Government Schools (government + school)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


PRIVATE EDUCATION AND ,EDUCATION FOR ALL'

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2004
James Tooley
Government schools cannot provide quality education for all. If the goal of education for all is to be achieved, the private sector must be encouraged and not squeezed out. Development agencies need to wake up to this because large-scale government education leads to failure on a large scale that can cause serious harm to the poor. [source]


R58fs Mutation in the HGD Gene in a Family with Alkaptonuria in the UAE

ANNALS OF HUMAN GENETICS, Issue 1 2009
Yousef M Abdulrazzaq
Summary This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of alkaptonuria in the UAE population and to identify the genotype of affected individuals. In a 3 stage sampling technique 2981 pupils from Government schools in Al Ain and private schools in Dubai were selected to take part in the study, of whom 2857 provided urine samples. Urine collected was analysed for homogentisic acid by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Genomic DNA was isolated from the white blood cells of all family members of the affected case following standard established protocols. Specific PRC primers were designed to amplify all 14 exons of the HGD gene with the flanking intronic sequences including the splice site sequences. 2857 children returned a viable urine sample, of which one was highly positive for homogentisic acid. All 12 members of this girl's family were studied and one, a 22 year old brother, was found to excrete HGA. Another, a sister who had not provided a urine sample, was discovered by genetic testing. There were no complaints of joint pain or other symptoms in any member of this family. Parents were first cousins. We found a single nucleotide deletion c.342delA, located in exon 3, which resulted in a frameshift at amino acid position 58 (p.Arg58fs or p.R58fs). Alkaptonuria may be more common than it is thought to be with an allele prevalence estimated at 0.0107 (95% CI 0.000392 , 0.03473). The R58fs mutation is old, perhaps having occurred several thousand years ago, and has spread over a large geographical area. [source]


Limits to self-organising systems of learning,the Kalikuppam experiment

BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2010
Sugata Mitra
What and how much can children learn without subject teachers? In an attempt to find a limit to self organized learning, we explored the capacity of 10,14 year old Tamil-speaking children in a remote Indian village to learn basic molecular biology, initially on their own with a Hole-in-the-Wall public computer facility, and later with the help of a mediator without knowledge of this subject. We then compared these learning outcomes with those of similarly-aged children at a nearby average-below average performing state government school who were not fluent in English but were taught this subject and another group of children at a high-performing private school in New Delhi who were fluent in English and had been taught this subject by qualified teachers. We found that the village children who only had access to computers and Internet-based resources in the Hole-in-the-Wall learning stations achieved test scores comparable with those at the local state school and, with the support of the mediator, equal to their peers in the privileged private urban school. Further experiments were conducted with unsupervised groups of 8,12 year-olds in several English schools using the Internet to study for GCSE questions they normally would be examined on at the age of 16. We conclude that, in spite of some limitations, there are opportunities for self-organised and mediated learning by children in settings where they would otherwise be denied opportunities for good, or indeed any, schooling. We also show that this approach can be enhanced by the use of local or online mediators. [source]


Traumatised permanent teeth in 11,16-year-old Saudi Arabian children with a sensory impairment attending special schools

DENTAL TRAUMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2003
M. AlSarheed
Abstract ,,,The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of traumatised permanent teeth among sensory (visual (VI) and hearing (HI)) impaired children attending special schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All the dental injuries involved incisor teeth, and trauma was noted in 33 (6.7%) children attending government schools (control group) compared to 7 (9%) VI children and 24 (11.4%) HI children. Differences in the dental trauma only reached statistical significance between the HI and control group (P < 0.05). Gender differences were only apparent in the HI group, with males having higher levels of traumatised teeth. In addition, HI children aged 11,12 years were more prone to trauma than children in the control group of the same age (P < 0.05). In conclusion, sensory impaired children do have a tendency for more dental trauma. However, this was only statistically significant for HI children. Whereas a gender difference was most noticeable for the HI group, with males having higher levels of trauma, this was noticeable by its absence among VI children. [source]


Do life- or school-satisfaction and self-esteem indicators explain the oral hygiene habits of schoolchildren?

COMMUNITY DENTISTRY AND ORAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 5 2007
S. Honkala
Abstract,,, Objectives:, The aim of this study was to ascertain how frequently toothbrushing and flossing are practiced among schoolchildren in Kuwait and whether life- and school-satisfaction and self-esteem indicators are associated with oral hygiene habits. Methods:, A sample of 2312 schoolchildren between 11 and 13 years old filled out a structured questionnaire anonymously in school classrooms during 2002 and 2003. For this study, nationally representative samples of children were drawn from all six governorates of Kuwait. Only government schools were included. The questionnaire of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study was used in this study after it was modified to suit Kuwait. A chi-squared test and logistic regression model were used for analyzing the data. Results:, Over half of the pupils reported brushing their teeth more than once a day; girls reported brushing more frequently than boys did. One-fifth of the pupils did not brush their teeth even on a daily basis. The life- and school-satisfaction and self-esteem indicators were associated with more-than-once-a-day toothbrushing frequency. The strongest predictors for recommended brushing were: feeling very happy (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.38,2.77), feeling that other pupils always accept him/her (1.5; 1.16,2.02), never/sometimes feeling lonely and feeling that it is very easy to make friends (1.4; 1.06,1.94). The summary variables of life-satisfaction, school-satisfaction and self-esteem seemed to be strongly associated with brushing. Dental floss was never used by 45% of the children, weekly by 18% and daily by 17%; 20% did not even know what dental floss was. Conclusions:, Among intermediate schoolchildren in Kuwait, oral hygiene practices were far behind the international recommendations. Special emphasis should be placed on children who have personal problems with their life, school and self-esteem. [source]