Making a choice for a school

By: Karen Peters

What is the right school for my child? A lot of parents are struggling with this question and as educator and parent I have experienced that parents tend to keep on assessing schools and bringing up this issue. Thus, an interesting topic to discuss! 

We all agree that the choice of a school is important. Everyone is looking for good quality schools for the best price. Harder is it to answer the question: "What is good quality?" If we examine this question, everyone will come up with a different answer. 

For some, quality is found in the academic achievement of a school, for others it is the school's facilities and then there are parents who say that a school is a good school when the communication between school and parents is effective and responsive. I think it is safe to conclude that all of these aspects (and more) are important indicators for good quality. Nevertheless, agreeing on what is quality is tough. 

Consequently, when defining quality is hard, how do parents choose a school? Research on school choice is extensive and shows that most parents choose a school because it is located near to home. 

Other aspects that are mentioned are, for example: the curriculum of the school and factors as "Is the curriculum self built by the school or is it part of a bigger network?", "Is the curriculum/school accredited by an independent organization?", etcetera. Especially, this last question gives important information on the results of the school in relation to other schools. This is a more or less independent and abstract quality measurement. 

Strangely overseen is the fact that a school is a learning institute. In other words, the "product" of a school is the learning that is taking place within the classroom and the school. 

Most researchers agree that learning in schools should get a holistic approach. Which means that learning is not only about knowledge, but also about applying that knowledge and combining knowledge and skills to understand processes and developments in the world outside school. Only focusing on knowledge (academics) is selling your child short. Especially in the hi-tech world we are living in today, where the amount of knowledge is extensive and a lot of it is fluid. Accordingly, combining knowledge and skills to gain understanding are all three equally important elements of the learning triangle. 

Subsequently, research demonstrates that, as the result of upbringing, heredity and environmental differences, people preferentially take in and process information in different ways. 

There is also the idea that people use different intelligences to learn new and consolidate old information (refer to Howard Garner and others). Thus, we can conclude that every person learns and develops her or his talents and skills differently. It is evident that a school, being a learning institute, should accommodate these differences to their school population. 

Having a complex process as learning as the core business results in lots of different schools and learning-cultures. Parents having to choose a school are therefore facing a challenge. Recommended is to look for the best match between the child and the school's learning culture. 

Some questions that might help to find out if the school is the best match are: "Can I see evidence of learning taking place in the school?", "What is the learning approach of the school?" and "How does the school find out the specific learning needs and learning styles of my child?" 

Children are resilient and most will adapt to their school environment cheerfully, and being happy is an important ground for learning! Nevertheless, as a parent it is also important to look beyond that joy and choose a school that understands the holistic concept of learning in relation to your child's specific learning. 

Do young kids lack reading culture?

If most kids today don't like reading, culture is often blamed as if it were the sole causal factor contributing to the lack of interest in reading among them. Our culture, it is often said, is a culture that does not encourage people to read. It is an oral culture, not reading culture, as is generally known. 

This generalization, however, is not entirely correct. In fact, it is quite hard to see the correlation of cultural aspects and one's interest in literacy. 

Young kids are basically avid readers. They like reading, and in fact, much of their time reading. Many bookstores are crowded with young kids reading books. Public libraries and community libraries are now popular and are on the rise, meeting young people's need for access to books. 

Recent studies in literacy development have revealed that children and adults take advantage of access to books they find enjoyable and interesting. They spend time reading to entertain themselves and not just to meet academic assignments. 

If young people have developed a love for reading, we teachers and parents need to support them in a variety of ways. 

Helping them gain access to books both at school and at home is one way. Another way includes parents and teachers serving as models, which is a necessary stimulus for children's literacy development. 

Thus, a commonly held belief that Indonesia does not have a reading culture is a myth. However, it makes more sense to relate the "literacy crisis" not in terms of culture, but rather in terms of the teaching of literacy at school, access to books and poverty. 

