Indexing

Abstract:The Zambian education system has evolved over the years since independence. Zambia inherited its education system from Britain and has continued mostly in the same line of the British education system. The Zambian government has been working hard to improve on the education system and the education standards of its citizens.
The performance of pupils is of great importance to the government as well as the general citizenry. The government has been doing everything possible to improve on the performance of pupils at both public and private schools. Though there are measures being implemented and policies being developed to improve on the performance of pupils, it seems the improvement is not happening at the desired rate.
This research was conducted to investigate the factors that influence the performance of pupils in Zambia. The researcher used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to purposively and randomly issue research questionnaires to fifty respondents of which forty (40) were teachers and ten (10) were learners. The research involved public, private and community schools.
The study revealed a number of factors that have contributed to pupil performance and among them are teaching materials, government policy and learning environment to mention just a few. In most schools, teachers as well as learners face alot of challenges that if adequately attended to will see a rise in the performance of pupils both in the public and private schools. Though, the research shows that poor performance is more tilted towards public schools, it can be noted that any improvement done on public schools will surely have a strong bearing on private schools.
This study provides the necessary foundation for future researches that can be carried particularly in finding solutions to the challenges that negatively influence pupil performance and provide the necessary remedies to such challenges.
The research results pointed to the fact that a lot still needs to be done in improving the performance of pupils particularly in public schools. The provision of basic education requirements is a necessity such as a good learning environment.

Abstract:Since ages women suffered from gender inequality in various issues such as social, political and other aspects of the society. Women struggle hard for existence in a patriarchal society, in real terms a society where a mother is denied of her very right to own authority towards the upbringing of her children after the death of the husband. However Rehana Haque had succeeded in getting back her children after some years but things are not so easy. As a single parent there had not been less obstacles in her way all through building the house ‘Shona’ and preparing the needs when no man was around not even her family for the support. Now that her children are with her she wanted to live a peaceful life in her newly built home ‘Shona’. There was a sudden civil war, causing eventually the birth of Bangladesh. Inorder to keep her children safe Rehana struggles hard and finds herself to a heartbreaking dilemma. As the children grew up she lost hold from them both Maya and Sohail wanted to liberate their country and involve themselves in the freedom struggle. Rehana Haque, though not a true revolutionary, but could not resist herself from supporting the cause, by giving shelter to the war refugees in her home. Anam's first novel, A Golden Age, is a story about a family headed by a widow named Rehana — a character whose existence is based on Anam's grandmother though the small but remarkable role Rehana played in that war.

Abstract:This study analyzes how the introduction of a Learning Management System (Google classroom) leads to persistent innovation in teaching and learning activities at the Ahantaman Girls’ Senior High School, Ketan-Sekondi. This qualitative and quantitative case study explores the possibility of using LMS (Google classroom) for online instruction at the senior high school level. Since independence, the educational system in Ghana has undergone many reforms and restructuring to improve the standard of education both in quality and quantity. These reforms are not without political undertones.  The use of computers, tablets, phablets, internet and smart phones to improve the standard of education is also growing rapidly in Ghana. However, it seems there is a big gap between the use of learning management system (Google Classroom, Edmodo, Moodle, etc.) among senior high school students in developing nations and senior high school students in developed nations. Although students have access to these gadgets, their usage is causing more harm than good. The case study research revealed that the introduction and integration of the Google Classroom in the teaching and learning process at Ahantaman Girls’ SHS improved students’ performance and participation in class even though it came with challenges. It is recommended that the use of Learning Management System (Google Classroom) should be encouraged in the second cycle and tertiary institutions in Ghana.

Abstract: The study primarily determined the influence of the teachers’ personal financial management, which involves financial literacy, financial well-being, and financial concerns to their lifestyle among the selected faculty members of Cagayan de Oro College - PHINMA and Southern De Oro Philippines College, Cagayan de Oro City Misamis Oriental. It specifically determined the 1.) profile of the teachers-respondents personal financial management in terms of: financial literacy, financial well-being, and financial concerns 2.) teachers’ lifestyle in terms of: fatalism and materialism.

Abstract:The focus of this study was to collectively determine the contributions or influence of the dynamics (the use of ethnicity, religion, money, and personalized communication) of political campaign’s in determining voting preferences in Tanzania. Specifically, the study aimed at determining the most influencing factors (ethnicity, religion, money, and personalized communication) in the voting preferences among voters in Tanzania as well as the least influencing factors. The study used the 2015 election campaign in Tanzania as a case study. To explore this, four (4) focus group (FGD) discussions were done from the two districts of Ilemela and Nyamagana in Mwanza City, Tanzania. A total of 32 informants were involved in the focus group discussions. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the informants. The findings reveal that the use of opinion leaders during election campaigns in Tanzania has more influence than any other factors listed above. It was followed by personalised communications. Likewise, the use of money, religion, and ethnicity during the election campaigns in Tanzania had the least influence in the voting preferences or decisions among voters during voting decisions in Tanzanian elections.

