Education Forum for Asia

NEWSFLASH

                                                                                                                  November 2005

In the News:  Current News and Events in Education and Asian Society

Vocational Schools Provide a Positive Alternative

Many Chinese rural students believe going to college is the only way to escape from poverty, but Liu Huanqing, from rural Zhumadian in Central China''s Henan Province, is proof that college is not the only answer.  He gave up his chance of going to university when he dropped out of senior middle school to pursue vocational education in 1996.

"My family was too poor to support me," says Liu, his family''s second child. "It was difficult, but I had no other choice but to go to a vocational school to learn a skill to earn myself a living."

Today, Liu, now 26, is a very different person.  After working for four years repairing mobile phones, he set up his own telecommunications company last year.  He now has about 20 employees and earns at least 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) a year. Dressed in a brown suit and sporting a pair of glasses, he looks every inch an urban businessman.

"I don''t regret giving up my dream of going to college," he says. "Vocational education is more practical for rural students.  It''s only the first step in your life."

And Liu is far from unique.  More and more junior middle school graduates, especially those from lower income families in rural and urban areas, are opting to attend vocational school instead of senior middle school.  Last year, the number of newly enrolled vocational school students reached a new high of 5.5 million, and "it''s estimated that we''ll have 1 million more this year," says Huang Yao, Director of the Vocational and Adult Education Department of the Ministry of Education.  "By 2007, yearly enrollment is expected to be the same as in senior middle schools, which was 8.5 million last year."

According to ministry officials, the State Council will hold a special meeting on November 7-8 to further promote vocational education.  A special fund of 3.6 billion yuan (US$444 million) is to be earmarked for vocational education by the central government by 2007.

Figures show that about 8 million junior middle school graduates directly entered the labor market last year, but with inadequate knowledge and skills, they cannot find satisfactory jobs.

It is estimated China needs another 10 million skilled workers.  Statistics from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security show that senior technical workers account for only 4 per cent of China''s 70 million technical workers, far behind the 30-40% level in developed countries.

"The move to promote vocational education is designed to meet the growing need for skilled workers in China, especially in the service industry," Huang said.

In Henan Province, one of the largest in the nation with a population of 97 million, and the largest exporter of migrant workers, vocational education is gaining momentum.

"Last year, key vocational schools were all filled to capacity," says Cui Bingjian, Deputy Director of the provincial education bureau.  "This year, we''ll have 500,000 new students, 60% of whom are from rural families."

According to Cui, the most important factor in promoting vocational education is making sure graduates find jobs.  "At the moment about 95% of our students have no trouble finding work," he says.

Tuition fees at vocational schools are only about 1,000 yuan (US$120) a year, and graduates can quickly offer financial assistance to their families, Cui adds.

However, statistics in Henan show that although the number of vocational school students is climbing, it is not growing as fast as the number of senior middle school students.  Influenced by Confucius'' saying that a good scholar will make a good official, most rural residents see going to senior middle school and then college as the only way to a bright future. Vocational schools are very much their second choice.  Eight out of 10 students interviewed said they chose vocational schools because they had failed the senior middle school entrance exam and this was the only path left to realize their dreams.

"I wish I could be a student at the Central Conservatory of Music," says Zhang Jing, a 15-year-old student from a rural family, now studying at the Xin''an Vocational School near Luoyang.  Her exam results were not good enough to secure a place at senior middle school, so her parents sent her to study music in Xin''an.

"I still want to go to college, and that is also the dream of my 13-year-old brother," Zhang says timidly.

Zhang''s school has 5,000 students, but more than 1,000 are learning exactly the same things as those in senior middle school. The rest have the chance to go to higher vocational schools or specific departments in universities.

"Last year, about half of our graduates were admitted to higher schools," Zhang adds. "I hope I can be one of them."

Huang Yao, education ministry official, says there is a mistaken belief that vocational schools are not as good as senior middle schools.

"Vocational schools complement senior middle schools. We have to change the misconception that the vocational schools are inferior," he insists.

Problems also exist in the gap between urban vocational schools and rural schools.  Key schools have more students than they can hold, but schools in poorer rural areas are still short of students.  To balance the development of vocational education in cities and the countryside, some schools in Henan are adopting a special module called "1+1+1." In the first year, students learn basic knowledge from textbooks in rural schools, before moving to partner schools in cities to study specific majors in the second year.  In the third year, students gain work experience in industry.

"It''s a valuable chance for me to study at the Henan Information Engineering School," said Xiao Anna, who spent her first year in a rural vocational school near Zhumadian.  "Life here is very different. We have better classrooms, teachers and even better food."

To promote communication between the institutions, nine vocational unions, consisting of schools, enterprises and trade associations, have been set up in the province.  Enterprises directly tell schools what kind of workers they want so that schools can adjust courses accordingly and cater to their needs.

"All of our workers are graduates from schools under the traffic and vehicle union," said Cheng Junqiang, manager of a Volkswagen maintenance garage.  "Such cooperation saves us a great amount of money and energy."

