Ensuring That Your Kids Are Motivated to Study.

Ensuring That Your Kids Are Motivated to Study. 4.5/5 (2)

The mounting pressure of increasing curriculum added with homework and extra-curricular classes is making childhood very stressful for kids as well as parents. Gone are the days when kids played in the building compound for hours, breaking glasses, eating munchies at some friend’s place, fighting over who won and who cheated. Parents usually complain there is so much to study and homework to be done too, where is the time to play? how do we make studying a fun activity for the child? how can she/he enjoy his/her childhood and stays atop competition as well?

Below Are Six Easy Steps to Ensuring That Your Child Is Motivated to Study

Develop Routines And Structures: Parents should set weekly targets as per topics and subjects covered in school, and decide a day of the week when he/she should be prepared with the weekly portion. Don’t panic if on a particular day much hasn’t been done. Encourage the child to cover up until the target day. Let’s say you have an established routine that your children do their homework every weeknight between 7 pm and 9 pm.
Of course make realistic targets, taking into consideration daily homework, recreation time, and other activities. You can get kids to set targets themselves. It would be a fantastic lesson in planning and execution as routines and structure play a crucial role in developing motivation in your children.
Make a Study Group: Make a group of 3-4 children- child’s classmates, the ones he/she is super comfortable with. All should have the same study target. On the scheduled day-say Friday afternoon, make it a point to meet at someone’s house/coffee shop, prepare a questionnaire/ quiz for all related to the weekly target. After the quiz or study time, they can be given a small treat or taken to a movie/park/beach as a reward for completing their weekly target. Having your best friends in the same target zone encourages the child to study regularly and they might even fare better in tests, it will effectively reduce stress or anxiety during exams.
Play Time: Playtime is one of the most important parts of a child’s academic success. This time gives children to interact with each other outside of the classroom, giving them the confidence to learn independently and develop their interpersonal, creative, and behavioral skills.
Underestimating the importance of play in the early years of development and growth of children is a mistake well-meaning parents often make. Playtime is as important for kids as working is for adults. They learn, grow, and become better people from playing. Plus, it is the ultimate way for them to learn, reduce stress, and exercise their creativity. A couple of hours of free play/sport should be scheduled for every day, irrespective of homework, extra classes, and study. After all, academics aren’t everything in the world. Having a calm and balanced child will ensure his good health and happiness for the future.
Beware: Big study group may not be a good idea. It will be like school and classes, taking the fun element away. Do not compare the kids ever. Remember you want to make study fun and not make your child or anyone else look small. Refrain from marking or ranking, otherwise it will be another stress to deal with every week.Remember you are doing this to make study fun and take off the pressure and stress of the present education system.
Don’t Annoy Your Children: One of the keys to motivating your children to work hard is not to annoy them either at home or in classrooms. This may seem odd at first, as we’re used to parents getting annoyed with children, not vice versa. But relationships are a two-way street, and parents can also annoy children.If your children are continually upset with you over things you say or do, they will find it hard to listen to you. You may have some great wisdom to offer them, but your children won’t be receptive to your advice.
Help Your Children To Find a Mentor: According to research, children who have mentors are more likely to become successful.A mentor is an adult who acts as a role model for your children. One of the benefits of your children having a mentor is that they will understand a perspective on life from someone who isn’t their parent.The mentor’s values and attitudes may be similar to yours. But those values will mean more to your children when they’re modeled by someone outside the family. One reason for this is that children inevitably become accustomed to both their parents’ and teachers’ viewpoints. Having a mentor is a chance for your children to re-engage with those values, from a fresh perspective.
A mentor can be particularly helpful when there’s an ongoing conflict between parents, teachers, and children. In this kind of situation, your children can benefit from having a neutral third party they can turn to. The mentor may help your children to see the issues from a new perspective.

A mentor could be a sports coach, art, music, or class teacher, a trusted neighbor or family friend, or One of your co-workers.

Conclusion

These six principles will help you to build in your child a deeper motivation to work hard. Some of these principles may take a while to implement while other tips and principles you can put into practice right away.

Don’t forget to develop active listening along the line. Wishing you all the best on this challenging but exciting journey!

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Algeria Temporarily Blocks Social Media To Tackle Exam MalpracticesNo ratings yet.

Algeria has temporarily blocked access to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms across the country. The move forms part of measures to fight cheating in secondary school exams.

