Education forms the foundation for the development of human resource, making it critical for national development. To ensure that children attain a minimum period of schooling, the government of Ghana has committed itself to a number of international protocols to provide basic education for all Ghanaian children. Hence, many basic schools have been built throughout the country to increase access and participation. These schools are administered in most cases by experienced teachers who serve as leaders. The subject of ‘leadership’ has gained considerable attention, discussion, and extensive study by theorists and researchers in a number of disciplines. This is so, especially in modern times when the concept has become complex as a result of globalization and technological advancement. School leaders are considered as pillars of the educational system, and also seen as the major agents in the promotion of school effectiveness. This is clearly seen in the numerous functions that they are expected to perform daily and often simultaneously, thereby showing the crucial role of school leaders in establishing, monitoring and maintaining the quality and standards in education. This paper examines the duties of headteachers of public basic schools in Ghana in attaining school and educational goals, and the challenge(s) they face in executing their duties. The paper recommends among other things that headteachers need to improve on their knowledge and skills in school and financial administration through learning and experience, and they must be effectively monitored, supervised. Again, the Capitation Grant (CG) policy should be evaluated, reviewed and revised so that its implementation could meet changing and current trends.

The study will clarify the Continous Assessment (C.A.) and also outlining the advantages and disadvantages of the Continous Assessment, categorization and problems of the Continous Assessment. The Malaysian system of curriculum according to OBE will be discussed. The history of Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) curriculum will also be looked into. The characteristics and history of OBE also to be discussed. Its problem, weakness and benefits will also be analysed. The similarities and difference of the Continous Assessment in Nigerian and Malaysian Universities will be discussed. Also, what both countries can benefit from each other and improve is highlighted.

Teacher attrition and retention in the education sector is a matter of concern for all Ghanaians and as such the study was conducted to explore issues concerning teacher retention and attrition in Ghana. The study was descriptive survey in nature, and sought to establish factors that militate against the retention of teachers, as well as their satisfaction of the conditions of service in public senior high schools. The study was conducted in four Senior High Schools and a sample of 116 teachers was randomly selected for the study. A questionnaire was used to collect qualitative data. Findings revealed that most of the senior high school teachers may leave the teaching profession in the nearest future if their conditions of service and salaries, as well as school and classroom environment are not improved. Also the problem of teacher attrition in Senior High Schools in the district is partly attributable to non-compliance of the conditions of service for teachers by Ghana Education Service. Based on the findings, the study made the following recommendations: As a matter of urgency, the state should review the conditions of service for teachers and ensure their full implementation. Moreover, the state should take immediate steps to improve upon infrastructure in Senior High Schools, especially, those located in rural communities, to create conducive environment for teaching and learning.

This study intended to investigate the relationship between jigger infestation and participation at school by preprimary school and lower primary school children. The objective of the study was to find out the relationship between jigger infestation and children’s rate of school attendance. The study was carried out in Gatundu District because it is one of the highly jigger infested districts in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study utilized the Ecological systems theory and it employed the descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised of pre-primary, lower primary school children and their class teachers from all the public schools in Gatundu District. Forty four jigger infested children were purposively sampled for the study. An equal number of pupils not infested were randomly sampled to be compared with those who were infested. The teachers handling preprimary school and lower primary classes were also purposively sampled. Questionnaires for teachers, observations schedules for children and document analysis were utilized for data collection. Qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis were applied. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to prepare and organize data for analysis. Pearson’s correlation coefficient test was used to compute the relationship between the variables. Frequency distribution tables, percentages, and descriptions were utilized for data presentations. Findings revealed that jiggers were a major threat to the realization of children’s educational goals. The Pearson correlation coefficient indicated that jigger affected children’s school attendance in that r = – 0.123, n=44 and sig(2 tailed)= 0.426.The study recommends that the school managers liaises with other stakeholders to seek for strategies of curing those infested, carry out routine checkups on children and sensitize communities on the causes, dangers and preventive measures of the jigger parasite in order to help all children realize their full educational potential in life.

