Library Science Essay

An integrated library system (ILS), also known as a library management system (LMS),[1][2] is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed. An ILS usually comprises a relational database, software to interact with that database, and two graphical user interfaces (one for patrons, one for staff). Most ILSes separate software functions into discrete programs called modules, each of them integrated with a unified interface. Examples of modules might include: acquisitions (ordering, receiving, and invoicing materials) cataloging (classifying and indexing materials) circulation (lending materials to patrons and receiving them back) serials (tracking magazine and newspaper holdings) the OPAC (public interface for users) Each patron and item has a unique ID in the database that allows the ILS to track its activity. Larger libraries use an ILS to order and acquire, receive and invoice, catalog, circulate, track and shelve materials. Smaller libraries, such as those in private homes or non-profit organizations (like churches or synagogues, for instance), often forgo the expense and maintenance required to run an ILS, and instead use a library computer system. [citation needed] Contents [hide] 1 History 1. 1 Pre-computerization 1. 2 1960s: the influence of computer technologies 1. 3 1970s-1980s: the early integrated library system 1. 4 1990s-2000s: the growth of the Internet 1. 5 Mid 2000s-Present: increasing costs and customer dissatisfaction 2 Examples 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links [edit]History [edit]Pre-computerization Prior to computerization, library tasks were performed manually and independently from one another. Selectors ordered materials with ordering slips, cataloguers manually catalogued items and indexed them with the card catalog system (in which all bibliographic data was kept on a single index card), and users signed books out manually, indicating their name on cue cards which were then kept at the circulation desk. Early mechanization came in 1936, when the University of Texas began using a punch card system to manage library circulation. [3] While the punch card system allowed for more efficient tracking of loans, library services were far from being integrated, and no other library task was affected by this change. [edit]1960s: the influence of computer technologies Following this, the next big innovation came with the advent of MARC standards in the 1960s which coincided with the growth of computer technologies – library automation was born. [3] From this point onwards, libraries began experimenting with computers, and, starting in the late 1960s and continuing into the 1970s, bibliographic services utilizing new online technology and the shared MARC vocabulary entered the market; these included OCLC (1967), Research Libraries Group (which has since merged with OCLC), and Washington Library Network (which became Western Library Network and is also now part of OCLC). [4] [edit]1970s-1980s: the early integrated library system Screenshot of a Dynix menu. The 1970s can be characterized by improvements in computer storage as well as in telecommunications. [4] As a result of these advances, ‘turnkey systems on microcomputers,’[4] known more commonly as integrated library systems (ILS) finally appeared. These systems included necessary hardware and software which allowed the connection of major circulation tasks, including circulation control and overdue notices. [5] As the technology developed, other library tasks could be accomplished through ILS as well, including acquisition, cataloguing, reservation of titles, and monitoring of serials. [6] [edit]1990s-2000s: the growth of the Internet With the evolution of the Internet throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, ILSs began allowing users to more actively engage with their libraries through OPACs and online web-based portals. Users could log into their library accounts to reserve or renew books, as well as authenticate themselves for access to library-subscribed online databases. Inevitably, during this time, the ILS market grew exponentially. By 2002, the ILS industry averaged sales of approximately US$500 million annually, compared to just US$50 million in 1982. [5] [edit]Mid 2000s-Present: increasing costs and customer dissatisfaction By the mid to late 2000s, ILS vendors had increased not only the number of services offered but also their prices, leading to some dissatisfaction among many smaller libraries. At the same time, open source ILS was in its early stages of testing. Some libraries began turning to such open source ILSs as Koha and Evergreen. Common reasons noted were to avoid vendor lock in, avoid license fees, and participate in software development. Freedom from vendors also allowed libraries to prioritize needs according to urgency, as opposed to what their vendor can offer. [7] Libraries which have moved to open source ILS have found that vendors are now more likely to provide quality service in order to continue a partnership since they no longer have the power of owning the ILS