Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2011 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 6 Articles
There is an urgent need to reform the educational system to achieve universal primary education in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Even after 35 years of independence, PNG has been struggling to educate an estimated 2 million elementary- and primary-aged children and faces numerous challenges in providing Education for All (EFA). This study was conducted in four primary schools of Buma Yong area of Lae district ofMorobe Province, PNG. The study revealed that the quality of education has been deteriorated over the past few decades. Many schools in PNG do not have classrooms, teachers, and basic facilities. As a result, the children are losing interest in going to school. The children dropped out of school so as to assist their families in the household and agricultural activities. It also reveals that the dropout rate of girls is more than that of the boys due to the gender disparity in the country. The study recommended that budgetary allocations should be increased so as to improve the infrastructural facilities and encourage the children to attend primary school and thus achieve the Millennium Development Goal/Education For All in PNG....
In many countries worldwide, health worker shortages are one of the main constraints in achieving population health goals. Financial-incentive programmes for return of service, whereby participants receive payments in return for a commitment to practise for a period of time in a medically underserved area, can alleviate local and regional health worker shortages through a number of mechanisms. First, they can redirect the flow of those health workers who would have been educated without financial incentives from well-served to underserved areas. Second, they can add health workers to the pool of workers who would have been educated without financial incentives and place them in underserved areas. Third, financial-incentive programmes may improve the retention in underserved areas of those health workers who participate in a programme, but who would have worked in an underserved area without any financial incentives. Fourth, the programmes may increase the retention of all health workers in underserved areas by reducing the strength of some of the reasons why health workers leave such areas, including social isolation, lack of contact with colleagues, lack of support from medical specialists and heavy workload.\nWe draw on studies of financial-incentive programmes and other initiatives with similar objectives to discuss seven management functions that are essential for the long-term success of financial-incentive programmes: financing (programmes may benefit from innovative donor financing schemes, such as endowment funds, international financing facilities or compensation payments); promotion (programmes should use tested communication channels in order to reach secondary school graduates and health workers); selection (programmes may use selection criteria to ensure programme success and to achieve supplementary policy goals); placement (programmes should match participants to areas in order to maximize participant satisfaction and retention); support (programmes should prepare participants for the time in an underserved area, stay in close contact with participants throughout the different phases of enrolment and help participants by assigning them mentors, establishing peer support systems or financing education courses relevant to work in underserved areas); enforcement (programmes may use community-based monitoring or outsource enforcement to existing institutions); and evaluation (in order to broaden the evidence on the effectiveness of financial incentives in increasing the health workforce in underserved areas, programmes in developing countries should evaluate their performance; in order to improve the strength of the evidence on the effectiveness of financial incentives, controlled experiments should be conducted where feasible).\nIn comparison to other interventions to increase the supply of health workers to medically underserved areas, financial-incentive programmes have advantages ââ?¬â?? unlike initiatives using non-financial incentives, they establish legally enforceable commitments to work in underserved areas and, unlike compulsory service policies, they will not be opposed by health workers ââ?¬â?? as well as disadvantages ââ?¬â?? unlike initiatives using non-financial incentives, they may not improve the working and living conditions in underserved areas (which are important determinants of health workers' long-term retention) and, unlike compulsory service policies, they cannot guarantee that they will supply health workers to underserved areas who would not have worked in such areas without financial incentives. Financial incentives, non-financial incentives, and compulsory service are not mutually exclusive and may positively affect each other's performance....
