Primary schools could begin reopening from 1 June

By Sean Coughlan

Primary schools in England could reopen to some year groups from 1 June “at the earliest”, says Boris Johnson.

The prime minister said a phased return to school would begin with pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6, if infection rates and the government’s other tests at the time allow it.

For most pupils, schools have been closed since 20 March.

But the National Education Union said the reopening plan was “nothing short of reckless”.

“At the earliest by June 1, after half term, we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools, in stages,” said Mr Johnson, in an address to the nation.

Image captionOnly secondary pupils with exams next year are likely to go back to school before the autumn

Secondary schools are likely to stay closed until September.

But the prime minister said there was an “ambition” that secondary pupils facing exams next year – such as Years 10 and 12 – would get some time in school before the summer holidays.

• Teachers warn of virus ‘spike’ if schools open too soon
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• Welsh schools will not reopen on 1 June
• Heads say 1 June earliest realistic date for reopening
• Schools will reopen in phases, says Gavin Williamson

These were the “first careful steps” and the timetable for reopening would be delayed if necessary, he said.

“If we can’t do it by those dates, and if the alert level won’t allow it, we will simply wait and go on until we have got it right,” said Mr Johnson.

“If there are problems we will not hesitate to put on the brakes,” said the prime minister.

Mr Johnson set out how schools in England would begin to reopen, beyond the children of key workers and vulnerable children who are currently attending.

The oldest and some of the youngest in primary school would go back first – Year 6 who would soon be moving to secondary school and the Reception class and Year 1.

Head teachers have warned that social distancing would mean schools would not have the capacity to teach all year groups at the same time.

Geoff Barton, leader of the ASCL head teachers’ union, said it was important the reopening date was not “set in stone”, because it was not yet clear how the proposed numbers of pupils could be “safely managed”.

Image captionIn Denmark primary schools have reopened, with a big emphasis on hand washing and keeping groups of children apart

Paul Whiteman, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the government’s announcement had not passed the “confidence test” with parents and teachers.

“It will all be in vain if many parents still decide to keep their children at home,” he warned.

Mary Bousted, co-leader of the National Education Union, rejected the prime minister’s plan, saying infection rates were too high for it to be safe.

A snap poll of the teachers’ union members, carried out after the prime minister’s announcement, found 92% “would not feel safe with the proposed wider opening of schools”.

Parents on the BBC’s Family and Education Facebook page questioned how practical it would be to apply social distancing with young children.

“Reception and Year 1 will totally understand social distancing, right?” posted Rachel Marshall.

Leona Shergold said: “There is no way of keeping 4-5 year olds two metres apart from their friends.”

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionSchools closed for most pupils on 20 March, with lessons moving online

Bringing back Year 6 pupils “makes sense”, posted Rachel Burrows. “They could do social distancing.” But she did not think that would work with Reception and Year 1.

In countries which have already begun to reopen schools, such as Denmark, teachers have reported that social distancing can be hard to enforce – and instead have focused on keeping children in small, separate groups and using lots of hand washing.

In Wales, the First Minister Mark Drakeford has already ruled out following the same timetable as England.

“We’re not going to be reopening schools in Wales in the next three weeks, or indeed in June,” he said.

In Scotland, the government has warned that fully reopening primary schools ran the risk of “overwhelming” the NHS.

In Northern Ireland, Education Minister Peter Weir has spoken of a possible phased return of schools in September.

Educating the girl child is equally beneficial – Parents told

Ms Belinda Vuur, President of the Lassia-Tuolu Junior High School (JHS) Girls Club has pointed out to parents that investing in the education of the female child was equally beneficial to them as educating the male child.

She lamented how most parents support the education of the male child but neglect the female child due to some outmoded cultural beliefs that the female child belonged to another family.

Ms Belinda who spoke during the Community Child Protection Teams (CCPTs) learning event at Wechiau in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region, urged parents to give equal attention to the education of the female child too, stressing on the saying that “If you educate a girl, you educate a whole nation”.

