China scores low in English test

Beijing: Chinese have "poor" English skills despite huge efforts by the government in language training, according to a study.

China was ranked 29th in the English Proficiency Index, behind other Asian countries like Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, the Shanghai Daily reported.

Test-oriented, memorized learning habits did not give Chinese students the real language skills, education experts said.

The report was based on a free online English test, where two million adults from 44 countries where English is not the native language took part.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/International/China_scores_low_in_English_test_13786/

MCI move to allow MBBS students to visit patient wards

As part of the new curriculum forundergraduate medical students, the MedicalCouncil of India had decided to introduce a new kind of training or "clerkship" under which medicalstudents will be able to experience the feeling of being a real doctor.

Under the training, undergraduate medical students will be able to have ward visits, patient interaction as well as doing evening rounds from the second year of the MBBS course itself.

Medical students will be attached to resident doctors and would be able to accompany them during rounds of the hospital, helping managing patients and talking to them. This would helpundergraduate medical students in improving their communication skills and also help patients in coping better with their illnesses.

However, the undergraduate students will not be allowed to treat patients.

Member of MCI's governing body Dr. Sita Naik said that the current medical training is classroom oriented and boring and that the MCI is considering reviving a practice that had existed 20 years earlier wherein undergraduate students were assigned to wards.

The students were then able to help resident doctors with managing patients but not prescribing treatments.

Dr. Naik further added that the practice would give them early clinical exposure. "From the second year itself, students will be allowed to have access to wards and clinics and this would help them in feeling that they are a part of the clinical practice.

"Currently, students do not go to wards. They are instead taught anatomy and physiology in the classrooms. The practice of students assisting resident doctors was stopped in the last 20 years as medical training had become more classroom based." she said.

She further stated that this may have been because too many students were assigned to one resident doctor. The system will now be reintroduced by the MCI in order to make medical education more clinical and less classroom based.

The meeting to finalize the new undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum formedical courses will be held on March 29. The meeting will be chaired by unionhealth secretary K. Chandramouli and will be attended by to academicians as well as vice chancellors.

MCI says that at the end of undergraduate medical training after the new curriculum is implemented, students will be able to perform a complete and thorough physicalexamination of any organ system in the body and also perform basic clinical tasks.

source:http://www.indiaedunews.net/Medical/MCI_move_to_allow_MBBS_students_to_visit_patient_wards_13690/

International Women’s Day (8 March) - a chance to tackle gender disparities in education

“This year’s International Women’s Day is inspired by the theme of ‘Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.’ This goes to the heart of UNESCO’s mission.”

--(Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO)

Concerning equal access to education how do women and girls fare? There has been undoubted progress – more girls are enrolled in school than ever before, from primary to tertiary education. Gender parity in primary school enrolment has greatly improved in the countries that started the decade with the greatest gender gaps. However, two-thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate adults are women and discrimination still continues: less than 40 percent of countries provide girls and boys with equal access to education and more than 55% of out-of-school children are girls. Special efforts – from recruiting female teachers to making schools more girl-friendly – are needed to redress the balance.

Girls’ and women’s education has a positive impact on the achievement of all the MDGs, from improved health and better prevention against HIV and AIDs to higher income. UNESCO emphasizes a gender-sensitive approach and works with Member States and partners to increase women’s literacy, develop curricula that challenge gender stereotypes and policies that promote of them participation in secondary and technical and vocational education. Learning materials about HIV and AIDS give girls and women the knowledge and skills to cope with the pandemic.

Most recently, UNESCO has promoted gender-sensitive approaches to literacy research, engaged in innovative new partnerships with the private sector and focused on the integration of girls into national technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programmes.

Source:http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/single-view/news/international_womens_day_8_march_a_chance_to_tackle_gender_disparities_in_education/

Georgia: Unions demand consultation on teacher qualification

Georgia’s EI affiliate, the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union (ESFTUG), has responded to proposals for a new teachers’ certification process by calling on the Georgian Ministry of Education to engage with consultation.

After the ESFTUG’s tireless advocacy for national authorities to promote access to quality education in Georgian public schools, the government had decided to train teachers for the general certification and a teachers’ voucher system had been introduced in 2010.

The national authorities have selected the teacher training institutes entitled to deliver examination programs for government-accredited teachers. Unfortunately this system failed. The majority of teachers were disappointed and felt insulted as their professionalism was threatened by the results of the teachers’ general examination.

Following amendments to the certification law, which was issued on 4 December 2009, the latest round of registration of teachers for certification has begun. National authorities have taken responsibility for training 4,000 teachers in mathematics, physics and general skills, as well as the examination certification in professional development. However, Georgian teachers will not be provided with voucher funds from the government.

In a recent press conference, the ESFTUG’s President, Maia Kobakhidze, has called on the Minister of Education and Science to cooperate, underlining the point that cooperation between social partners would help to promote on-going education reform and enhance access to quality education.

Kobakhidze insisted that public schools should be informed before the registration deadline about the criteria for teachers; fees should be cancelled; the right for all teachers to take exams is respected, and more than 4,000 teachers get governmental benefits. She also said that only social dialogue and negotiations would be able to ensure teachers’ interests were adequately taken into consideration and their dignity defended.

EI supports ESFTUG’s request for better quality teachers’ training and urges the Georgian government to respect national and international norms concerning negotiation and collective bargaining.

source:http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=1527&theme=rights&country=georgia

Paid internship in professional studies in Haryana

The Haryana government has decided to provide paid internship to students of professional courses in different sections of the school education department in the state.

Officials said internship would be provided to students studying engineering and post-graduation in management, social welfare, journalism and mass communication at recognized universities and institutions in Haryana.

"Students, who complete their studies in April 2011, will be absorbed as interns for projects such as quality initiative coordinators, community mobilizers and Information Communication Technology (ICT) Coordinators," Haryana education minister Geeta Bhukkal said here. 

"Working within the school education system will provide wide exposure to interns. We have 16,000 schools, 105,000 teachers and 26 lakh school children. No other organization could match the volume and scale of the school education department," she said.

All the interns will be paid a monthly stipend of Rs.15,000 and their internship will be extended up to one year. The students will also be provided a laptop and internetfacility from the department.

Interested students can forward their applications on the prescribed format either through e-mail at edusecondaryhry@gmail.com or through post to joint director (education). Application form can be downloaded from www.schooleducationharyana.gov.in.

Bhukkal said a selection process would be conducted to finalize the interns and after selection they would be provided induction training.

"The interns will be exposed to various aspects in human resource development like quality initiatives and manpower requirements, budgeting and financing, community mobilization training programmes and management during the induction training," Bhukkal said.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Haryana/Paid_internship_in_professional_studies_in_Haryana_13530/