The creation and exchange of knowledge between cultures has benefited world development for many years. The European Union now puts research and innovation at the front of its economic strategy. In the health field, biomedical research, which benefits the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, has been well supported, but much less emphasis has been given to public health and health systems research. A similar picture is emerging in European support for globalisation and health\r\nTwo case-studies illustrate the links of European support in global health research with industry and biomedicine. The European Commission's directorates for (respectively) Health, Development and Research held an international conference in Brussels in June 2010. Two of six thematic sessions related to research: one was solely concerned with drug development and the protection of intellectual property. Two European Union-supported health research projects in India show a similar trend. The Euro-India Research Centre was created to support India's participation in EU research programmes, but almost all of the health research projects have been in biotechnology. New INDIGO, a network led by the French national research agency CNRS, has chosen 'Biotechnology and Health' and funded projects only within three laboratory sciences.\r\nResearch for commerce supports only one side of economic development. Innovative technologies can be social as well as physical, and be as likely to benefit society and the economy. Global health research agendas to meet the Millenium goals need to prioritise prevention and service delivery. Public interest can be voiced through civil society organisations, able to support social research and public-health interventions. Money for health research comes from public budgets, or indirectly through healthcare costs. European 'Science in Society' programme contrasts research for 'economy', using technical solutions, commercialisation and a passive consumer voice for civil society, compared with research valuing 'collectivity', organisational and social innovations, open use, and public accountability....
Most students see Mathematics as one of the most challenging and stressful subjects, which if given an option, would rather opt out than undertake it. With low motivation and interest levels, the thought of undertaking a course in Mathematics can be worrying for some. Consequently, teachers are faced with disinterested students, who are passive in class, which makes teaching of the subject even more challenging. At times, with non participative students, Mathematics classrooms appear 'solemn'. Through the years, teachers have been experimenting or 'trying out' various approaches/techniques, in their attempt to develop students' interest and motivation. With the advent of information technology tools, teachers have now attempted to adopt more innovative approaches and incorporate ICT tools into\r\nMathematics classrooms as well. One such tool is the graphing calculator (GC), which is adopted in this study. The incorporation of GCs into Malaysian Mathematics classrooms is at its infant stages. The study examined the students' reactions toward the incorporation of GCs into Probability lessons as well as the subject itself. Findings favor the adoption of GC in learning Probability, particularly in terms of calculator usage, quality of output, understanding of Probability concepts, confidence in solving problems, enhanced communication abilities and\r\npositive attitudes towards GC. Recommendations made aimed at assisting educators, policymakers and researchers in enhancing the quality of the teaching and learning of Probability....
Recently knowledge sharing (KS) becomes the focus of attention from many practitioners and academics. Knowledge transfer is an integral part of knowledge sharing. In order to build on the knowledge asset, organizations need to share knowledge and transfer this knowledge within organizational networks. Nowadays, managers need to understand which knowledge enablers are effective to provide a conducive environment for KS. Currently, managers need to support and facilitate knowledge transfer process rather than control it. This study focuses on the\r\nknowledge transfer by identifying it�s enablers as discussed in many previous studies Therefore, the purpose of this study is intended to investigate to identify the knowledge enablers which need to be developed as mechanisms to stimulate knowledge creation, protect knowledge and build effective knowledge sharing behavior in telecommunications companies. The empirical examination of research model indicated that knowledge strategy, organizational culture, information technology, and knowledge leadership as knowledge enablers have a significant positive relationship with knowledge transfer....
Annual revenue flow to developing countries for ecotourism (or nature-based tourism) could be as large as US$ 21061012, providing an enormous financial incentive against habitat loss and exploitation. However, is ecotourism the most privately and/or socially valuable use of rainforest land? The question is rarely answered because the relevant data, estimates of profits and fixed costs, are rarely available. We present a social cost-benefit analysis of land use in an ecotourism cluster in the Tambopata region of Amazonian Peru. The net present value of ecotourism-controlled land is given by the producer surplus (profits plus fixed costs of ecotourism lodges): US$ 1,158 ha21, which is higher than all currently practiced\nalternatives, including unsustainable logging, ranching, and agriculture. To our knowledge, this is the first sector-wide study of profitability and producer surplus in a developing-country ecotourism sector and the first to compare against equivalent\nmeasures for a spectrum of alternative uses. We also find that ecotourism-controlled land sequesters between 5.3 to 8.7 million tons of above-ground carbon, which is equivalent to between 3000ââ?¬â??5000 years of carbon emissions from the\ndomestic component of air and surface travel between the gateway city of Cusco and the lodges, at 2005 emission rates. Ecotourism in Tambopata has successfully monetized the hedonic value of wild nature in Amazonian Peru, and justifies the\nmaintenance of intact rainforest over all alternative uses on narrow economic grounds alone....
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