Abstract:Tanzania, University students fall under youth group which is prone to unattended sexual risk behaviours and unwanted pregnancies. Modern Contraceptives are the devices which can be used in controlling unintended pregnancies and avoiding sexual transmitted disease. Majority previous researchers dealt with reproductive health females’ modern contraceptives use. This study described knowledge, attitudes and contraceptive practices to University students in Kilimanjaro region, regardless of gender category.
Methods: The study used cross-sectional and ex-post factor research design to select a sample from three (3) random selected universities. A stratified sampling techniques was used to select (n=100) homogeneous students. Instruments’ reliability was tested to validate internal consistent of questionnaire; the reliability was at least 50% (r=0.78) which implied questionnaire was reliable. Data collected from respondents were analysed by the help of STATA v. 12 and SPSS v. 20 tools.
Results: Results revealed that majority (85%) university students ever heard modern contraceptives of which (77%) had positive attitudes whilst (62%) ever only seen modern contraceptives. Modern Contraceptives’ knowledge was at least good, although it was not hundred percent.  The results proved low prevalence of modern contraceptive uses since only (16% students) always used modern contraceptives. Modern Contraceptives uses’ associative factors are:-students’ attitudes, knowledge, residence, religion status, economic factors, availability and accessibility of modern contraceptives, number of births and others university students socio-cultural practices. Predictive factors since (p-values (p) < α=5%) against modern contraceptives uses were gender (p=0.007), earning per month (p=0.015), marital status (p=0.007), number of birth(s) (p=0.007) and students’ religion status (p=0.004).
Conclusion: Based on the findings, it can be winded that attitudes, social-demographic characteristics and economic status affect university students’ modern contraceptives uses in Kilimanjaro region. Associative Modern Contraceptives factors are availability and accessibility, marital status, income level and level of education. Modern Contraceptives uses predictive factors are gender, earnings per month, marital status, number of births and religion status.

Abstract: Oman, which is located on the Southern East of Arabian Peninsula, classified as holding a semi arid climate with an average annual rainfall of 100 mm. Therefore, agricultural production in Oman is fully dependent in irrigation. More than one third is supplied by the ancient aflaj (sing. Falaj), which provide 680 x 10⁶ m³ of water per year and irrigate of an area of 26,500 ha. There is two commonly known definition of the aflaj; the locally defined from the classic Arabic root as to divide the water among its shareholders. And the modern technical definition as trenches and tunnels, which are dug in the ground, to convey the accumulated rainfall water table to the irrigated area in the villages. This study explore some of the existing institutional arrangements found within Falaj Al Malki, at the waliyat (city) of Izki located in the Dakhillya governmental, Sultanate of Oman. This study uses mainly face-To-face interviews with local administrative falaj agents to explore and discuses the most operated mechanized of the institutional arrangements. The study concluded that there is strong relationship between Falaj Al Khatamain physical water variability and its institutional arrangements setting.

Abstract: The desire for the people’s welfare and alleviation of poverty that reflect the eighth agenda of the Millennium Development Goals should be of utmost concern of good governance.  As nations of the world are transiting from the vision 20:2020 to 2030, as a matter of vital consideration, for any economic development policy, planning or scheme adopted like privatisation policy, the nations’ economic activities must not lead to socio-spatial disparity of the public socio-economy and welfare. In the developed countries adoption of privatisation is for improvement on the quality of life of the public. The public utility service delivery was for the betterment of the generality of any public service users. The government of those nations put in place an enabling environment for the successful implementation of privatisation of their public utilities. However, the problem statement of the paper emanates as the outcomes of electricity service delivery privatisation in Nigeria were far below the people’s expectation, giving the recorded failure of electricity service delivery. As a reviewed study, information from extant literature and excerpt of the newspaper formed the methodology adopted in this paper. The paper seeks to discuss the social disparity and poor condition of the masses as directly and indirectly being the consequences of electricity service delivery privatisation in Nigeria. The issue is that electricity service delivery privatisation has been claimed having adverse effect on the welfare of the populace in Nigeria. This is a situation where poor masses are becoming poorer. Centered on this identified policy lag of non-harmonisation of electricity service delivery privatisation with the actual situation of electric facilities on ground, this paper recognizes the inadequacies of privatisation policy to electricity service delivery. This study finally in its recommendations suggested imperative of taking the enabling environment of the adequacy of electricity service delivery components into consideration before embarking on electricity service delivery privatisation in order to forestall likely causes of failure in its implementation.