On teenage pregnancies, she noted that a girl of adolescent age needed a lot of things to take care of herself and appealed to parents to endeavour to provide the needs of their female adolescent children to prevent unscrupulous men from taking advantage of their situation.

The President also advised her colleagues to eschew materialism and be patient with their parents as they worked to provide their needs.

“Materialism will only bring problems that will destroy your future forever”, she emphasized.

Ms Belinda noted that child marriage would only destroy the future of these girls as they were not physically mature and economically empowered to be able to support their families, hence, risked being turned as slaves in their marital homes.

She appealed to parents to endeavour to educate or ensure that their girls acquired some self employable skills before marriage.

“Early child marriage may only bring you the parent short term comfort, which can never be compared to the benefits one will get from an educated and employed girl who has been given out for marriage”, she said.

She appreciated the fact that not every girl could make it academically, and recommended Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to them to take advantage and learn a trade to help themselves before going into marriage.

Ms Belinda also cautioned parents to be vigilant on the movement of their girls as schools observed the close down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding it would not only prevent them from contracting the disease but also avoid unwanted pregnancies.

Mr Moses Dramani Luri, the Executive Director of the Social Initiative for Literacy and Development Programme (SILDEP) noted that child marriage was very high in the region particularly the Wa West District, hence, the formation of the Girls Advocacy Clubs and the Community Child Protection Teams (CCPTs) to help advocate to bring the situation under control.

The Girls Advocacy Clubs and CCPTs across the Sissala East Municipality, Sissala West and Wa West Districts were formed and empowered by the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) project being implemented by SILDEP in collaboration with Plan International Ghana with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The project has four thematic areas- child marriage, commercial sexual exploitation, child abuse and gender-based violence, and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and employment.

GNA

HOW TEACHERS PREPARE TO TEACH NEW LESSONS DURING COVID 19 LOCKDOWN.

If you are a teacher looking to move between schools during the coronavirus lockdown, how can you make the most of the online education experience with your new class? This is interesting new territory for many teachers. But there are thousands and thousands of teachers and pupils already learning remotely, in virtual schools – can they offer insights?

At a virtual school, lessons are delivered in line with each person’s personalised curriculum. Exactly as you would expect in a physical school space, pupils are taught how to interact with teachers, their peers and lesson content using whiteboard technology, quizzes, voice and video as well as receiving and sending assignment tasks. How should you introduce yourself to a new class, if you are meeting them online for the first time? If we consider how teachers deliver excellent classroom teaching practice in a physical space, how they prepare should not be approached any differently in an online environment.

Flipped learning

“Flipped learning” is a term used to describe how teachers can provide material for pupils to learn outside of the classroom. Although this is traditionally considered homework or coursework and typically completed without the teacher, increasingly this approach to enhance learning outside of the classroom has been set and completed online. During lockdown, teachers will be focusing on core curriculum content, meeting the needs of vulnerable pupils as well as enhancing student engagement, mixing between activities, types of assignments and differentiation techniques to support a range of pupils. One factor that must be considered for teachers who are working remotely, is how they can mix online teaching and learning with traditional methods that would be used in the physical classroom. A good tip for teachers working online, especially from home, is to have a simple whiteboard behind the camera and teach just as you would in a physical classroom space. Doing this over a sustained period of time will definitely present a new challenge, but it’s possible with well-thought-out curriculum plans, and a simple range of equipment.

Blended learning

Blended learning, first developed in the 1960s, was a method of instruction using technology-mediated methods. With flipped learning being the norm during lockdown, what can teachers learn from other educators who are already working in blended learning environments – teachers working in virtual schools, or online tutors?

If we look towards Barak Rosenshine’s 17 recommendations for effective teaching, these can quite easily be reapplied to online teaching, delivered through (at least) video conferencing. At the start of every lesson, review the last lesson with a simple retrieval exercise. This supports long-term retention, can easily be deployed with a simple quiz or competition and is a guaranteed way to get a lesson off to a flying start.

When presenting new material, successful teachers teach by giving a series of short presentations using many examples. Teachers should also provide guided practice by modelling various techniques. Where teachers present too much material at once, this will confuse pupils. Working online without sufficient verbal and non-verbal cues, means it will be critical for teachers to regularly check student responses.