Almost half of the students are being forced to retake the baccalaureat exam, starting on Sunday, after the initial session was marred by online leaking.

“The cut in social media is directly related to the partial baccalaureate exams that are taking place on Sunday, “the APS state news agency said quoting an official source.

Many students were able to access questions on Facebook and other social media ahead of the exam in early June.

Algeria has struggled with baccalaureate leaks in recent years.

The decision to block social media was taken to protect students’ de la publication of “bogus questions on those networks”, officials told Algeria’s APS news agency.

“Cheating has become dead easy,” this tweet says

Following the earlier exams leaks, police swoops resulted in the arrest of dozens of people, including officials working in national education offices and printers, as part of an investigation into how parts of the 2016 high school exams were leaked onto social media.

Whiles the likes of Algeria are blocking social media to avert exam leakages, elsewhere in Africa, similar blockages are in respect of political situations as has been the case in Uganda and Congo Brazzaville.

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StudyFree Provides Free, Quality Education For African Youth Abroad, Wins 2020 Seedstars CompetitionNo ratings yet.

StudyFree, an international Edtech organization has won the 2020 Seedstars competition following its unique solutions and top-notch services rendered to African Youths to secure scholarship opportunities abroad.

Founded in 2018, StudyFree has been helping ambitious and goal-seeking students from anywhere in the world realize their dream of studying abroad for free with the help of grants and scholarships from a bachelor’s degree to PhD level with scholarships around the globe through an online platform.

In a press statement signed by the ambassador in Nigeria, Ayodele Fanida, he disclosed that StudyFree has a dedicated team that helps students around the world to study abroad with the highest scholarships and admissions chances with 98% students’ success rate.

Fanida noted that, “in a continent such as Africa that has enormous development challenges and wide intervention gaps in education, and it is a known fact that good and quality education is one of the true wealth a parent or country can bequeath to their children.

“Providing good and quality education requires money, while the government is finding it difficult to ensure that every Nigerians is educated due to inadequate resources, as such parents’ now pay heavily to get their children educated either at home or abroad.

“A recent findings show that the average cost of studying abroad for Nigerian students is about $33,000 per year, indeed this is not cheap, and many brilliant students dreams have been shattered due to lack of resources, but accessing scholarships and grants are often seen as a difficult task and as such parents overlooked the avenue as a source of education funding due to the stress or the lack of know-how.

“With over 25, 000 active users that are working with these students to make their dream come true and get funded for a total of $4,1 million in scholarships and grants. As a result of this unique solution, StudyFree won the 2020 Seedstars World Competition,” he added.

Fanida reiterated that the goal of StudyFree is to make 21st century education accessible and achievable to all.

“We are here to help, click the link to learn more.

For further inquiries or partnership, contact: [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 09026165327,” he explained.

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UNESCO: UN System wide consultation on the Ethics of Artificial IntelligenceNo ratings yet.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation hosted a virtual meeting of the High Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.

The objective of the meeting was to consult the UN system on the draft text of the normative instrument on the ethics of AI, prepared by the Ad Hoc Experts Group.

37 UN entities were present at the consultation while the Young UN and Young UNESCO also have representatives who attended the meeting to provide the youth perspective.

The meeting which was chaired by Guy Ryder, Director-General of ILO, and moderated by Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences was organized by SHS and PAX.

Following the discussions, the HLCP agreed that the collective comments from UN entities would be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Expert Group so that it can be taken into account when the Expert Group revises the first draft text of the Recommendation in September.

The HLCP also discussed what UN entities can do individually and in collaboration to address ethical issues related to AI.

ITU also provided a brief update on the system-wide strategic approach and road map for supporting capacity development on AI, to which UNESCO and other UN agencies had provided their contribution.

The Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, Gabriela Ramos stressed that “The proposed Recommendation should become an ethical guiding compass to rebuild the rule of law for the digital world.”

She also explained that it is only a starting and framing point to address different concerns such as privacy and data protection, gender and racial biases, increased digital exposure by populations at risk, increase of disinformation and many others.

She also noted that, “to ensure the effective implementation of the recommendation, if adopted, capacity building and policy support will be needed to transform it into legal frameworks, for which UNESCO will play a lead role.”

All entities that were present also expressed their support and recognized the important work of UNESCO to develop this Recommendation and its relevance for the UN system, Member States and other actors.

