that included gatherings of students in all the major cities in the country with the aim of raising awareness of the current situation of education system in BiH and the issues students have to deal with on every day basis.

Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina is highly decentralized. There are 13 ministries of education – 2 entity, 10 cantonal and one for Brcko District – each following different programs and curricula. Certain schools still practice de facto segregation of children based on their ethnic belonging, even though this was ruled unconstitutional in 2012.

Creative Commons Love: SocialistWorkerNZ on Flickr.com

Pakistan Plans Reforms for Education Sector

in /by

Education Programs - Hashoo FoundationSindh, a province of Pakistan, has created an Education Sector Plan to reform education in the area. The Global Partnership for Education has proposed dedicating USD $100 million to help Pakistan fund education reforms. The plan will allow for USD $66 million to be invested in Sindh. The remaining funds will be sent to the Baluchistan Province.

With these funds, the provinces will work with the Global Partnership for Education to pinpoint what needs to be reformed. The plan will be implemented over three years. Improvement discussions have already begun between the Global Partnership for Education, UNICEF, and the President of Pakistan to ensure that the best decisions will be made for the students.

Creative Commons Love: Hashoo Foundation USA – Houston, TX on Flickr.com