One way that teachers can do this is to ask a large number of questions. Feedback can be provided by giving prompts, modelling and guiding pupils as they develop independent practice and asking simple questions such as “who, where, why and how” to help shape pupils’ thinking. When teachers check frequently to see if all students are learning, this processes information into long-term memory, developing schematic concepts to support retention. Teaching remotely, whether using Microsoft Teams, Google Suite or other platforms, gives teachers a significant array of strategies to deploy at this interesting time.

Finally, research recommends that teachers should try “scaffold learning”, helping pupils to problem-solve by thinking out loud and providing cognitive support. This can be achieved by completing the work alongside pupils; doing this online may require teachers to use “breakout spaces” by waiting to provide individual feedback in live video conferencing lessons.

Teachers delivering lessons from home should have a simple whiteboard behind them and teach just as they would in a physical classroom. Photograph: Jovanmandic/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Flexibility and personalisation

Every student should be treated as an individual online as all teachers would in a physical space, and with teachers working remotely, they will need to learn how to use technology as well as adapt content to meet individual needs. If you are meeting your pupils for the first time, I would recommend sending them a survey, asking them to complete simple questions so that you can elicit initial information about their interests, abilities and hopes. You can then start to plan which interventions you will use in your lesson planning and delivery.

To help support increased teacher workload, my key recommendation would be that if teachers are able to connect with the pupils online, it is important to allow students to engage in a weekly and monthly review of their learning to support long-term memory. Often this manifests itself when a pupil says: “We’ve done this before!” But effective teachers will remind pupils that this is a retrieval practice exercise to assist with long-term retention.

Safeguarding and security

If you are joining a virtual school, then I would assume the various safeguarding procedures are already in place. However, if you now find yourself teaching pupils online for the first time, having never met them physically, you should double-check to ensure that your new school has considered data protection, child protection, internet security and the various online safeguarding procedures for teachers and pupils.

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When teaching from your own home environment, it is worth reflecting on your own safeguarding procedures. For example, if you have not yet physically reached your new school, have you received any induction, or has the designated safeguarding officer spoken with you about induction procedures? Of the students in your register, which have specific learning needs that require initial conversations with your special needs coordinator or associated form tutors? All these balances and checks would be done physically on entry to a new school; just because you are doing this remotely, doesn’t mean that they should not happen.

Creating a supportive, online environment

What should teachers consider when meeting their pupils online? Many schools will assign home-learning tasks through software or an online curriculum portal, which parents can access. Other schools will have their teachers and pupils log on to a secure platform, to complete assignments, submit work and interact with the teacher through voice or text. Some schools will be offering live video lessons with pupils, teaching from the home environment or from their school classrooms.

If we look towards countries such as South Korea and Singapore, where teachers have an almost celebrity-like online presence, it’s common to find them sharing videos, teaching lessons through YouTube or having millions of viewers on Instagram.

 

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Withdraw Pre-Tertiary Education Bill from parliament – Minority Leader

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader in Parliament has called on President Akufo-Addo to withdraw the Pre-Tertiary Education Bill from parliament to allow for a more thorough and broader national consultation on it.

He said there were legitimate and major concerns raised by stakeholders concerning the bill, hence, the need to withdraw it from Parliament and subject it to consultations and discussions by educationists, chiefs, opinion leaders, amongst other interest groups to address the concerns.

Mr Iddrisu, who is also Member of Parliament (MP) for the Tamale South Constituency in the Northern Region, made the call in Tamale on Tuesday when he presented 1000 dual desks to five basic schools in the Tamale Metropolis.

The desks, valued at GH¢300,000.00 which forms part of the MP’s portion of the Social Investment Fund, would go to support the delivery of quality basic education in the area towards improved literacy and numeracy skills.

The beneficiary schools included Badariya E/A Primary at Nyohini, Nuriya Central Islamic Primary at Bulpela, Lahagu Islamic Primary, Dohini Islamic Primary, and Tugu Yapala Islamic Primary.

