Here are the Education Headlines Update as republished in the dailies on Thursday 1st December, 2022
The Guardian
NAPPS seeks policy to improve quality education
The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) has urged governments to embrace policy decisions that will not only improve the quality of education but also ensure sustainable growth and development for a better future for all.
President of NAPPS, Yomi Otubela, gave the charge, yesterday, during a conference held in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Otubela, who said that education would remain the catalyst that would bring about the desired change and transformation we all craved in the country, urged the government at all levels to invest heavily in education and create a conducive environment for private investors to partake and thrive in education sector to enable the nation to reap the benefits of quality education.
Similarly, Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Abiodun Abdu-Raheem, who was represented by Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Delani Binuyo, said the teaching profession should not be seen as the last resort to replace joblessness.
Abdul-Raheem, while commending the proprietors for their voluntary time and resources towards building the lives of others, urged the stakeholders to find solutions to examination malpractices.
Education body seeks UCMAS inclusion in curriculum
The Country Manager, UCMAS Edu Nigeria Ltd, Stephen Ofori, has urged schools in the country to embrace the Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic (UCMAS) so that it can positively impact the academic performances of students.
Ofori, who stated this at the third UCMAS national competition held at the Distance Learning Institute, University of Lagos (UNILAG), explained that UCMAS is a brain development programme for children between ages five and 14.
He said the method is to enhance children’s brains to think fast and solve mathematics without the aid of technology while equipping them with the confidence to do well in all subjects.
Ofori said UCMAS is currently operating in 10 states and training about 6, 000 children on how to enhance their brain capacity on yearly basis.
Vanguard
Is sex education not child abuse?
IT is not surprising that the recent directive by the Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, to the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC, to expunge Sex Education from the basic education curriculum in Nigeria has been greeted with serious opposition from groups and persons who obviously derive some benefits from the callous sexualisation of the tender minds of Nigerian pupils.I am sure that many parents and concerned persons who have heard about the minister’s directive are highly relieved and happy and hoping that no amount of pressure from these misguided interest groups will compel the government to have a change of mind. Indeed, this is a major move towards sanitising our primary and secondary education curriculum and salvaging the moral health of the younger generation which has been badly corrupted and diseased by very pernicious teachings that can only mould them into badly flawed characters.
Senate President advocates civic education against vote selling, vote buying
ABUJA- AHEAD of 2023 General and Presidential elections, the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan has made a strong case for the institution of civic education in school curriculum to highlight the evils in vote selling and vote buying at elections and discourage citizens from engaging in them.
Lawan spoke in Abuja yesterday when a group known as Polling Unit Ambassadors of Nigeria paid him a visit at the National Assembly.
The leader of the group, Ambassador General Dabas Suleiman told the Senate President that his members were out to sensitize and discourage vote selling and vote buying at elections in the country.
The Sun
I’ll continue to prioritise education, says Gov Sule
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has promised sustain priority to the education sector through increase budgetary allocation if re-elected in 2023.
Sule made the pledge during campaign for his re-election bid on Wednesday in Keffi Local Government Area of the state.
According to the governor, his administration will continue to increase on budgetary allocation to the education sector in order to build the future of the nation.
He noted that investment in education was critical to the growth and development of any society and that Nasarawa State would not be a exception.
He, therefore, urged the people of the state to reelect him and other candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in order to reap more benefits of democracy in the state and Nigeria at large.
Punch
Dons back FG policy on mother-tongue teaching
The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved a new national language policy for primary schools.
The policy makes mother tongue a compulsory medium of instruction from primary one to six.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, revealed this while briefing State House correspondents shortly after this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting, chaired by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Adamu revealed that the mother tongue would be used exclusively for the first six years of education, after which it would be combined with the English language in Junior Secondary School one.
Blockchain Pilgrimage: Regulating Crypto ‘Should Be Combined With Education’ Says Top Wadzpay Executive
The collapse of Do Kwon’s Terra empire in May, and Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX in early November 2022, will be remembered as two incidents that put the crypto industry on the back foot. It is now widely expected that regulators around the world will use the two incidents to justify the establishment of regulatory regimes that are likely to stifle further innovation. That notwithstanding, one Singapore-based blockchain payments company, Wadzpay, has partnered with Saudi Arabian fintech Geidea to provide financial solutions for pilgrims on their way to Mecca.
Providing a Cutting Edge Payment Experience to Visitors
Faced with the inevitable, some players in the crypto industry assert that tougher regulations are not going to stop cryptos and their underlying technology — the blockchain. They point to how digital currencies have been instrumental in lowering the cost of remitting funds inside and beyond national borders. According to this view, the ease and speed of moving funds across borders is another key attribute that makes digital currencies and the blockchain an indispensable part of modern payment systems.
It is these and other attributes of digital currencies that sustain their appeal even as regulators are looking to pounce, and some crypto companies are looking to find or expand into new markets and niches.
BCN: What prompted you to create a solution that uses blockchain?
KM: Our partner, Geidea has more than one million POS [point-of-sale] terminals throughout Saudi Arabia; we see this as an opportunity for pilgrims to make payments without any currency or network limitations. Blockchain is a secure, distributed ledger that keeps a decentralized record of every transaction; the technology can significantly improve collaboration and simplify processes. Combining the reach of Geidea and the nature of blockchain technology leads to an incredible opportunity.
The pilgrim market is an essential part of the Saudi economy. This move will unlock vast SME business success for merchants across the Kingdom and make the payment experience for the pilgrims faster, safer and trackable. Through the power of blockchain, we are able to also improve the merchant’s bottom line through fast settlement and lower fees.
PM News
FEC approves National Language Policy for primary education
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a National Language Policy for use in all primary schools across the country.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu made this known to State House correspondents at the end of the Council meeting which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said: “A memo on national policy was approved by the council. So, Nigeria now has a National Language Policy and the details will be given later by the ministry.
“One of the highlights is that the government has agreed now that henceforth, instruction in primary schools; the first six years of learning will be in the mother tongue.”