Getting Textbooks to Every Child in Sub-Saharan Africa

Getting Textbooks to Every Child in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: Birger Fredriksen
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464805415
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 127

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Book Description
Textbooks play a key role in enhancing the quality of learning, especially in the context of low-income Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries characterized by large class-size, poorly motivated and inadequately trained teachers, and short effective school years. There are also high rates of illiteracy among parents and few reading materials at home for the student to bank on. Despite extensive investments by governments, the World Bank and other development partners, the majority of students in primary and secondary schools in SSA still lack the benefit of access to textbooks and the key reason for this shortage is affordability: textbooks are generally much more costly in SSA than in other developing regions. The need to increase access to key learning resources is of particular urgency because most African countries experience low learning outcomes which in part contributes to a high drop-out rate. Only two-thirds of those who enter school reach the final grade and only about half of these master basic numeracy and literacy skills. And although quality improvement depends on many factors inside and outside the school, there is wide agreement that availability of textbooks is both an indispensable and a cost-effective way of improving the quality of the learning process. A recent World Bank study examined the actual costs of textbooks, the scope for cost reduction, the portion of a national budget countries allocate to teaching and learning materials (TLMs) and hurdles in the way of making textbooks available to student. Some interesting findings from the study - - The availability of affordable textbooks to all students could be dramatically improved by devoting an estimated 3 to 4 percent of the primary education budget and 6 to 7 percent of the secondary education budget - The production process †“ methods, copyright, length of print runs, effective procurement practices †“ rather than the production costs should be the target of cost saving strategies - The increased integration of ICTs into education in SSA can provide important opportunities for promoting availability of electronic TLMs but electronic TLMs are not a substitute for printed TLMs including textbooks

Getting Textbooks to Every Child in Sub-Saharan Africa

Getting Textbooks to Every Child in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: Birger Fredriksen
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464805415
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 127

Get Book Here

Book Description
Textbooks play a key role in enhancing the quality of learning, especially in the context of low-income Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries characterized by large class-size, poorly motivated and inadequately trained teachers, and short effective school years. There are also high rates of illiteracy among parents and few reading materials at home for the student to bank on. Despite extensive investments by governments, the World Bank and other development partners, the majority of students in primary and secondary schools in SSA still lack the benefit of access to textbooks and the key reason for this shortage is affordability: textbooks are generally much more costly in SSA than in other developing regions. The need to increase access to key learning resources is of particular urgency because most African countries experience low learning outcomes which in part contributes to a high drop-out rate. Only two-thirds of those who enter school reach the final grade and only about half of these master basic numeracy and literacy skills. And although quality improvement depends on many factors inside and outside the school, there is wide agreement that availability of textbooks is both an indispensable and a cost-effective way of improving the quality of the learning process. A recent World Bank study examined the actual costs of textbooks, the scope for cost reduction, the portion of a national budget countries allocate to teaching and learning materials (TLMs) and hurdles in the way of making textbooks available to student. Some interesting findings from the study - - The availability of affordable textbooks to all students could be dramatically improved by devoting an estimated 3 to 4 percent of the primary education budget and 6 to 7 percent of the secondary education budget - The production process †“ methods, copyright, length of print runs, effective procurement practices †“ rather than the production costs should be the target of cost saving strategies - The increased integration of ICTs into education in SSA can provide important opportunities for promoting availability of electronic TLMs but electronic TLMs are not a substitute for printed TLMs including textbooks

Where Have All the Textbooks Gone?

Where Have All the Textbooks Gone? PDF Author: Tony Read
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464805733
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
This World Bank report is a rich compilation of information on teaching learning materials (TLM) in Africa based on the extensive and multi-faceted experience of the author's work in the education sector in Africa. The study examines a wide range of issues around TLM provision including curriculum, literacy and numeracy, language of instruction policy, procurement and distribution challenges, TLM development and production and their availability, management and usage in schools. It also looks at the role of information and communication technology (ICT) based TLMs and their availability. The study recognizes that improved TLM system management is a critical component in achieving affordable and sustainable TLM provision for all students. This study, which draws from more than 40 Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone, and Arabic-speaking countries will be particularly useful for policymakers, development partners, and other stakeholders attempting to understand the wide range of issues surrounding the complexity of textbook provision in Sub Saharan Africa.

Child Labor in Sub-Saharan Africa

Child Labor in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: Loretta Elizabeth Bass
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781588262868
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Bass's comprehensive, systematic study examines the complex factors framing child labor in Africa and offers a window on the lives of the child workers themselves.

Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge

Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge PDF Author: Marito H. Garcia
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821368877
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 558

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Book Description
Early childhood, from birth through school entry, was largely invisible worldwide as a policy concern for much of the twentieth century. Children, in the eyes of most countries, were 'appendages' of their parents or simply embedded in the larger family structure. The child did not emerge as a separate social entity until school age (typically six or seven). 'Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge: Early Childhood Care and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa' focuses on the 130 million children south of the Sahel in this 0-6 age group. This book, the first of its kind, presents a balanced collection of articles written by African and non-African authors ranging from field practitioners to academicians and from members of government organizations to those of nongovernmental and local organizations. 'Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge' compiles the latest data and viewpoints on the state of Sub-Saharan Africa's children. Topics covered include the rationale for investing in young children, policy trends in early childhood development (ECD), historical perspectives of ECD in Sub-Saharan Africa including indigenous approaches, new threats from HIV/AIDS, and the importance of fathers in children's lives. The book also addresses policy development and ECD implementation issues; presents the ECD programming experience in several countries, highlighting best practices and challenges; and evaluates the impact of ECD programs in a number of countries.