software and tying down libraries to strict contracts. [7] This has been the case with the SCLENDS consortium. Following the success of Evergreen for the Georgia PINES library consortium, the South Carolina State Library along with some local public libraries formed the SCLENDS consortium in order to share resources and to take advantage of the open source nature of the Evergreen ILS to meet their specific needs. [7] By October 2011, just 2 years after SCLENDS began operations, 13 public library systems across 15 counties had already joined the consortium, in addition to the South Carolina State Library. Librarytechnology. org does an annual survey of over 2,400 libraries and noted in 2008 2%[8] of those surveyed used open source ILS, in 2009 the number increased to 8%,[9] in 2010 12%,[10] and in 2011 11% [11] of the libraries polled had adopted open source ILSs. [edit]Examples Open-source Evergreen Greenstone Invenio Koha Kuali OLE NewGenLib PhpMyBibli OpenBiblioÃ'Ž VuFind Proprietary Aleph from Ex Libris Innovative Interfaces Library†¢Solution, Library†¢Solution for Schools, and CARL†¢X from The Library Corporation LibraryWorld NOSA Qulto System SirsiDynix, Symphony—current version and Unicorn—a legacy system. SydneyPLUS International Capita Alto formerly Talis Alto (UK and Ireland) Virtua, former VTLS, from VTLS Inc. Voyager from former company Endeavor Information Systems, later acquired by Ex Libris (Polish) MOL, Patron and MOLIK – interface created for children (Polish) SOWA, SOWA2, SOWA2/MARC21, SOWA2/MARC21/SQLÃ'Ž Legacy NOTIS Dynix [edit]See also Library and information science portal Library computer system OPAC List of next-generation catalogs History of Library Automation [edit]References ^ Adamson, Veronica, et al. (2008). JISC & SCONUL Library Management Systems Study PDF (1 MB). Sheffield, UK: Sero Consulting. p. 51. Retrieved on 21 January 2009. â€Å"†¦ a Library Management System (LMS or ILS ‘Integrated Library System’ in US parlance). † Some useful library automation software are: KOHA ,Grennstone . LIBsis, and granthlaya. Tennant, Roy (16 April 2008). â€Å"Picking When to Jump, Part 2†. Library Journal. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 20 January 2009. â€Å"Across the pond they use the term library management systems (LMS) for what we call the integrated library system (ILS). † ^ a b Wallace, Patricia M. (1991). Gary M. Pitkin. ed. Library Systems Migration: An Introduction. Westport, CT: Meckler. p. 3. ISBN 0-88736-738-0. ^ a b c Wallace, Patricia M. (1991). Gary M. Pitkin. ed. Library Systems Migration: An Introduction. Westport, CT: Meckler. p. 4. ISBN 0-88736-738-0. ^ a b Kochtanek, Thomas R. (2002). â€Å"1 – The Evolution of LIS and Enabling Technologies†. Library Information Systems: From Library Automation to Distributed Information Access Solutions. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. p. 4. ISBN 1-59158-018-8. ^ Kochtanek, Thomas R. (2002). â€Å"1 – The Evolution of LIS and Enabling Technologies†. Library Information Systems: From Library Automation to Distributed Information Access Solutions. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. p. 5. ISBN 1-59158-018-8. ^ a b c Hamby, R. ; McBride, R. , & Lundberg, M. (2011, Oct. ). â€Å"South Carolina’s SCLENDS optimizing libraries, transforming lending†. Computers in Libraries. 8 31: 6–10. ^ http://www. librarytechnology. org/perceptions2008. pl ^ http://www. librarytechnology. org/perceptions2009. pl ^ http://www. librarytechnology. org/perceptions2010. pl ^ http://www. librarytechnology. org/perceptions2011. pl [edit]Further reading Olson, N. (2010). Taken for Granted – The Construction of Order in the Process of Library Management System Decision Making (Vol. 45). Goteborg / Boras: Valfrid publishing. [1] Rubin, Richard E. Foundations of Library and Information Science. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. , 2004. [edit]External links MARC Records, Systems and Tools : Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress Higher Education Library Technology,(HELibTech) a wiki supported by SCONUL (Society of College National and University Libraries) that covers many aspects of library technology and lists technologies in use in UK Higher Education Key resources in the field of Library Automation Categories: Library automationÃ'Ž

Comparison of King Richard III and Looking for Richard Essay