However, though tuition fees for vocational schools are far less than for universities, there are still students who cannot afford it. The percentage of students who cannot meet the fees stands at about 10% in Henan.  Unlike poor university students who can apply for loans and grants, vocational school students currently have no access to financial aid.

Ministry of Education officials say a plan to put financial aid in place for poor students at vocational schools has been drafted and will possibly get approval from the central government very soon.  (Source: China Daily) (Story by Zhu Zhe)

Largest Linux Desktop Rollout in China’s History

Six PC makers, including Haier and Founder, today announced that they have won contracts to provide a total of 141,624 PCs to the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education for an educational program called, “School-to-School Project.” At the same time, Sun Wah Linux’s Debian-based Chinese Operating System RAYS LX was also chosen as the operating system used in all 141,624 PCs.

The Jiangsu Province''s “School-to-School Project” is the largest procurement project in the China education history.  The project will supply PCs to elementary and secondary schools in disadvantaged areas of nine cities.  A total of fifteen companies competed for PC procurement deals worth a total of 346.2 million RMB (USD $42.7 million). Dell, Hewlett Packard and Lenovo were among three of the world’s largest PC makers who competed for the contract.

Through the School-to-school Project, approximately 90% of schools in China will be connected via the Internet by 2010, subsidized by the Ministry of Education.  This initiative is essentially helping schools to become computerized by adopting price competitive advanced technologies and quality products.  The campaign is proof of the Chinese government''s commitment in raising the standard and quality of education through the use of information technology.

Sun Wah Linux is supplying the program and products to the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, in addition to Linux training, technical support and maintenance.  After completion of the project, Sun Wah Linux will seek further cooperation with the Jiangsu Education Department, making common efforts in training qualified OSS teachers, building education system, and trying to build complete education solutions based on open source software in cooperation with other software & hardware vendors.  (Source: Technology News Daily)

M.V. Gupta awarded World Food Prize for 2005
 
Indian scientist Modadugu V. Gupta has been awarded the prestigious World Food Prize for 2005 in recognition of his work to enhance nutrition for rural poor through expansion of aquaculture and fish farming in Asia and Southeast Asia.

The annual award, widely regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the field of food and agriculture, was given to Gupta at a ceremony held at the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines USA recently.

Created by Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 for outstanding achievements in food and agriculture aimed at reducing hunger, malnutrition and rural poverty, the award carries a proclamation by the Governor of Ohio and a citation, an original sculpture created by Saul Bass and a cash award of $250,000.  It is funded by prominent Ohio philanthropist, John Ruan.

The first World Food Prize was awarded to M. S. Swaminathan in 1986, and, thereafter, to four other Indian scientists.

Gupta is the sixth Indian to get this coveted recognition for his work in improving nutrition, substantially raising income, and empowering women in over one million poor rural families in Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam and some African countries by dramatically increasing freshwater fish production.  (Source: rediff.com)

Putting Words into Action:  Speeches and Essays from Leaders in the World of Education, Social Development, and Positive Change

Challenges for Higher Education in Asia

Dr. Mohan Lohani

Excerpts from the writer''s statement at the recently concluded Second Annual Conference of Education Forum for Asia held in Beijing, China

Education Forum for Asia (EFA), since the Initiators Meeting in December 2003, and supported by current and former Asian leaders, has achieved considerable success on important issues relating to education at all levels.  Mr. Kirti Nidhi Bista, one of the Initiators of the Forum and currently the Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers, in his speech during the First Annual Conference last year, welcomed the proposal to establish the Asia Foreign Study Scholarship Program, and called on all people committed to educational development among Asian countries to extend their full support.

Nepal has also supported the activities of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) since its very inception.  King Gyanendra, by attending and addressing the Fourth Annual Conference of the Forum in April this year, has reaffirmed Nepal''s commitment to the noble objectives of the Forum designed to bring peace and prosperity to Asia through regional integration.

Asia is a vast continent diverse in its history, culture, tradition and ethnicity and is endowed with enormous natural and human resources.  Such resources need to be fully exploited and utilized for the well being of the peoples of the region.  In this context, the relevance of human resource development through educational training and research to economic growth, poverty alleviation and social transformation needs no overemphasis.  Asia, the most populous continent in the world, despite its remarkable progress on several fronts in recent years, still lags behind Europe and North America in developing human resources, including highly skilled manpower for rapid economic growth.  Boao Forum for Asia has rightly recognized the importance and necessity of educational development in the region with special focus on training and research best suited to the needs and aspirations of the peoples of the region in the new century.

For a number of Asian developing countries which gained independence in the later half of the 20th Century, it was a challenging task to reject outright the existing models and practices of education inherited as legacies of the colonial past.  Nevertheless, the newly independent countries made sincere efforts to establish national education systems which achieved success not only in ensuring access to basic education, but also in expanding the network of institutions of higher learning.  Almost all Asian developing countries have, over the years, sought to adapt themselves to new trends in the education sector.  They have positively responded to the emphasis laid by the UN agencies such as UNESCO on the expansion of facilities for primary education in pursuance of the objective of Universal Compulsory Primary Education. The 2000 Dakar Declaration underlines the urgency and relevance of Primary Education for All with Early Childhood Development as an inalienable part of Universal Primary Education.