Wonderworks

Wonderworks PDF Author: Angus Fletcher
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982135980
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
"A brilliant examination of literary invention through the ages, from ancient Mesopotamia to Elena Ferrante, showing how writers created technical breakthroughs as sophisticated and significant as any in science, and in the process, engineered enhancements to the human heart and mind"--

Textbook Policies in Asia

Textbook Policies in Asia PDF Author: Andy Smart
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9292614134
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
This comparative study provides an overview of the textbook production chain, starting with its origins in the curriculum, and suggests ways in which policymakers can make improvements at every point in the chain. With evidence from a range of countries, mainly in Asia, the study is intended as a resource for policymakers and as a reference and benchmark for education systems. Although the study focuses on textbooks, which are the priority for governments and teachers and represent the greatest item of expenditure on teaching and learning materials, it also includes other teaching and learning materials including digital resources.

Low-fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries

Low-fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries PDF Author: Joanna Härmä
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350088250
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
In Low-fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries, Joanna Härmä draws on primary research carried out in sub-Saharan African countries and in India to show how the poor are being failed by both government and private schools. The primary research data and experiences are combined with additional examples from around the world to offer a wide perspective on the issue of marketized education, low-fee private schooling and government systems. Härmä offers a pragmatic approach to a divisive issue and an ideologically-driven debate and shows how the well-intentioned international drive towards 'education for all' is being encouraged and even imposed long before some countries have prepared the teachers and developed the systems needed to implement it successfully. Suggesting that governments need to take a much more constructive approach to the issue, Härmä argues for a greater acceptance of the challenges, abandoning ideological positions and a scaling back of ambition in the hope of laying stronger foundations for educational development.

Raising the Impact of Education Research in Africa

Raising the Impact of Education Research in Africa PDF Author: Charl C. Wolhuter
Publisher: AOSIS
ISBN: 1928396801
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
The low demonstrable effect of education research done in South Africa in particular – and Africa in general – continues to be a problem in scientific records in the educational sciences. This scholarly collected work addresses this obstacle and focuses on recommendations from scholars in different sectorial categories in the field of education. Scholars from a variety of sub-fields within the educational sciences reflect on this particular matter, revisiting the history of research and research outcomes and offering informed recommendations based on in-depth investigation and analysis of aspects of the various discourses within the relevant sub-fields. The scope of the content of this collected work centres on the issue of the lack of scientific records concerning the scientific raising of the impact of education research. The book aims at making a specific contribution to the educational sciences by stimulating scholarly discussion around how to increase the recording of the significance of educational research done in Africa, and in South Africa in particular, and to redirect the research agenda into the direction of making more impact. Impact is conceptualised to mean both scholarly impact (that is being cited and being used as foundation for theory building and for further research) and practical impact (that is improvement of practice, teaching and learning in education institutions at all levels).

Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: Rosarii Griffin
Publisher: Symposium Books Ltd
ISBN: 1873927363
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
In the drive to achieve universal primary education as one of the Millennium Development Goals, there is an increasing recognition of the urgency of focusing on teacher education to both meet the demand for more than one million qualified teachers required to achieve this goal within sub-Saharan Africa, as well as to combat the sometimes poor quality educational experience reported in the school. Currently, approximately only one third of teachers are qualified to teach. This dearth in qualified teachers also means that secondary and tertiary education need to be improved upon to provide an educated cohort of graduates. This in turn will ensure that the quality of teacher trained and retained within the profession is of a sufficiently high standard to ensure sustainable progress. This volume focuses on the various aspects of teacher education which need to be addressed in order for the wider Millennium Goals to be achieved, but more importantly, so that each African child living within sub-Saharan Africa will have the right to a quality education: ensuring they too experience their right and entitlement as children to reach their full potential - often taken for granted in Western countries – giving African children the necessary tools to build a better future for themselves. Of particular interest to the education researcher and policy maker, this volume’s contributors look at the various issues and challenges around the teacher profession, particularly in relation to resources and practices within sub-Saharan Africa. The contributors examine the issue of building research capacity for educational research within teacher education Colleges and explore the concept of education for sustainable development with the view to improving the development of quality teacher education within the global South. In this volume, research reports are presented highlighting the various challenges within the structure and provision of teacher education within certain national contexts, including assessment and curricula issues, which need to be addressed. This volume goes from the global to the local and examines teacher educator teaching, learning and reflective practice issues within different contexts, as well as exploring alternative pre-service experiences for western teachers who wish to work within the sub-Saharan context as well as some teacher educator exchange programmes between the South and North. Case countries explored include Lesotho, South Africa, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar, to mention but a few. Of particular value to the education researcher and policy maker, this book provides a timely resource focusing on an area of neglect, highlighting the central role of the teacher and teacher education towards sustainable development within the sub-Saharan African context.

Reaching Out to Africa's Orphans

Reaching Out to Africa's Orphans PDF Author: K. Subbarao
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821358573
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
This title makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of the many risks and vulnerability faced by orphans and the ameliorating role played by the actions of governments and donors.