Parliament is currently considering three Bills on Pre-Tertiary Education (2019).

Under section 32(3) of the Bill, the Head of the Local Government Service will be appointing heads and staff of the District Education Unit as well as be responsible for promotion, transfer, discipline, and dismissal of the staff of the District Education Unit.

Under section 32(4) of the Bill, inter-district transfer of a headteacher or staff of a basic school can only be undertaken by the Head of the Local Government Service whilst section 25(2) and 26(2) of the Bill stipulated that the President of the Republic shall be appointing Regional Directors and their Deputies and determining their terms and conditions of service.

Also, according to section 30(1c) of the Bill, the preparation, administration, and control of budgetary allocations of the basic schools shall be determined by the District Assembly.

However, teacher unions in the country have kicked against some of the provisions in the Bill and have demanded further discussions on it.

Mr Iddrisu said “I am not primarily against decentralisation or decentralised roles in basic education, but there are legitimate and major concerns raised by the stakeholders” adding “Are our Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies ready to do the responsibilities and obligations we are creating for them?
Mr Iddrisu spoke about the Pre-Tertiary Bill saying, one of the Bills sought to make secondary education a part of basic education, which was unconstitutional.

He reminded the “President that he swore an oath and he swore to uphold the Constitution of Ghana. One of the Pre-Tertiary Education Bills seeks to make secondary education a part of basic education. That is unconstitutional because the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education is a constitutional provision and in that provision, it did not anticipate the addition of secondary education to basic education.”

He emphasised that “The President can go forward with his free secondary education but to make secondary education a necessary part of basic education is wrong in theory, practice and constitutionally.”

He cited Articles 25 through to 38 of the Constitution, saying “The President is doing a constitutional wrong to say that secondary education should be part of basic education. He should also not forget that Ghana is part of the West African sub-region. Has he asked our neighbours whether they are doing the same?

He said because there must be congruity, what the President is doing is incongruous with acceptable practice and norms in West Africa as far as basic education is concerned. Even by UNESCO definition, basic education is normally from Creche up to JHS.”

Mr Tug-uu Ametus, Tamale Metropolitan Director of Education, who received the desks and handed them over to the headteachers of the beneficiary schools, said the education sector required the support of all, and lauded the MP’s intervention.

Mr Ametus said there were inadequate furniture at the schools in the area and commended the MP for the gesture, which he said would help to ameliorate the situation and ensure enabling environment for quality teaching and learning at the schools.

GNA

NCCE needs resources to undertake COVID-19 education – CSO

Scores of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have called on the government to resource the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to enable them to educate the public on the Novel Coronavirus also known as COVID-19.

The government has rolled out some measures to contain the pandemic since its outbreak in March, which includes enactment of the Imposition of Restrictions Act (Act 1012), and the imposition of a partial lockdown.

Others are the closure of the country’s borders, ban on public gatherings, and other public safety protocols but there are still challenges, the CSOs stated in a statement from the Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition and other 59 CSO copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday.

“The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has also been associated with the major problem of the proliferation of fake news and misinformation. Indeed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in an address to the nation, flagged fake news as a major challenge in the on-going effort to contain and deal with the pandemic,” statement.

It said the only way for the public to understand the appropriate preventive protocols and adhere accordingly to contain the disease is through massive public education which would be better carried out by the NCCE.

The CSOs which included some policy think tanks observed with concern that the NCCE due to resource constraints, could only disburse a paltry GHc100.00 to each of its district offices for public education on COVID-19

After undertaking checks to ascertain the financial and logistical state of the NCCE, it was revealed that the NCCE has been neglected by successive governments since 2009.

The CSOs stressed that the neglect and resource-deprivation of the Commission had rendered it incapable of undertaking its important constitutional obligation of public education.

The CSOs also expressed concern that despite NCCE’s critical role in public education, the Commission had not been involved in the national COVID-19 planning and response process.

“The NCCE lacked basic tools and equipment such as public address systems, for effective advocacy and public education,” the statement stated.

According to the CSOs, the NCCE relied on rickety cars and the newest being eight years old and the Chairman of the Commission did not have an official car since her appointment in 2015 whilst it worked with less staff.