Examinations of Shakespeare’s play ‘King Richard III’ and Pacino’s docu-drama ‘Looking for Richard’ reveals relationships between the texts and their respective audience. The fifteenth century and twentieth century contexts demonstrates the values of each text and enables understanding of how the film enriches the ideas presented in the play. ‘King Richard III’ portrays a hateful, corrupted Richard exploring divine justice and the notion of appearance versus reality in the context of the Elizabethan era. With a time difference of four centuries ‘Looking for Richard’ reflects the Pacino’s quest to understand a Shakespearean text through a personal examination of the same character. This docu-drama reflects the postmodern era’s absence of divine order and the change of conscience. Through the comparative study of these texts our understanding of different contexts and values are illuminated. Shakespeare portrays Richard’s deception through his soliloquies and asides, revealing his multifaceted nature. Richard is shown to use intelligent word play, irony and stichomythia; he is ultimately cast as the Machiavellian character â€Å"determined to play a villain†. Richard blames his appearance for his immoral acts â€Å"deformed, unfinished, sent before my time† and uses it to fulfill his hunger for power. Richard’s duplicity is emphasized when Clarence is sent to the tower. Any sympathy elicited from the audience is undermined by the thick irony in the dialogue. Richard appears to have no idea what is going on and innocently asks â€Å"Brother, good day. What means this armed guard/ That waits upon your grace?† Richard then tries to act like the loving brother â€Å"Brother farewell†¦ this deep disgrace/ Touches me deeper than you can imagine†. The Elizabethan audience is reassured that divine order will be restored and retribut ion will be reaped, Richard will be punished for his deceptive act. ‘Looking for Richard’ reflects the values of its society as Pacino attempts make Shakespeare accessible to a twentieth century audience. The film begins and ends with an intertextual extract from ‘The Tempest’ justifying the ambiguity of the twentieth century â€Å"†¦this insubstantial pageant†¦such stuff that dreams are made on†¦Ã¢â‚¬  reinforcing that life cannot provide us with stability in the search for the truth and  morality as it is endless, unlike the Elizabethan era. Pacino’s portrayal of Richard shows his ability to deceive those who trust him â€Å"he’s in good shape. He can move around. He can maneuver†. He plays the villain, loving brother, resistant king and desperate lover with skill. The fluid editing between rehearsal scenes, the staged performances and the actors’ heated discussions reveal Richard’s ability to construct the truth. Richard’s punishment is not God’s divine r etribution as he is haunted by his conscience. The final scene almost persuades the audience to feel sympathy in his death. Low angle shots reflect his loss of power. A contemporary audience understands that humans are multifaceted and do not condemn his deception as instantaneously as the Shakespearean audience. ‘King Richard III’ depicts Richard’s character through divine order and justice. Richard attempts to usurp authority as king being the catalyst of chaotic events. Richard removes anyone that acts as a barrier, including his own family â€Å"lies well steeled with weighty arguments†. His hunger for power results in his diabolic depiction â€Å"foul devil†, as he attempts to disturb divine order. The text was set in a theocentric society, God will seek retribution to anyone who goes against his will, demonstrated by Shakespeare when Margaret curses Richard for killing her husband and son â€Å"sin, death and hell have their marks set on him†. Richards disruption to moral order caused chaos, therefore divine order had to be restored. Richard had to pay the ultimate price for his sins â€Å"Hie thee to hell for shame†¦ there thy kingdom is† as justification in the Elizabethan era. ‘Looking for Richard’ ignores Richardsâ₠¬â„¢ villainous chaos, instead targeting the audience who live in a world where importance is placed on the individual. This is evident when Pacino states â€Å"A person has an opinion. It’s only an opinion. It’s never a question of right or wrong.† The dialogue demonstrates that theocratic elements are no longer universally accepted. The film juxtaposes twentieth century values with those of the Elizabethan people to show that people are guided only by their own morals. This is shown as Pacino chooses to focus the conversation of Clarence’s murderers on their own individual guilty consciences â€Å"Faith, certain dregs of conscience are here within me†. Pacino chooses to cut out the religious rhetoric to stress that Elizabethan values seem irrelevant to the contemporary audience. Rapid camera movements portray  Richard as a tormented, psychologically unstable man. He becomes haunted by the ghost of his conscience and is punished by his madness rather than his death. ‘Looking for Richard’ proves there is no fear of retribution, only the impact of their immoral behaviour on their identity. In our contemporary context justice is displayed as of individuals own psychological destruction and guilt, rathe r than endorsed by God. The analysis of â€Å"King Richard III† by Shakespeare and â€Å"Looking for Richard† by Al Pacino extends our understanding of the values and contexts of the texts and the attributes they share. Shakespeare’s Elizabethan audience valued religion and God’s restoration of rigid order as Pacino’s twentieth century audience have no decisive spiritual references and live in a world where independence is placed on the individual. The contextual comparison of the texts furthers our understanding of the values portrayed within two largely diverse time periods.

