Nigeria’s education curriculum can’t achieve anything in 21st Century — Sen Emodi


Founder of Brickhall School, Abuja, Senator Joy Emodi, has faulted current Nigeria’s education curriculum, saying it lacks the necessary ingredients required in the 21st Century.

Madam Emordi Emodi insisted that what the federal government was parading at the moment as education curriculum can never drive the country towards achieving what it should achieve as a country in the 21st century. The former senator, who represented Anambra North Senatorial District between 2005 and 2010, spoke Sunday at an event planned by Brickhall School to honour Mrs Uchenna Onwamaegbu-Ugwu, founder of Edufun Technik STEM Center, following the winning of the 2018 Technovation World Pitch in California, USA, by the five secondary schoolgirls she mentored in her company.

Cornwall Council wants register of children ‘missing in education’


ChildThe Department for Education (DfE) has been consulting on the issue across England and said it would “respond in due course”

The report to the DfE by Cornwall Council said the “majority of parents and carers engage with the local authority readily” when they removed their child from school.

But it said voluntary registration of home schooling “allows some children to become missing in education”.

The council is calling for a compulsory register of those who are homeschooled.

And it is urging ministers to provide enough money so it can monitor and support home education properly.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-45358435

Ecobank gives 20-year educational grant to child artist


Ecobank has given a 20-year education grant and monthly allowances plan to the 11-year-old Nigerian Artist, Waris Olamilekan Kareem, who drew a portrait of President Macron in 2 hours during his appearance at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos in July 2018.

This is the first recognition the boy has gotten from any organisation in the country and it is what is most needed.

Cow urine is useful – University Research


University study shows cow urine can prevent pipeline corrosion

A research led by a lecturer at the Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI) has shown that cow urine can curb pipeline corrosion.  

The research, by Professor of Environmental Microbiology Chuma Conlette Okoro, centred on novel technology of remediating problems associated with souring and corrosion in the petroleum industry.

Prof Okoro’s study was funded by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) which has been financing research activities in relevant fields in the oil and gas industry in the last decade.

Pipeline corrosion, which is decay or deterioration of pipelines buried underground, exposed to the atmosphere, or submerged in water, is a growing problem in the oil and gas industry.

Pipelines transporting crude oil, water and gas from onshore oil producing facilities in Nigeria are usually subject to frequent dirt, solid deposit accumulation and corrosion despite treatment programmes adopted by companies.

Any of these problems or combination of them can result in costly operational problems like high maintenance costs, expensive parts replacement and unscheduled shut down.

According to researchers, pipeline and facility corrosion is a major issue globally and about 20-30% of corrosion is related to microbial activity originating from hydrocarbon and ground water sources.

It cost Nigeria’s oil sector $600 million annually to manage souring and corrosion related problems.

Group petitions EFCC over alleged graft in TETfund


A Civil Society Organization, Centre for Public Accountability (CPA), has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over alleged graft in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund).

It dragged the Executive Secretary of the fund, Dr. Abdullahi Baffa, before the anti-graft commission alleging abuse of office and improper contract award.

The group led by its Executive Director, Comrade Olufemi Lawson, in a petition submitted on Tuesday at the Lagos Office of the EFCC, called for thorough investigation of its allegations.

A copy of the petition, he said, has been sent to President Muhammadu Buhari, Minister of Education, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions, its House of Representatives counterpart, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Bankers’ Committee of Nigeria and the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).

 

Lagos 2018 Recruitment Of 2,200 Teachers Into Primary & Secondary Schools


Lagos State Government on Wednesday said it is set to recruit over two thousand teachers into its primary and secondary schools.

The recruited teachers will be posted to government-owned primary and secondary schools across the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas in the State.

“Lagos State Government is set to recruit 1,000 Teachers for Primary and 1,200 for Secondary Schools, visit from 12 a.m, Friday, 31st August, to 12 Midnight, Thursday, September 6, 2018,” Lagos government tweeted.

The state governor Akinwunmi Ambode had earlier announced the approval of recruiting the teachers at the last quarterly Town Hall meeting at Ibeju Lekki area of the State.

Ambode had promised that his administration would employ more teachers into public schools to meet up with the manpower required to cover all public schools in the State.

Also at the meeting, the Deputy Governor Idiat Adebule development stated that the recruitment will aid teaching and learning in the public schools.

She added that government owned schools has been attracting more enrollment in the last three years as a result of the improved infrastructure and welfare of teaching and non-teaching staff.

Nigerian students make $1m Hult Prize 20-team shortlist


Nigerian students make $1m Hult Prize 20-team shortlist

A team of Nigerian students and technology innovators has made it to the 20-team shortlist for the $1 million Hult Prize. They are the only African team still in the competition.

The 2018 Hult Prize with theme ‘Harnessing the Power of Energy to Transform 10 Million Lives’, began from the campus level to regional level until it got to the global stage, while hundreds of participants/teams from many world class universities participated.

The competition is about creating market ready solutions to the pressing needs of humanity, while maintaining balance between profit and social impact. Its goals are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

The team invented a smart Solar-Powered Irrigation System to ease irrigation farming and, alongside other competitors, would go all-out to make the 4-team shortlist in the UK.

The students, who have made the country proud thus far, are in the International Islamic University of Malaysia. They won the first position at the campus level and proceeded to the regional final in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital.

At the regional finals, there were 60 teams and 200 participants from some of the best universities across the world, including Canada, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and Taiwan.

One of the students and prime mover of the innovation, Faisal Sani Bala, said their work was on a new technology that boosts irrigation farming like never before and also provides light for rural communities without electricity.

Access to a college education made easier


Students at two Fresno Unified campuses will soon be able to take their high school courses and attend college on the same campus.

Friday leaders with Fresno Unified and Fresno City College gathered to celebrate “Neighborhood Campus.”

“They can take classes at night so they are with us during the day and they can get ahead and begin gathering transcript credit by going to college in the evening on their own school campus. It is a win, win on all respects,” said Fresno Unified Superintendent, Bob Nelson.

He is excited Edison High School and Sunnyside High School will be home to college courses at night starting this semester.

“Neighborhood Campus” courses will also be available to adults making college accessible to everyone.

“As we continue our partnership we will see more of our offerings here and elsewhere throughout the city. It really is about breaking down the barriers that people have. So we can make education more accessible for everyone,” said Carole Goldsmith, Fresno City College President.

https://abc30.com/education/access-to-a-college-education-made-easier-for-high-school-students-and-adults/3985870/

Are Australia’s private schools worth the price tag?


Former NSW minister for education Adrian Piccoli says private schools can pick and choose.

For parents who have the relative luxury of choice in these matters, the question is a vexed one.

Finding the right school for your child is an emotional decision, clouded by prejudice, guilt and hope, distorted by wealth and peer group and the carefully curated aura of private school reputations. In a country that still wants to think of itself as egalitarian, evidence of the growing disparity between Australia’s richest and poorest schools has politicised it too.

But parents want to do the best they can for their children. Lured by the ever-more luxurious facilities of private schools, the smorgasbord of extracurricular activities, the boaters and blazers, the solid feeling of generations of institutional history; some are captive to the idea they are doing children a disservice by sending them to the more modest local public school – particularly in high school, where these decisions seem to bite harder.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/aug/17/prestigious-universities-edge-out-rivals-uk-battle-for-students