The teaching of reading at school does not really help improve reading skills. I once carried out research at a senior high school in Jakarta. Using a questionnaire and interviews as my data collection, I explored problems related to reading comprehension. The findings indicated that overall students had little interest in reading. The reasons for this varied. Among them are not knowing how to read effectively, not understanding the text due to complex grammar and vocabulary, and having no interest in the topic. 

The result of an interview with their teacher confirmed these findings. However, they were unable to offer practical clues in arousing students' passion for reading and to encourage them to become good readers. 

This finding implies that we are neither supportive nor facilitative in helping young people acquire literacy skills in a second language. 

Access to books has also become one of the most serious barriers for promoting literacy in the country. Children hailing from low-income families suffer the most from the lack of access to reading materials. This limitation undoubtedly impedes students' literacy development in a significant way. 

No access to the print environment results in both child and adult illiteracy. If it is believed that access to more books can lead to language and literacy development, there is no best way to help stimulate young children to read but to provide them with a print-rich environment. 

Thanks to the government's commitment to eradicating illiteracy in the country, the number of illiterate people is decreasing. However, what the government has yet to focus on is providing better access to public libraries in remote regions. 

It is clear that it is access to rich a print-environment and effective teaching strategies that matter to language and literacy development. It is these factors that need our serious attention in helping young people accelerate their literacy skills both in their first and second languages.

by : Evaries Rosita ; http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/22/do-young-kids-lack-reading-culture.html

Synchronica: Blackberry for the masses

Could 2008 be the year that Synchronica finally comes of age? The mobile technology firm has seen its share price slide steadily lower for some time, yet it’s made decent progress in the last twelve months and could soon be generating substantial recurring revenues. None of this seems to be reflected in the share price which has carried on southwards as if nothing had happened. 

Synchronica has, over the last three years, streamlined its business model to become a true mobile software company by concentrating on two software products for mobile phones.

Mobile Email and Backup
Synchronica´s flagship product is a mobile email and synchronization solution, Mobile Gateway. Although it works with most types of mobile phones, its key selling point is that it allows ordinary mass-market feature phones to send and receive emails plus manage calendars and contact lists. 
Normally this sort of functionality is confined to Smartphones such as Blackberries and Windows Mobile devices. Mobile Gateway provides Blackberry-like services on a wide range of devices from all leading manufacturers and supports about 1.5 billion devices in the market today. Unlike other solutions, it requires no additional software to be installed on the handset. Instead it uses industry standards to synchronise with built-in applications, enabling it to address a much larger market than competing solutions. 


It’s designed to work with corporate email systems such as Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino (and no additional software needs to be installed by IT departments), but also supports all major consumer mailboxes provided by Yahoo or Google Mail. 


Synchronica´s Mobile Backup solution, its second product, provides security for social and business networks. It allows you to securely store a back-up of any contact or calendar details you keep on your mobile phone. So if your phone is lost or stolen, or you change your phone, you haven’t waved goodbye to your address book and calendar. 


Research shows that it takes the average person three months to replace all their contact information as it’s often the only place people keep these details. During this time mobile phone operators suffer a drop in revenues so, notwithstanding the basic revenues the product generates, it’s in their interest to provide this service.  


Contracts Coming Through
When Proactive last looked at Synchronica in October of last year it had just signed what it described as a breakthrough contract with Sun Microsystems for modules of their Mobile Gateway product. Under the terms of this deal, Sun was to pay a $1.8m upfront fee, plus up to $2.40 per user per annum and support fees of up to $150,000 per annum and up to $4,500 per incident. Sun also has the option to pay a one-off fee of up to $4.6m for each major version of the licensed software, rather than the annual per user fee. Sun accepted the delivery of the first major version last December and the $1.8m upfront fee is due to be paid in three equal instalments in March, July and October of this year. 
Other deals have been announced since. A subsidiary of the major Middle Eastern and African mobile operator, Zain, has signed up for 200,000 users for Mobile Gateway and 100,000 users for Mobile Backup for a total fee of $0.5m. Global re-selling agreements have been signed with Brightstar and a ‘top 5 global IT services company’. In June, an agreement was signed with a Chinese handset manufacturer for 20% of revenues earned subject to a minimum of $1 per user per year, with no rebates, buy-outs or caps. A leading systems integrator in the United Arab Emirates, Emircom, has also agreed to supply Mobile Gateway to its customers.