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COVID-19 – HDI Distributes Radio To Marginalized Students To Improve Education Access 5/5 (1)

Towards improving access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic and continuous closure of schools, Human Development Initiatives is set to distribute transistor radio to school students in Lagos.

The transistor radio will be distributed to girls in 15 schools across Lagos State with focus on schools in impoverished communities and inclusive schools.

This was disclosed by Samuel Ajayi, Programmes Officer, HDI, during an online briefing with teachers on the modalities for the distribution of the transistor radio to the students.

Ajayi disclosed that the initiative was necessitated because some students couldn’t access the audio-visual and E-learning programmes that have been put in place by the state government, adding that it is important for students to keep learning despite such barriers.

“There are students who do not have Television sets or internet access to join teaching on TV or various online platforms and it is important to ensure that we do not neglect them at this period.

“We are targeting most vulnerable students, those who are not participating in the online classes that are ongoing at the moment.

“We believe that with the provision of the transistor radio and batteries, students who have not been able to access education because of certain barriers that the existing platforms provided, would be able to continue learning,” Ajayi explained.

He urged the teachers to ensure that due process is followed to enable the specific targets of students benefit.

Funso Owassanoye, Executive Director, HDI disclosed that the beneficiaries would be 40 school girls in 15 schools across the state, totaling 600 school girls.

She noted that the beneficiaries would be members of the existing safe space club members that have been created in the selected schools.

She urged the teachers to ensure they place their role that the girls are not denied education because of the pandemic, adding that, “teachers should try more and ensure the girls are able to reach their maximum potentials.

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GAWE 2020 – Group Urges LASG To Make Education Policies Sensitive To Girls’ RightsNo ratings yet.

Human Development Initiatives, HDI has called on the Lagos State Government and the State’s House of Assembly to make public education policies sensitive o the rights of girls and marginalized children with the purpose of eliminating barriers to accessing public education.

HDI made the call in a press statement signed by the Executive Director, Olufunso Owasanoye in commemoration of the 2020 Global Action Week on Education with the theme – ‘10 years left to 2030: Civil Society’s Solutions, Recommendations and Plans of Action to Reach SDG4’.

Owasanoye explained that despite Nigeria’s signatory to the SDGs five years ago, many children, especially poor, vulnerable and marginalised children including children with disabilities do not have access to public education, which could hinder the attainment of SDG4.

She commended the efforts of the Lagos State government for putting in place innovative and laudable measures to provide children the opportunity to continuous learning during the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said, “happily, in your recent actions to prioritised education in the Lagos State budget; your efforts to introduce e-learning into the public education sector; your prompt response to the pandemic particularly by activating the domestic and sexual violence hotlines in Lagos State; the radio platforms to encourage learning for children while staying at home among other steps you have taken, give us some hope that you will keep to these commitments.

“However, despite these efforts, it is important to note that many children, especially poor, vulnerable and marginalised children including children with disabilities are still being excluded from these initiatives in Lagos; more needs to be done to bring them in.

“While we sincerely commend these efforts, Human Development Initiatives Nigeria, ActionAid Nigeria and other global coalition for education use this opportunity to urge the Lagos State Government to reflect on the gaps in the public education sector that this global pandemic has revealed and take advantage of the lessons from the current challenges to progressively invest more in the sector in a way that can enable all children to continue their education under similar circumstance in Lagos State.”

The HDI ED added that the Lagos State government and the State’s House of assembly need to “Take action to progressively increase the size of the Lagos State budget by raising fair tax and increase the share of the funds allocated to and spent on free, quality, equitable, and inclusive public education.

“Make public education policies, systems and expenditure more sensitive to the rights of girls and marginalized children”, she added.

Regarding inclusive education, the organization demanded that the government should, “Open-up education budget and expenditure to effective public participation from the initiation stage to promote the inclusive education policy of the State.

“Make school infrastructure more user friendly for people with disabilities and train all our teachers and school administrators to be able to handle inclusive schools.

“Equip our schools with needed support systems to aid inclusive learning including a more robust teachers’ welfare that can attract the best brains into the noble profession especially at the basic level.”

HDI also called on other relevant “Civil Society Organizations and other stakeholders to add their voices to these demands for free, equitable, quality and inclusive public education in Lagos State.”

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FFF Embarks On Advocacy For Inclusive EducationNo ratings yet.

Towards boosting the enrolment of children with disabilities in schools and ensuring they access education regardless of their disabilities, Festus Fajemilo Foundation, FFF carried out an advocacy programme at State Junior and Senior Grammar School, Itolo, Bode Thomas, Lagos.