Case Analysis for DLC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case Analysis for DLC - Essay Example The main business opportunities place considerable  focus  on manufacturing, trade, processing, and on the transport and distribution which became the  regional’s  leading  trade  hub  serving around two million customers all over the world. Dubai media city, Dubai Internet city and the Jebel Ali free zone were also  extremely  favorable to foreign investors. Foreign companies  were allowed  to set up free of the local  ownership  and would benefit from the renewable fifteen years  guarantee  of the absence of taxation. Foreign companies can setup  free  of local ownership and benefit from a renewable 15 year  guarantee  of no taxation. Dubai Logistics City  was  afterwards  built, to the already existing Jebel Ali Port, like a  further  free  region  and  fraction  of the future  prospect  Dubai World Central. The Jebel Ali port, standing in a free zone allowing  expansion  in the future, which is a paramount con sideration to the  Emirates’  leader. The Dubai World Central would be used to  host  the all-new airport. It would make it remarkably easy to  revolutionize  freight  from sea, air or land transportation. ... It  was characterized  by the existing internationality and the  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœeasy-living’  atmosphere. In addition to these, English  is extensively spoken, which makes it more attractive to foreigners and the  religious  issues in the  country  are handled  liberally. Up to present times, growth in tourism has led to the  booming  of construction. The  latest  ambitious project intended is Burj Dubai. It  is planned  to be the highest tower worldwide in completion. Just like the Burj al Arab Hotel, it  is situated  on a manmade island.  Around 4.9% of its current GPD came from tourism and conferences.  It was  mainly  from the tourists attracted by the world class accommodation and the duty-free shopping. Dubai palm island  development  was of one of the greatest projects. It was an  island made  by  man  in the resemblance of a palm tree. It offered villas, apartments and hotels.  The island's large size made it even visib le from the outer space.  The major focus of every decision in the country has been its development and sustainable  growth. Due to its monarchial system of governance, coordination and long  time  planning  of policies and projects  it is made  exceptionally  possible.  However, adapting to the  country’s way of doing business, i.e., the Arabian  style  is extremely difficult to many foreign investors. In most of the negotiations, these Arab partners do not have open discussions about the positive or negative impacts of a project in question. Instead of this, they just  withdraw  from the negotiations involved, consider the  matter  at hand  private  and inform the  alien  business partners concerning their  private  decision later. Nevertheless, life in the country – as a model of tolerance and with its variety of different cultures

Document for Proposal review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Document for Proposal review - Essay Example For example, Chapelle (2005) contends that technology is central to second language teaching, while Sinicrope et al 2007) note the importance of increasing inter-cultural collaboration between individuals who are culturally and linguistically different using ICT. Moreover, Alrumaih (2004) argues that ICT advances aid EFL teachers to innovate the way they teach L2 to students in the virtual and physical classrooms. This research study will seek to enrich knowledge about the use of tele-collaboration promote intercultural communication and learning among EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia. O’Dowd (2013), for example, mentions that tele-collaboration enables virtual intercultural interaction and exchange between geographically-dispersed language learners in collaborative projects and tasks. Moreover, Ware and Caà ±ado (2007) also state that tele-collaboration is essential in promoting conversational fluency and negotiation of meaning. By applying online collaboration to enable EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia to collaborate on project work and collaborative tasks, the research project should enrich theory into how EFL teachers can improve their intercultural competence as well as ICT competence. The UNESCO ICT competency framework for teachers, for example, outlines the proficiencies and skills needed for teachers to integrate ICT into teaching practice and the study will seek to enhance this framework. In addition, this study will also seek to enhance knowledge on the Salmon (2004) five stage model that seeks to help guide EFL teachers enhance learner experience and knowledge construction using ICT. Moreover, this research study will contribute significant knowledge about the role of the instructor for tele-collaborative intercultural research. Joly and Iseli-Chan (2010) identifies the need for additional research into tele-collaborative partnerships by EFL teachers. By producing co-authored instructions in teacher-teacher dialogue format,

