Making Education for all Inclusive in Developing Countries (Published)
The education for all (EFA) agenda is targeted at achieving inclusive education across regions of the world including developing countries (DCs). The policy is nonetheless not inclusive in the actual sense of the concept. Emphasis of the EFA on ensuring parity in the ways male and female pupils access education in formal settings restricts the policy from becoming genuinely inclusive. Inclusive education as to be a core philosophy to moving the provisions of EFA forward encourages changes to existing local cultures that disadvantage some children and young people within education systems in DCs. It begins with the belief that education is the basic human right of all and the foundation for a more just society. Thus, inclusive education draws on the idea of social inclusion to redefine the provisions of the EFA in order to ensure that education is sincerely for ‘all’ and not nearly for all in DCs.
Keywords: DCs, EFA, Inclusion, Pupils., rural areas
Preparing students for senior secondary school certificate examinations in Bayelsa State, Nigeria: How adequate are the available teachers in rural areas? (Published)
The study was on adequacy of teachers in secondary schools in rural areas to prepare students for Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSSCE) in Bayelsa State. Data was collected using the Infrastructure Availability Index (IAI) in terms of motorable roads, electricity supply, health facilities, educational facilities, portable drinking water, telecommunication and sanitation. Subjects offered in SSSCE were obtained from the Ministry of Education and school principals. The subjects offered and teacher/school ratio in the LGAs was used to ascertain the adequacy of quality teachers to prepare students for SSSCE. The findings showed that the mean average teacher ratio of 10 to a secondary school in rural LGAs was twice less than that of secondary schools in urban LGAs with 24. In addition, the rural secondary schools lacked adequacy of quality teachers to prepare students for the SSSCE. Thus, the performance of students in SSSCE in rural areas was affected and such students were deprived of the benefits of passing the SSSCE which will affect their employment and future academic opportunities and when seeking elective positions. The study therefore, recommended that government should ensure equitable distribution of adequate teachers in rural and urban secondary schools.
Keywords: Senior Secondary School, quality teachers, rural areas, teacher/school ratio, teacher/subject ratio, terminal examinations