There’s potentially a lot of upside in these new relationships. For example, the wider Zain group has over 45 million subscribers. The Chinese handset manufacturer expects to ship 16 million units this year and will offer Mobile Gateway, in partnership with major mobile operators, to China’s market of 580 million subscribers. Eight other mobile operators are trialling Mobile Gateway at the moment so more deals could be announced soon.


On August 18 the company demonstrated its ambition with the acquisition of the trading subsidiary of AxisMobile, a competitor listed on the AIM market. The purchase was paid for by issuing 85m new shares and an additional 169m shares will be placed with institutions at 3p per share to accelerate the sales and marketing efforts of the combined businesses.


AxisMobile has 3 million end users across Central and Eastern Europe and reported sales of $1.4m last year. Its technology will allow Synchronica’s customers to read a greater variety of email attachments on standard phones. An investor webinar is being held at 11am BST on August 27 which should provide more details.


Synchronica’s plan is to concentrate on emerging markets where few people can afford Smart phones and there is limited access to PCs. Research shows that in these countries, mobiles will become the main way that people access the Internet. Email is the most popular application of the Internet with more than 2 billion mailboxes worldwide and Synchronica expects mobile email to be a big success in particular in emerging markets. 


Global mobile connections are forecast to increase by 1 billion over the next four years to 4.8 billion and nearly all this growth will come from the emerging markets that Synchronica is targeting. 

Customers in these regions tend to have pre-paid contracts and churn rates are high - Mobile Gateway and Backup could help operators increase revenue per user whilst also reducing customer losses.
At the moment PC access is required to set up Mobile Gateway, but Synchronica plans to add a mobile signup option soon. They also plan to add email to SMS functionality will allow the most basic mobile phones without an email client to use their technology. Both these developments should help them in the drive to sign up more operators and drive adoption rates in emerging markets. 


Financials
Synchronica has a history of losses, as you would expect from a young technology outfit. Revenues dipped from £3m in 2005 to £1.1m in 2006 (the year of the restructuring), but recovered to £2.3m last year. Staff cuts reduced a £7m loss in 2006 to a £3m deficit last year. Brokers have pencilled in a loss of £2m for 2008 followed by a profit of £0.8m in 2009 but these figures pre-date the acquisition of AxisMobile.


On the cash front Synchronica is looking reasonably comfortable for the moment. It had £0.75m at the start of this year but raised £3.9m in placings in January and February. Assuming the placing accompanying the acquisition of AxisMobile is approved in a general meeting in mid-September, a further £5.1m before expenses will be raised. 


Nevertheless, the Chief Executive’s closing comments in the most recent annual report made interesting reading. He highlighted the fact the company could be lacking in sales, marketing and engineering resources to exploit the opportunities available. He also mentioned the lack of funding relative to its competitors that may prevent Synchronica developing its products and delivering customised versions to prospective customers. This could be interpreted as a For Sale sign. There has been much activity in this industry, most notably Nokia’s purchase of Intellisync in 2006, a peer to Synchronica, for US$ 430 million in cash.


Synchronica is making all the right noises but given its history investors don’t want to give it the benefit of the doubt. That’s understandable and the shares do remain highly speculative. Small technology companies can get overtaken by events very quickly but Synchronica shareholders may yet come out smiling.

by Stuart Watson
Source: http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk

Administration supports early childhood education

The Bali administration has allocated a significant amount of money for traditional village groups to finance an early age education program on the island to increase the number of under-six-year-olds who receive education. 

The program, known as PAUD, was started in 2006 and is aimed at establishing community-based children's playgroup facilities for the island's banjar (traditional neighborhood organizations). 