The advocacy programme tagged, “We Ring The Bell” is an annual Advocacy programme of FFF, Daughters of Charity with the support of Liliane Foundation, Netherlands. Joined by Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, JONAPWD for this year’s edition, the students were informed on the need to support their colleagues with disabilities and encourage other parents to enroll their children with disabilities in schools.

Students at the Assembly during the We Ring The Bell Advocacy

While speaking about the essence of the Advocacy and campaign Programme, Afolabi Fajemilo, Co-founder and Director, FFF, explained that “We Ring The Bell” is an annual advocacy programme which seeks to ensure children with disabilities have access to education.

Fajemilo commended the efforts of the Lagos State Government towards inclusive education but stressed that more needed to be done for in the interest of the children with disabilities and the society at large.

He said, “We want to appreciate the Lagos State Government in terms of having policy in place for Inclusive Education and we are working with the state government to further promote Inclusive Education in a way that teaching takes care of everyone regardless of disabilities.

“Lagos State has the highest number of inclusive schools in the country but there is need for more things to be put in place to ensure unhindered access to education.”

FFF identified 10 urgent Action Points which according to the director would ensure the full practice of Inclusive Education and not Integration.

The action points are; “Provide children with disabilities transport to school; Make buildings, furniture and grounds accessible for Children with Disabilities, CWDs; Provide adapted restroom facilities; Adapt lessons and rules for CWDs; Allow CWDs to participate in sports and games at schools;

“Teach regular children how to support CWDs; Stand up as parents for CWDs; Train teachers on interacting with and counseling CWDs; CWDs have the right to go to school; Let CWDs advance and enjoy.”

Fajemilo noted that with inclusive education, children are able to learn together in the same environment adding that, “when children learn together they perform excellently both socially and academically.”

While speaking, Dr. Mrs. Sherifat Yusuf, Principal, State Junior Grammar School Itolo noted that the school practices full inclusion and there is no sort of discrimination and stigmatization among the students adding that regular students are interested in learning sign languages so they could communicate effectively with those with hearing impairment.

She charged parents of CWDs not to deny their children access to education and also stressed the need for parents of those already enrolled in schools to provide the necessary support for their children.

State Junior and Senior Grammar School, Itolo is an inclusive school with students who are Physically Challenged, Deaf and those with learning disabilities learning in the same academic environment.

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Access To Education – LASG Urged To Review Tax PolicyNo ratings yet.

The Lagos State Government has been charged to review its policy which mandates parents to present Tax Clearance certificate before their children can be enrolled in Public Schools in the state.

The charge was made by Education Stakeholders at a forum on Tax Justice and Gender Responsive Services,organized by Human Development Initiative, HDI in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria. The Stakeholders comprises of Parents, Media Practitioners, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, JONAPWD, Tax Justice & Governance Platform, School Based Management Committee and Nigerian Union of Teachers, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All, CSACEFA.

The stakeholders unanimously agreed that the payment of tax is a civic obligation by every eligible persons in the state including persons with disabilities, however, ensuring compliance should not infringe on the rights of any child to access education.

It was also stressed that the presentation of the tax clearance certificate before enrollment is one of the barriers to accessing education, especially for those whose parents cannot afford to pay tax genuinely.

While speaking, Mr. Celestine Okwudili, Governance Manager, ActionAid Nigeria said the actions of the government contradicts the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child, the UBE Act and other existing laws and policies which promote access to inclusive basic education.

He said, granted the good intention of the Lagos State Government to widen its tax net to include the informal sector and generate more revenue to fund essential social services including the education sector, this efforts should not infringe on the rights of children to access free, quality, equitable and inclusive public education.

On his part, Mr. Felix Obanubi, a Representative of the Tax Justice Platform in Lagos explained that the platform is seeking to partner with Lagos State Internal Revenue Service to engage the informal sector and support initiatives that would increase voluntary tax compliance in the sector.

He also explained the need for the Lagos State Government to review its policies to ensure that children are not denied access to education while it is trying to generate more revenue.

The other stakeholders include representatives from the Lagos State Ministries of Education, Finance, Economic Planning and Budget, Office of the \Sustainable Development Goals and Investment.

Group picture of participants at the end of the two day Session

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LASG Tasked On More Actions To Achieve Inclusive EducationNo ratings yet.