Phase 2 DB Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Phase 2 DB - Essay Example The brand image of the company and its products would greatly influence the very being of the training requirements so that they are able to focus on customer demands. The competitive advantage of the firm would be a positive signal for getting the products across and making the right kind of move for getting the job done. The training requirements for the firm’s products can be arranged to the separate division for the company to plan and would take care of such requirements. Creating a new division for the sake of catering the training requirements would enhance the aims of the company so that they are able to meet with the company policies and at the same time take full advantage of the brand image of the company on the whole. The training and consultation requirements form a major requirement of the company and would entail the greater allocation of resources at their disposal and management commitment are the strongest points for getting the proper management of the new division of the firm. The catering of the services to the customers would meet the objectives of the firm so that they are able to render better services in the form of getting the products perform better and render after sales service. It has been pointed out that the negative sequence of the profit margin is due to costs incurred by the company so that they are able to manage the company’s resources. A new division is more beneficial to establishing a new separate company so that they are able to cut costs and take the operations to a new different level. The training demands for the products are likely to increase the bulk of orders and would promote a sense of vision for the marketing of the products so that it can be taken up for the purpose of achieving the goodwill of the customers at a large scale. Creating a new company for meeting the training demands would entail separation of some employees to the new organization which

The Import-substitution Industrialisation (ISI) Failure in Argentina Essay

The Import-substitution Industrialisation (ISI) Failure in Argentina - Essay Example Center of discussion in this paper is import substitution industrialization in Argentina that depended on the exchange rate and trade restrictions. They included several exchange rates, import licenses, quotas, protective tariffs, and export taxes. The main aim was to limit external trade and prepared the domestic market for local manufactures. Further, another aim was to protect the domestic industries from stiff competition arising from external industries. The domestic industries were expected to compete internationally. However, these policies typically led to inefficient firms and high cost industrial substitutes. The consequences were diverse, for instance, the local industries could not pose any competitive challenge internationally. As a result, Latin Americans had to pay high prices for substandard goods that could not satisfy their need for quality. Further, Argentina was not able to have foreign exchange to pay for the much required imports; they had spent much time de-emp hasizing exports. ISI had actually led to some economic gains, however, by 1980s, it had been exhausted. During 1980s and 1990s, Argentina was forced to injstitute a number of policies with the aim of opening its economy, decrease the size of the government as well as improving efficiency. Other countries in the Latin America such as Brazil and Paraguay experience government involvement in infrastructure development and in the production sectors. However, the major difference between these countries and Argentina was the issue of funding. This issue was not well addressed in Argentina. The country began to use inflation taxation as the best solution to their problems. Inflation taxation occurs when the government decides to print money to pay the state bills. From the mid 1940s, Argentina witnessed huge difference in its rising inflation figures from the low inflation figures in other countries of the world (Zanetta, 2004). High inflation rates, high fiscal deficits and huge governm ent debts were the main challenges facing Argentina from 1940s to the end of the century. Several argentine citizens argued that the excessive government interference in the economy and the fiscal laxness were not the only problems that led to economic down turn in Argentina. Another challenge that faced Argentina was the relatively trained administrative personnel. The argentine government was not prepared to put in place policies that could lead to stable economic growth. Corruption also affected this problem as well (Birkbeck, 2011). President Peron’s earlier economic gains in Argentina quickly ran into a number of challenges. In 1949, Peron’s government witnessed inflation of about 31percent. This was due to Peron’s strategy of demand expansion through wage increases. At this time, employment was already high. Further, the controlling of imports and the stronger purchasing power siphoned off exports and led to inflation in Argentina (Birkbeck, 2011). In 1949 , Argentina was affected by its first foreign trade deficit since the First World War. In addition, the drought that affected Argentine’s agricultural export further affected argentine’s economy. Further, the terms of trade had started to work against the country. The terms of trade included the rising prices of imports and the decreasing prices of exports. Peron’s approach to economic growth was making the problems worse. For instance, in giving artificially low prices to farmers, to ensure that urban food