Abstract:Human sexuality is a blessing from God as he ordained it right from creation. It is to be enjoyed and not be abused. It is profound and not to be perverted. Genesis 2:24 gives a vivid account of origin of human sexuality for spouses can intimately know each other through physical act. Today, there is changing purposes of human sexuality and sexual conduct. God perfectly designed each spouse’s body to satisfy one another sexually for they have/experience same yearnings and desires. Human sexuality has gone through series of modification over ages. In fact, it has brought about the need for re-construction as it is all involving and all inclusive.

Abstract:It is perhaps needless to argue that the aims of establishing Universities are basically for teaching and research with the objectives of qualifying human resources and producing knowledge. Universities also respond to the demands of society, to reduce the gap between innovation and technological application and to make the university closer to productive sector. While quality education remains the most needed tool for human capital development; the quality of teaching in the Nigerian universities is deteriorating exponentially. The Nigerian labor market is highly saturated with graduates that are unproductive and in most cases unemployable. This has been under the suspicion that the roots of the problem largely comes from the Nigerian universities. This study therefore examined the challenges of effective teaching in the Nigerian universities, the menace of half-baked graduates and their implications on national development. These challenges were sorted from the perspectives of lecturers as well as the students. Using descriptive statistics, the results from the lecturers’ perspective revealed that lack of adequate internet facilities, admitting unqualified students, frequent changes of course allocations, departmental crisis and the difficulty of accessing Research Scholarship from the University are the major stumbling blocks. As for students’ perspective, many lecturers are not preparing for their class; the habit of mixing too much stories with lecture, lack of preparing lecture notes, lack of covering the whole syllabus are the major problems.

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to describe about the population-wide trends in the incidence of lower extremity amputation levels in Malaysia tertiary hospitals over a 5-year period between 1 Jan 2012 and 31 Dec 2016. Methods: Quantitative research served as the main methodology for this study. The researcher will use the process of non-random which is the convenience sampling or judgment. For this research, the researcher wills not using the questionnaires to collect the data, but the researcher will collect the data via the manual data or list of info that extracted from each selected hospital. Results: A total of 474 patients in Hospital University Sains Malaysia has undergone the lower limb amputations during the period of the study. The majority of the patient, which is 170, are patients from the range of 16-54 years. Highest number of patients that having a lower limb amputation is the transtibial or below knee amputation with the frequency of 206 cases. Conclusion: The population-wide of national trends in the incidence of lower extremity amputation levels in Malaysia tertiary hospitals can be differentiated based on amputation etiology, amputation level, age, gender and race.

Abstract:This study primarily determined the managerial performance of the chairpersons of the  the College of Arts and Sciences in Cagayan de Oro College, Liceo de Cagayan University and the Capitol University of Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines. It specifically determined 1) the profile of the Academic Department Heads in terms of sex, age, civil status, educational attainment, years of experience in teaching, department, and family income; 2) the managerial performance of Academic Department heads in terms of management style and leadership; 3) significant relationship and differences between the managerial performance of academic department heads as to their sex, age , civil status, educational attainment, years of experience in teaching, department and family income, and 4) the interventions program designed and implemented for the academic department heads. The data collected were carefully analyzed and the discussions of findings underwent at the time this research worked. The researcher therefore made a recommendations based on the data collected and analyzed which she felt would be helpful to improve the managerial performance of the academic department heads.

Abstract:The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of teachers’ mode of training on the academic performance of secondary school students in Oredo Local Government of Edo State. To guide this study, four research questions are raised and three null hypotheses are formulated. The research questions were answered while the null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The population of the study comprised all teachers in both private and public secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. The sample for the study consisted of 78 teachers. These teachers were drawn from two private and two public secondary schools in the Local Government Area. The instrument used for the study was a questionnaire. The instrument was administered to the teachers to respond to and completed questionnaires were collected immediately for analysis. Results showed that most of the teachers in the secondary schools in the Local Government Area passed through full time training program and thus the dominant mode of training of the teachers in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State is full time training program; there is a significant difference between the influence of mode of training of teachers on students’ academic performance in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State in favour of the students taught by the teachers who passed through full time training program; there is no significant difference between the influence of teachers’ mode of training on the academic performance of male and female secondary school students in Oredo Local Government area of Edo State and there is a significant difference between the influence of teachers’ mode of training on the academic performance of private and public secondary school students in Oredo Local Government area of Edo State. Based on the findings, it was therefore recommended that teacher training programme, whether part time or full time, should comprise of the same course contents and be implemented the same way through the same pedagogical means.