Banjar, the core community organization in Balinese villages, are separate from Indonesia's modern bureaucratic hierarchy. 

However, the Bali administration has in the past repeatedly sought the help of these traditional organizations in implementing government programs. One example was the successful of banjar in carrying out the government's family planning program. 

"The administration acts as a stimulator for the program while the implementers are the desa pekraman (traditional customary villages) and banjar," head of Bali's Learning Group Empowerment Body (BPKB) IB Anom said recently. 

The BPKB is a government body tasked with promoting and assisting education programs in communities. 

Classes for young leaners will be held in the hall of each participating banjar. Every banjar in Bali has its own hall, known as a bale banjar, in which meetings, music lessons and traditional dance performances are held. 

In order to qualify to stage the classes, a banjar must be able to supply the venue, staff and teachers. The administration also dictates that a village may not have a similar facility operating in the immediate regions. If the village meets all of these requirements, the administration will supply it with the fund. 

"Since each desa pekraman comprises several banjar then the actual site of the playgroup will be decided by the members of the desa pekraman," he added. 

In 2006, the Bali administration disbursed a total Rp 2.5 billion (US$268,817) to finance the establishment of 100 playgroups. In the following year, the administration established 32 more playgroups. This year, the administration will a further 18. 

Each playgroup receives an assistance fund of Rp 25 million. The funds are used in the procurement of educational toys and to finance the playgroup's daily operations. 

"There are enrollment fees and tuition fees for children who want to join the facility. The amount of those fees is decided by the desa pekraman or the banjar. Since the fees are set by the local community, the fees are generally affordable, he added. 

The Bali administration has targeted that by 2009, 50 percent of all children between 3 and 4-years-old on the island will have access to the learning program. 

The administration has chosen to focus on the age group for a number of reasons, Anom said. 

"The limited number of available playgroups is one of the reasons. Usually, these formal playgroups, operated mostly by private institutions, charge expensive enrollment and tuition fees," he said. 

Another factor concerns the low awareness of the program among parents. 

"Many parents still believe their children should go to school when they have reached the age of six. In fact, children in the 3-4 years-old age group already possess the ability to absorb knowledge as well as to be creative," he said.

Source:Wasti Atmodjo , Contributor, The Jakarta Post , Denpasar | Tue, 09/30/2008 10:19 AM | Bali 

Health Sense: Don't go blind from diabetes -- detect the symptoms early

No one wants to go blind, and fortunately, in many cases, it can be avoided. 

Given the growing affluence in Asia, and the lifestyle changes and increased longevity that comes with it, more people are suffering from diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration which can lead to severe loss of vision or even blindness. 

"In fact, diabetic retinopathy is the most common cause of blindness in the adult working population in developed countries," says ophthalmologist Ian Yeo Yew San, a consultant with the Singapore National Eye Center. 

Up to 80 percent of blindness can be avoided. Often, it is the result of complications from diabetes or other medical conditions. 

According to the 2004 National Health Survey in Singapore, 8.9 percent of males were diabetic, compared to 7.6 percent of females. 

Indian diabetics topped the list at 15.3 percent, compared with the Malays at 11 percent, and the Chinese at 7.1. These figures should hold true with Asians elsewhere who have similar lifestyles. 

Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that results from damage to the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (retina). 

When you have diabetes, your body does not use sugar (glucose) properly. 

If your blood sugar level is too high, your natural lens may swell, which can blur your vision. Eventually, too much sugar in your blood can damage the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish the retina. This can result in diabetic retinopathy. 

The longer you have been diabetic, the higher your chances are that your blood vessels in your eyes will become damaged. 

"About 60 percent of patients who have had diabetes for 15 years or longer will have some blood vessel damage in their eyes, and a certain percentage of them are at risk of becoming blind," Yeo said. 

At first, diabetic retinopathy may cause no symptoms or only mild vision problems. Eventually, however, diabetic retinopathy can result in blindness. 