The higher education system in most Asian countries has also witnessed a paradigm shift in recent years from the elitist liberal higher education to a need-oriented technology based higher education system designed to address the development needs of the countries concerned.  The change is visible in the curriculum structure, academic design, management mechanism, financial pattern and stakeholder participation.  It is difficult for any Asian country, howsoever poor and backward, to avoid the impact of globalization on education, particularly at the tertiary level.  Teaching and learning is almost inconceivable without the use of the most sophisticated technology.  How to raise the level of quality and relevance of higher education has become a matter of concern to all policy makers in the region.

Increasing demand for higher education has, indeed, become a global phenomenon. The rate of expansion is, however, disproportionate to the rate of economic growth in many developing countries. Such countries are reluctant to accept cost sharing, which has posed a serious problem for public financing.  Many Asian governments are also unable to allocate substantial sums of money for higher education due to financial constraints and have been encouraging even public institutions of higher learning to generate their incomes from non-government sources like industry and commerce.  Besides, priority to basic or primary education has persuaded many developing countries to reduce their support for higher education.  As a result, universities and other tertiary institutions have come increasingly under pressure to cater to the needs of a wide variety of students through various alternative modes such as open learning and technology-intensive pedagogy.

The demands of the labor market are changing fast and so are patterns of employment.  Traditional sources of employment such as government and small industries are also shrinking.  Courses which once met national needs are now irrelevant.  New courses are required.  In many developing countries, students need to be taught how to create opportunities for self-employment.  As stated earlier, the academic community must be prepared to adjust itself to new trends and dramatic developments in the education sector.

There is demand for effective management, which presupposes acquisition of new management skills. Those used to traditional methods of teaching and learning do not possess such skills.  It goes without saying that in a fiercely competitive society like ours, educational managers need to learn and grasp commercial management techniques.

Any effort towards improving the education sector in a country like Nepal cannot lose sight of existing political, economic, socio-cultural and administrative set-up of the country.  Cognizant of this reality, the government of Nepal has prepared a legal and institutional framework, which would encourage all concerned stakeholders to interact for the development of participatory educational policies and programs. In this context, local bodies will be assigned a more decisive role in educational planning and implementation to encourage people''s participation at the grass roots level.

To put it more explicitly, a major strategy adopted by this country in its 10th plan to fulfill the education objective is the decentralization of school governance in line with the Local Self-Government Act (LSGA) and handing over of the school management responsibility to the School Management Committee (SMC).  Both the LSGA and the Education Act (Seventh Amendment) focus on the need for involving the community in educational planning and development with emphasis on ownership, accountability, local control over effective utilization of resources, and local resources mobilization.

The promotion of vocational courses and private sector involvement in extending basic and middle level technical education also forms the 10th plan strategy.  In higher education, cost recovery, cost sharing and decentralization are the guiding principles.  Serious thought is also being given to the creation of a Commission for Higher Education authorized to plan, manage, and coordinate the higher education system of the country.  This would mark a significant departure from educational management based on the government bureaucracy.  In view of new challenges being faced by the nation in the context of a new global order of social and economic transformation and modernization, education development requires innovative approaches and strategies.

Organization Profile:  This section highlights an organization or program that is making a difference in the fields of education or social development.  

International Education and Resource Network (iEARN)

iEARN is a non-profit organization made up of over 20,000 schools in more than 115 countries.  iEARN empowers teachers and young people to work together online using the Internet and other new communications technologies.  Over 1,000,000 students each day are engaged in collaborative project work worldwide.

Since 1988, iEARN has pioneered on-line school linkages to enable students to engage in meaningful educational projects with peers in their countries and around the world.

iEARN is:

• an inclusive and culturally diverse community
• a safe and structured environment in which young people can communicate
• an opportunity to apply knowledge in service-learning projects
• a community of educators and learners making a difference as part of the educational process

There are over 150 projects in iEARN, all of which are designed and facilitated by teachers and students to fit their curriculum and classroom needs and schedules.  To join, participants select an online project and look at how they can integrate it into their classroom.

With the project selected, teachers and students enter online forum spaces to meet one another and get involved in ongoing projects with classrooms around the world that are working on the same project.

These projects enable students to develop research and critical thinking skills, experience with new technologies, cultural awareness, and the habit of getting involved in community issues.

In addition to connecting students'' learning with local issues and meeting specific curriculum needs, every project proposed by teachers and students in iEARN has to answer the question, "How will this project improve the quality of life on the planet?"  This vision and purpose is the glue that holds iEARN together, enabling participants to become global citizens who make a difference by collaborating with their peers around the world.  (Source: iEARN website)

For more information, please visit the iEARN website at http://www.iearn.org/index.html.

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