Abstract:Despite the considerable efforts to remove overt gender bias in language learning materials during the last 30-40 years, some modern English as a foreign or second language textbooks continue to exhibit implicit gender bias. This study analysed the extent of gender bias in an intermediate-advanced level English language textbook that is widely used in Japan. The analysis focused on four ways in which gender is textually and pictorially represented: (1) female and male visibility; (2) male ‘firstness’; (3) the use of male generic noun and pronoun structures to refer to both sexes; and (4) female and male occupations. The results of the analysis revealed considerable implicit gender bias, and even more surprisingly, some instances of overt gender bias. In terms of the presence of female and male characters, there were well over twice as many male characters as there were female characters, with the two most prominent female characters clearly exhibiting negative female stereotypes. There was also a large imbalance in the instances of male firstness (listing male nouns/pronouns first) over female firstness (three to one), and a high frequency of masculine nouns and pronouns being used to refer to both male and female characters. The number and diversity of female jobs that featured in the textbook were also of concern (there were 3.7 male jobs for every female job). Much of the gender bias in this textbook is in the adapted versions of original (often historical) texts. There is considerably less gender bias in the pre- and post-reading comprehension questions and activities. This indicates that the textbook authors were perhaps aware of avoiding gender bias in their own writing, and this paper suggested how such care and consideration could be applied to the remainder of the textbook in order to remove gender-biased textual and pictorial representations.

Abstract:The turbulent start of the new century has brought new challenges for firms, industries and countries. Success in such times is demanding new perspectives on competitiveness. Supplier development activity involves efforts undertaken by firms to improve their suppliers ‘capabilities and performances. It involves looking at the various strengths and weakness of a supplier who is willing to supply you with the materials/services and helping them overcome these weaknesses so that they can serve you in a more efficient way. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of supplier collaboration on organizational competitiveness of the manufacturing sector a case of East Africa Breweries.
The study adopted a descriptive research design with the target population of 150 employees of East Africa Breweries a sample size of 60 employees were used which were selected using stratified random sampling technique. Questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. Pilot test was carried on five respondents to determine the validity and reliability of data collection instruments.
The study concluded that supplier collaboration increases organization competitiveness to a very great extent thus the study recommends that the manufacturing firms should work closely and support their suppliers. Having long term relationships with them so that they can end up having also collaborative relationship which in turns not only leads to a win win situation but to also a win more-win more situations.

Abstract: This study sought to understand the meaning and application of the concept of Murabbi in teaching and learning process among the teachers in Islamic Integrated Schools in Zanzibar. Three male and three female teachers from these schools were selected as respondents. Semi-structured in-depth interview was employed for primary data collection while secondary data were solicited from relevant documents such as journal articles, textbooks, official reports and proceedings. The findings of this study showed that all respondents were of the opinion that teachers’ responsibility should go beyond normal teaching duties to embrace the task of looking after and taking care of the students as practically is reflected in their actual works that covered also the non-typical teaching tasks. The study thus recommended that further investigation be conducted to further explore the understanding and application of the concept of murabbi among teachers of all Integrated Islamic Schools in Zanzibar especially through quantitative-based research.

Abstract: vThis research paper aims to determine the performance of school administrators in curriculum development. Several literature and studies are cited to support or negate the problems treated in this study. First, the characteristics of the school administrators are described and significant relationship is established if this exists between the different groups according to their educational qualifications, job experience, job satisfaction and location of their schools. The performance of the school administrators are determined through the ratings given by their respective teachers using the questionnaire administered to the teacher respondents.
The findings of this study showed that the characteristics of the school administrators such as educational qualification and job experience have a significant difference between the performance of school administrators, whereas, their job satisfaction and location of schools don’t make a significant difference between their performance in curriculum development.     

Abstract: The influence of mass media has grown exponentially with the advancement of technology. And everyone, particularly the students nowadays depends on information and communication to keep their lives moving.
However, many of the tertiary level students do not maximize their opportunities to learn English language despite their access to media and the opportunities given by these forms of technology.
This study aimed to determine the different types of media the students are exposed and to what extent these forms of media affect their proficiency of the English language.  The descriptive method was used in this study utilizing questionnaire supplemented by focused group discussion conducted to 100 college students of a sampled college in Quezon City. Findings revealed that the respondents were exposed to different forms of media like the print media, electronic media and “new age media; as such these media affected the proficiency of the students in the English language in various ways. Consequently, this exposure posed problems. Hence, possible solutions to address the problems were given. 

Abstract: Outcomes-based teaching and learning (OBTL) has become an implemented tool of assessment to a number of private colleges. This is due to the observation that teachers should go beyond the informal perceptions of effective teaching and reflective practice. Thus, this paper aims to describe the objectives, content, process and strategies, assessment and tools of OBTL, as well as its current status in the education paradigm, its alignment to the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO), and its encountered problems in implementing it. The researcher employs descriptive method and utilizes four higher education institutions in Metro Manila. It has been found out that OBTL offers an appealing form to manage education, concentrates on the learning process, and presents better performance. OBTL is its full implementation as the learning and teaching activities coincides with the syllabus and the course outline. However, problems arises as the OBTL has become an additional requirement to the teachers, not content-focused, and it is strictly followed.