As the condition progresses, its symptoms, which usually affect both eyes, may include: * Spots floating in your vision * Blurred vision * Dark streaks or a red film that blocks your vision * Poor night vision * Vision loss 

As part of the eye exam, your doctor may do a retinal photography test called fluorescein angiography. 

First, your doctor will dilate your pupils and take pictures of the inside of your eyes. Then a special dye will be injected into a vein in your arm. More pictures will be taken as the dye circulates through your eyes. 

Your doctor can use the images to pinpoint blood vessels that are closed, have broken down or are leaking fluid. 

Your doctor also may request an optical coherence tomography (OCT) exam. This imaging test provides cross-sectional images of the retina that shows the thickness of the retina and whether fluid has leaked into the retinal tissue. 

There are several types of diabetic retinopathy. 

Background retinopathy is an early stage and progresses slowly over the years. Tiny blood spots or fatty deposits may appear on the retina. 

The majority of patients do not develop vision loss except for a gradual blurring of vision which may not be noticeable. In some patients, blood vessels leak at the macula -- the part of the retina responsible for central vision, causing loss of vision. 

Proliferative retinopathy develops from background retinopathy and is responsible for most of the visual loss in diabetes. New blood vessels grow (proliferate) on the surface of the retina and optic nerves. 

These vessels tend to rupture and bleed into the vitreous cavity. Or, scar tissues may grow from the ruptured blood vessels which will contract and pull on the retina, detaching it -- resulting in loss of vision. 

If diabetic retinopathy is detected early, photocoagulation by laser treatment may stop it from getting worse. 

In cases where the disease is in an advanced stage, the treatment can reduce the chances of having a severe loss of vision. 

Treatment involves using laser beams to seal the abnormal blood vessels from leaking and forming tiny scars on the retina. These scars will reduce new vessel growth and cause existing ones to shrink and close up. The treatment can be done on an outpatient basis. 

Advanced cases of diabetic retinopathy are treated by a procedure called vitrectomy to remove blood from the center of the eye (vitreous) and scar tissue that may be tugging on the retina. 

Often, vitrectomy is followed or accompanied by laser treatment. This procedure is done under local or general anesthesia. 

"Successful treatment of diabetic retinopathy depends on early detection and treatment." 

Prevention is better than cure 

Preventable eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy can be detected early and properly treated to stop them from getting worse. 

"This is why there are active programs to screen for these eye diseases. We recommend that patients who are diabetic go for diabetic retinal photography or retinal assessment so that if anything, they can be treated early and hopefully save their eyesight," says ophthalmologist Ian Yeo Yew San, a consultant with the Singapore National Eye Center. 

Fortunately for Yeo's patient, Syed Mustaffa B. Syed Hassan, who has been diabetic for more than 10 years, his diabetic retinopathy was detected early and it was successfully treated. 

Like most, he was not unaware of it, but when he underwent surgery for a hand injury three years ago, the doctor noticed blood clots in his eyes. 
Mustaffa was referred to the Singapore National Eye Center where the operation was performed, one eye at a time. 
"Now I can see the bus numbers, watch TV and read," Mustaffa said. 
Yeo's advice for diabetic patients is to control their diabetes with diet and medication to delay or prevent the development of diabetic retinopathy and other complications. They are also advised to have yearly eye examinations. 
The Singapore National Eye Center sees 250,000 outpatients, performs 14,000 major eye surgeries and 13,000 laser procedures every year. 
The center performs over 1,200 vitreo-retinal surgeries annually. A strict quality assurance program instituted by the center ensures excellent results, comparable to other world-class eye institutions. 

Articles in this column, which will appear every two weeks, are provided by a panel of health professionals from www.flyfreeforhealth.com, a leading multimedia medical tourism platform dedicated to providing travel and lifestyle incentives for those adopting a healthy lifestyle.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/12/31/health-sense-don039t-go-blind-diabetes-detect-symptoms-early.html