Improving children’s literature learning skill is a key issue in primary school education. In this research, therefore, a conceptual framework model and the examples of its application in the form of learning instruments for children’s literature learning with the cooperative learning approach in Primary School are developed according to the prevailing curriculum. This research used the Research and Development (R&D) method with the following phases: (1) preliminary study; (2) model development; (3) model effectiveness test; and (4) product dissemination and model acceptability. It was conducted in Central Java. The results of the research are as follows: (1) Primary School teachers require a guidance for the implementation of children’s literature learning in Primary School; (2) the cooperative approach can improve the literature competencies of students; (3) the result of children’s literature learning with the cooperative learning approach is better than that of children’s literature learning with the conventional one; and (4) the children’s literature learning model with the cooperative learning approach in Primary School and the book of “Guidance for the Implementation of Children’s Literature Learning with the Cooperative Learning Approach in Primary School ” are well-acceptable to stakeholders. Thus, it can be concluded that the children’s literature learning with the cooperative learning approach in Primary School can improve the quality of the process and result of children’s literature learning in terms of cognitive, affective, and motor aspects.

BACKGROUND: Uncorrected refractive errors are a public health problem especially among school children. It has a direct effect on learning and academic performance. AIMS OF THE STUDY: This study aims to assess the refractive errors among a representative sample of school children under ten in Assiut City, Egypt and to manage the discovered cases early. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Descriptive cross sectional study design was used. The students of primary schools in the first, second and third grades under ten years old were the focus of the study and they were selected by stratified random sampling technique. The calculated sample size was 196. Two tools were used in the study; the first one was a self administered questionnaire to collect sociodemographic data as child age, birth order, father's and mother's education and occupation, family history of wearing glasses, watching TV or using computer etc. The second tool was the eye examination by a Portable Auto-refractometer which has the advantages of accuracy, easy examination, being movable everywhere and provide printable eye status report. An eye examination record was used to register data about student's name, age. Data collection started from the first of March 2012 until the end of April 2012. Data were analyzed using SPSS soft program version 16. RESULTS: 241 students (107 males and 134 females) participated in the study but 142 only agreed to perform eye examination with 59% response rate. Ninety-five children (66.9%) had a significant refractive error of ±0.50 or worse in one or both eyes. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Significant refractive errors occur among primary school children aged 6 to 10 years. Therefore, there is a need to have regular and simple vision testing in primary school children to screen for refractive errors. This will enable to start corrective measures at the early stage and decrease visual disability.

The objective of this study was to investigate the differential effects of three major factors causing dropout of students from private higher education and training colleges. Using simple random sampling, a sample of 258 students from private colleges in three provinces were selected and used for the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on students’ perceptions regarding the magnitude to which distinct factors cause dropout from college. The differential effects of the three major factors on college dropout was analysed using the General Linear Model based univariate ANOVA technique. The F (2, 258) statistic (= 4.039; p < 0.05) and the Tukey HSD and Games-Howell post-hoc results indicate significant differences between the effects of institutional factors and socioeconomic status. The mean scores results demonstrate that socioeconomic status had the highest significant effect; followed by student-related factors; while institutional factors had the least effect on dropout.

This study aimed to systematically review studies that investigate factors associated with students lateness behavior and dealing strategies. There were at least 24 papers and reports reviewed regarding lateness behavior. The related journal papers and reports on factor associated with students lateness behavior and dealing strategies were downloaded with cut off limit from 1991 to 2013. The papers and reports were then analyzed and organized according to the definitions of lateness and various factors associated with students lateness behavior and dealing strategies. However, the finding of this study indicate that there were conclusive evidence from the reviewed literature regarding students lateness behavior, yet the number of articles supporting it was small. Finally, conclusion of the study indicate tha dealing with disruptive behavior in the classroom is one of the most challenging aspects of being a professor and the study recommended further investigations and analysis could be beneficial to obtain a complete vision of patterns of lateness behavior and coping strategies for the student.

It is expected that private schools should look up to government schools for standard that should culminate in better performance. However, parent’s preference is positively disposed towards private primary schools. In this study, two private schools and two public schools were randomly selected from Akwanga Township. Pupils in primary six were used for the study. The instrument for data collection was the Primary Literacy And Numeracy Test (PLNT). The instrument was made of 30 questions taken from the national common entrance examinations. 15 questions were in English, while 15 were in mathematics. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to detect any significant difference between the mean scores of private primary and public primary schools. Results show that the performance of pupils on the PLNT differed significantly in favour of those from the Private Primary Schools.