“The socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on our nation could be devastating. Appropriate citizen behavour is the most potent arsenal in this fight against COVID-19,” the statement stated.

The CSOs said measures announced by the government so far required effective, persistent education to elicit compliance from citizens.

The CSOs stressed that there was no public institution better placed to do such public education than the NCCE which is mandated by the 1992 Constitution to inculcate in the citizenry, the awareness of their rights and obligations, through civic education.

We applaud the efforts and measures implemented by the government so far to tackle the pandemic, we are asking the government to, as a matter of urgency, retool the NCCE with the necessary funds and logistics to enable it to play the critical role of national public education on COVID-19.

It appealed to the government to prioritize the role of the Commission by providing it with the required resources to enable it to discharge its obligations beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CSOs also commended the Church of Pentecost for the four-week support in the form of provision of mobile van for public education.

GNA

MTN Ghana Foundation opens entries for Bright Scholarship Programme

The MTN Ghana Foundation has opened entries of its “Bright Scholarship programme”, for interested learners who may need support to climb on the academic ladder.

The entries, commenced from 1st May 2020, is supposed to end on 31st May 2020.

A statement from MTN and copied the GNA said the MTN Bright Scholarship sought to ease the financial burden on students by catering for the cost of tuition, accommodation as well as providing stipend for books for would be beneficiaries.

The MTN Ghana Foundation, would this year, award 100 scholarships to students in public tertiary institutions across the country for 2020/2021 academic year.

The scholarship is opened to first year and continuing students pursuing first degree programmes in any public tertiary institution in Ghana.

Prospective applicants in the first year should have credit passes in six subjects with overall aggregate of 24 at the WASSCE/SSSCE including English Language, Mathematics and either Integrated Science or Social Studies and three relevant electives.

Meanwhile, continuing students should have a minimum GPA of 3.0 and should provide a stamped transcript from their university and prove to be without any academic disciplinary issue.

Again, continuing students must have an interest in extracurricular activities.

The statement encouraged interested applicants to visit scholarship.mtn.com.gh for this year’s application process, which would only be online.

The Corporate Services Executive of MTN, Mr. Samuel Koranteng said “Funding of tertiary education has become very challenging for needy and brilliant students. The support provided by the MTN Ghana Foundation has helped many beneficiaries to achieve their dreams of completing their tertiary education.”

The commencement of MTN Bright Scholarship in 2018 was in fulfillment of a commitment MTN made to Ghanaians during the commemoration of its 20th Anniversary in 2016.

The MTN Ghana Foundation has over a 12 year period, awarded over 1000 scholarships to students from basic school to the tertiary level.

Also, the launch of the MTN Ghana Teacher Improvement Award Programme in 2015 had seen about 60 teachers awarded scholarships to pursue Bachelor’s or Masters’ degree at the University of Cape Coast and University of Education, Winneba.

gna

Special Educators trained on Cerebral Palsy

Selected Special Education Teachers from various Special Needs Schools in Ghana are undergoing a two week training to sharpen their skills in handling children with cerebral palsy in the classroom.A statement signed by Ms Mandy Budge, Head of School, Multikids Inclusive Academy, organizers of the programme and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the project aims at creating a group of teachers and university lecturers who will be able to incorporate children with cerebral palsy in the education environment.The statement said two paediatric physiotherapists from the United Kingdom, Diane Lyle and Sophie Appleby will also provide practical hands on training to the teachers to enhance their knowledge on basic therapies they can do with the children in the classrooms.The statement said in addition to introducing a Cerebral Palsy module to the University of Education, two lecturers from the University will be trained to ensure sustainability of the programme.The statement said the project funded by UK Aid Direct with support from Cerebral Palsy Africa, Multikids Africa and SWEB Foundation will also equip the teachers to demonstrate strategies to sensitize communities to the needs of children with cerebral palsy and benefits that education can bring them, it said

It said the two year funded programme will help answer teachers’ questions and concerns and encourage them in the work they are doing.