The Lagos State Government has been applauded for its commitment towards ensuring that inclusive education is attained in the state with the purpose of providing access to public education for all.

Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, Chairman, Lagos State Chapter of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, JONAPWD, noted that among the states across the federation, it is noteworthy to mention that Lagos State has achieved a level of implementation and number of ‘supposed’ inclusive schools which are about 44 in the state.

Dr. Adebayo noted this while speaking at the two day Reflection Session and Stakeholders Meeting on Breaking the Barrier project of Human Development Initiative, HDI Nigeria in collaboration with Action Aid.

Adebayo who buttressed that inclusion is not just for children with disabilities and would also help to address the menace of out-of-school children explained that more needed to be done as inclusion has not been achieved in all the inclusive schools across the state.

“Inclusive education is not just for children with disabilities but every child that might have difficulty in accessing education.

“The reality we have now is that so many children are out of school, we must make sure that schools are available and accessible to our children, we can’t say because we are prioritizing other public infrastructures and ignore the provision of schools.

“To have inclusion, it means we need to have schools in locations where people can access it. Segregation is not the way to promote unity among our children”, he added.

He explained that, “while the Lagos State government could be applauded in comparison to other state, we should understand that the inclusive schools are in existence but they are not policy driven, there has been no approach for the implementation of inclusive education policy in the state.

However, it is hoped that the implementation plan which was recently developed by the Ministry of Education would help to achieve the implementation of the Lagos state Inclusive Education Policy.

Speaking about the project, ‘Breaking Barriers: Tax Justice and Gender Responsive Public Service’, Samuel Ajayi, Programmes Officer, HDI, explained that the project seeks to ensure that there is access to public education for all especially girls and marginalized children.

He noted that the stakeholders engagement is convened to “strengthen collaboration among stakeholders with the purpose of achieving the goals of the project – 4S; Size, Share, Sensitive and Scrutiny.

“We want to ensure we all work together as partners to achieve the 4s – Size; Budget size on Education; Share – that budget share allocated to public education keeps increasing not just in amount allocated but in disbursement and investment; Sensitive – to the needs of all children especially girls and marginalized; and Popular participation in the Scrutiny of the budget process”, he added.

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Inclusive Education – JONAPWD, FFF, DC Call for Creation of Special Education Department in Higher InstitutionsNo ratings yet.

Festus Fajemilo Foundation in partnership with the Lagos State Chapter of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, JONAPWD and the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul (DC) have called for the establishment of Special Education Department in different higher institutions across Lagos state.

The Consortium made this call during advocacy visits to tertiary institutions across the state under the project, ‘Strengthening Inclusive Education through Cooperative Teaching in Lagos State’.

Pointing out the growing need for the creation of special education department, the project team, at the various visits, explained that the increase in the number of children with disabilities and fewer trained teachers to attend to them brought about the need for the creation of Special Education department across higher institutions.

The Project team who visited Deans of faculty of Education in University of Lagos, UNILAG; Lagos State University, LASU; Micheal Otedola College of Education and Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education revealed that the project is aimed at developing a co-operative teaching manual, to facilitate collaboration between regular and special teachers to help in the education of persons with disabilities.

The team members who noted that the teachers’ collaboration will not adequately solve the challenges faced, proffered that special education departments should be created in higher institutions across the state.

Further acknowledging University of Ibadan, University of Calabar and University of Jos and other schools who offered courses on Special education, the team urged higher institutions to emulate the institutions offering courses on special education. It was however stated that the creation of department for special education will help to reduce the stress of traveling to long distances for the purpose of acquiring such skills.

Reacting to the group’s proposal, the Dean, Faculty of Education, Lagos State University, Prof. Yemi Ambrose Akinkuotu applauded the team for taking a brilliant initiative to come up with such a wonderful program, he then promised to meet with the faculty examiners board and relay the message of the board to the project team. He revealed that the university was already working towards the creation of such department.

At the University of Lagos, Dean, faculty of Education, Prof. Monday Ubagha lauded the project idea and assigned the lecturer in charge of Special education and the Sub Dean to interface directly with the team promptly. He said, “it is our mandate as a teacher training institute in the faculty to embrace all options that would help to improve access to education for all, we are therefore glad to be a part of this.”

Also responding to the project team, the Dean of the faculty of education, Micheal Otedola College of education who was impressed with the team’s idea promised to discuss the team’s proposal with the College’s provost.

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Category: Education