“International Women’s Day is celebrated worldwide on March 8 every year. In different parts of the world the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women’s economic, political, and social achievements.” United Nations
Open Education Week 2019
Open education encompasses resources, tools and practices that employ a framework of open sharing to improve educational access and effectiveness worldwide.
Open Education combines the traditions of knowledge sharing and creation with 21st century technology to create a vast pool of openly shared educational resources, while harnessing today’s collaborative spirit to develop educational approaches that are more responsive to learner’s needs.
The idea of free and open sharing in education is not new. In fact, sharing is probably the most basic characteristic of education: education is sharing knowledge, insights and information with others, upon which new knowledge, skills, ideas and understanding can be built.
Open Education seeks to scale up educational opportunities by taking advantage of the power of the internet, allowing rapid and essentially free dissemination, and enabling people around the world to access knowledge, connect and collaborate.
Open is key; open allows not just access, but the freedom to modify and use materials, information and networks so education can be personalized to individual users or woven together in new ways for diverse audiences, large and small.
Women in Educational Broadcasting
Gladys Sakala Phiri is the acting executive producer under Educational Broadcasting services in the Ministry of General Education in Zambia. Her ambition to become a television broadcaster was inspired by her father at the tender age of 13years.
Ms. Sakala holds a teaching primary certificate, a Bachelors in Adult Education and a Masters in Leadership Development in ICT and the Knowledge Society Information from Dublin City University (DCU).
As a way of enhancing access to quality and equitable education, Ms. Sakala ensures continuous production and broadcasting of educational content at the country’s only educational broadcasting station whose frequency is 105FM.
Ms. Sakala is one of the pioneers of radio programmes such as “learning at Taonga market” an interactive radio instruction (IRI). These programmes aim at supplementing early, primary and secondary education for learners in conventional schools and those who are out of school.
Gladys is a passionate woman about ICTs in Education and currently, her unit is working on online streaming of educational radio programmes to vulnerable children, youth and adults in Zambia. Her quest to ensuring enhanced digital literacy in the education sector can never be overemphasized. Gladys has been very instrumental in the bringing on board and supporting the curriculum developer’s project for eContent that will sit on the Notesmaster learner management system supported by Commonwealth of Learning (COL).
World Day of Social Justice
“World Day of Social Justice is a day intended to recognize the need to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion and unemployment. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly designated February 20th as the World Day of Social Justice.” United Nations
Curriculum Writers and Content Development Project in Trinidad & Tobago
The Ministry of Education (MOE), in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Notesmaster.Com commenced training for thirty-six (36) teachers, as part of a Curriculum Writers Training and Content Development Project on Monday 4th February 2019.
The project provides for the training of teachers to develop ICT-integrated lessons for use in schools based on nine (9) subject areas of the Secondary School Curriculum and three (3) areas of the Primary School Curriculum. This initiative coincides seamlessly with the Ministry’s 5 Star ICT Plan which includes the training of teachers to integrate ICT into their teaching and learning methodologies.
[Article excerpt re-posted from the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago]
World Radio Day 2019
UNESCO’s General Conference, at its 36th session, proclaimed World Radio Day on 13 February.
UNESCO’s Executive Board recommended to the General Conference the proclamation of World Radio Day, on the basis of a feasibility study undertaken by UNESCO, further to a proposal from Spain.
Radio is the mass media reaching the widest audience in the world. It is also recognized as a powerful communication tool and a low-cost medium. Radio is specifically suited to reach remote communities and vulnerable people: the illiterate, the disabled, women, youth and the poor, while offering a platform to intervene in the public debate, irrespective of people’s educational level. Furthermore, radio has a strong and specific role in emergency communication and disaster relief.
There is also a changing face to radio services which, in the present times of media convergence, are taking up new technological forms, such as broadband, mobiles and tablets. However, it is said that up to a billion people still do not have access to radio today.
International Day of Women and Girls in Science
“Science and gender equality are both vital for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Over the past 15 years, the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science. Unfortunately, women and girls continued to be excluded from participating fully in science. According to a study conducted in 14 countries, the probability for female students of graduating with a Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree and Doctor’s degree in science-related field are 18%, 8% and 2% respectively, while the percentages of male students are 37%, 18% and 6%.
In order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/212 declaring 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.” United Nations
OS-BOU Visits NIOS for External Quality Review
National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) organized Peer-to-Peer Quality Review in collaboration with Open School, Bangladesh Open University (OS-BOU) with the support of Commonwealth of Learning (COL). Six delegates from OS-BOU visited NIOS from 28th January to 1st February 2019.
The delegation visited different departments in NIOS Headquarters and conducted External Quality Assurance Audit on the basis of the Self-Assessment report, evidence for validation through relevant documentation and interactions with various departments and personnel at NIOS.
Besides visiting the Regional Centre at Jaipur and Delhi, the delegation also visited different Study Centres-Academic (AIs), Vocational (AVIs) and Special Centres for the disadvantaged (SAIED).
The visit concluded with the Exit Report Presentation by the OS-BOU delegation giving recommendations for assurance of the quality of service delivery and further setting development targets for quality improvement.
Please see below for photos from the visit.
Photos and text in this article are by NIOS. CC BY 4.0
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