It said as part of the project, the 19 participants will also receive training in the making of an Appropriate Paper-based technology (APT) equipment used to facilitate the therapy.

The project on the theme: Enabling Education for children with cerebral palsy in Ghana, hopes to enhance the human resource capacity of professionals working with persons with cerebral palsy.

The teachers will be able to describe cerebral palsy and explain how it affects the child’s participation in school as well as demonstrate appropriate positioning strategies for classroom activities, safe moving and handling in the general school environment.

Accra, July, 15, GNA –

POLICE ARRESTED FOR STEALING BECE QUESTIONS

A community police personnel stationed at Bogoso in the Prestea Huni/Valley Municipality has brought trouble on himself for using his mobile phone to snap portions of examination questions in this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for private candidates.

The convict, Collins Fiifi Andoh, 25, has therefore received a fined of GHC1, 200 at the hands of the Tarkwa Circuit court and Andoh would serve 24 months in prison if he fails to pay the fine.

He was convicted on his own plea of guilty of illegal possession of an examination paper.

Narrating the fact of the case, Detective Inspector Clement Amoah told the court that the complainant Ernest Boateng Amankwah is an administrator at the West African Examination Council in Accra.

He said during the 2018 BECE for private candidates, the complainant was sent to Bogoso as the depot keeper.

The prosecutor said on February 13 while the integrated science paper two was on-going, the complainant saw Andoh who was detailed on duty at the Bogoso Saint Augustine Senior High School taking pictures of portions of the questions with his mobile phone.

The complainant who became alarmed, informed the police and he was subsequently arrested for questioning.

Detective Inspector Amoah said at the police station Andoh admitted the offence in his investigation caution statement.

Boy commits suicide for love.

The Techiman Senior High School has been hit with what has been described as an unfortunate love to death affair after a 21-year -old Male final year student allegedly killed himself after his supposedly beloved girlfriend called for an end to their young and vibrant relationship.

According to reports, the deceased WASSCE candidate has been reported to have committed suicide after taking a substance suspected to be organophosphate poison on Monday night.

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His first year girlfriend with name Cristabel has been alleged to had asked for an end to their relationship under parental orders.

Reports have it that One of his friends who spoke on anonymity said the deceased earlier indicated a possible suicide Should his girlfriend requested or successfully ended the relationship ,of which his latest suicidal act wasn’t a shock to him.

His final update on his Facebook page which was posted at about 8:31pm Monday reads “meet me in heaven…… #gud baiiiiiiii”.

The status is believed to be updated moments before he took the poison that saw him hospitalized for five days before his demise.

He was first rushed to the Opoku Agyeman hospital before he was later referred to the Holy Family hospital on Thursday.

Dr. Ernest Ameyaw, the medical director of the Hospital confirmed the incident to Joy News’ Anass Sabit adding that “the boy died as a result of a suspected organophosphate poison which is weedicide and that led to multiple organ failure leading to his death”.

WEE ‘legalised’ at New Juaben Shs

Some 19 students of the New Juaben Senior High School (NJUASCO) in Koforidua in the Eastern region were recently hit with various disciplinary actions by the school authorities for varied breaches.

Some of the students were suspended while others were expelled from the boarding house.

Majority of the affected students were allegedly engaged in “marijuana party” on campus which led to one student being hospitalized.

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Starr News sources say some of the affected students were only allowed to partake in the ongoing WASSCE after their influential parents lobbied the school authorities.

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Sources close to the School also indicate that one of the students, a female, sneaked out of school at night for sexual pleasures.

The disciplinary committee of the School found the students guilty of breaching aspects of the school rules and regulations hence the action.

The committee, however, could not obtain any exhibits of the alleged marijuana used for the said party to incriminate the students hence handed them indefinite suspension and deboardenization as punishment.

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The sanctions were however reversed and the students recalled after intervention by their parents, Starr News has gathered.

The new Management of the school headed by Frank Obeng Wilson since assuming post has decided to restore total discipline in the school as part of the overall objective of enhancing the academic performance of students.

This path of paradigm shift has been met with several obstacles including interference by parents and other influential people.