The Battles of Lexington and Concord Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Battles of Lexington and Concord - Essay Example oiling conflict between the British and the colonists which stemmed from the determination of George III and the British Parliament to make the colonies pay the tea tax and force them to abide by the coercive regulations that followed the Tea Party. General Gage, the military governor of Massachusetts, was ordered to enforce the tax laws. His first move was to send troops, led by Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and Major John Pitcairn, to Concord to seize stores of arms from which the rapidly forming companies of militia were being supplied. On the night April 18, the British started from Boston. Three colonists known as the riders became pivotal in the colonists answer to this move. Paul Revere and William Dawes, riding by different routes, warned Hancock and Adams of their arrest and aroused the whole countryside along the fifteen miles to Lexington. The third rider, Dr. Samuel Prescott, got the warning to Concord so that when the British arrived, the colonials were ready and expecting them. By April 19, the colonials were ready and they were led by Captain John Parker. The Triangular town common at Lexington was where the British encountered the colonials. Both of the military leaders have ordered their men not fire unless fired upon. Captain Pitcairn, who was leading the assault, declared: â€Å"Ye villains, ye rebels disperse! Lay down your arms!† (Uschan 2003, p. 28) The heavily outnumbered rebels started to leave when, suddenly, a shot was fired. No one know who fired first but after the shot hundreds the firefight began. There were eight dead rebels in the wake of the British army which started for Concorde. At Concord, the people of the town had been busy hiding the Patriots store of arms and ammunition when the British arrived. They set fire to some wooden houses believed to have housed cannons and firearms. By this time, the countryside was swarming with colonial militia and they were angry. (Cook, Perry and Ward, p. 217) From Concord to back to

Teenage Prostitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Teenage Prostitution - Essay Example (India Today) The reasons why children work as prostitutes and why adults seek sexual favors from them, are multiple and interdependent. From information gathered during interviews with children, the following reasons seem most prevalent (Jain P & Kasturi 25) Almost all the girls interviewed mentioned poverty, lack of financial support from their parents and the need to eat and clothe themselves as reasons for getting involved in prostitution. Thus, in many ways, in addition to mere sexual exploitation, the children's poverty is exploited. Another way in which child prostitutes are victimised is their social exclusion and stigmatisation. Most girls become prostitutes to seek better living conditions and due to their desperate situation and/or lack of information -do not care about the consequences, which can include contracting STDs and HIV through unprotected sex. Child prostitution is also caused by changes from traditional values to those of a contemporary society. The consequences of rural to urban migration, and the subsequent reorientation of lifestyle can have far-reaching effects, most notably on the structure of the family. Fewer girls than boys enroll at school, and girls are more likely to drop out. For those who have the opportunity to go to school, conditions are basic and learning materials are in short supply. Many pupils have to travel long distances to get to the schools, which are overcrowded and under-equipped. Also, poverty and the need to contribute to the family's income often cause children to leave school to go to work instead. (Jain P & Kasturi 25) Because of their limited educational opportunities, many girls realise that their chances of obtaining good jobs are poor. Informal education and recreational opportunities are basically non-existent. All of these contribute to a lack of optimism with regard to the future (5) Social attitudes towards child prostitution Many girls testify to facing problems from their parents, their peers or members of the community because of the work they are doing. The social alienation can occur before the girls take up sex work. It is evident that the stigmatisation of the child who is vulnerable and at risk of getting involved in prostitution can be a factor in driving her towards prostitution. (6) Sexual abuse/violence and rape (7) Use of children as 'attractions' by owners and managers of bars, discotheques and restaurants Teenage prostitution is a growing phenomenon in the world. The reasons for this are multiple, but they include chronic family poverty owing to a lack of employment for adults and young persons; a breakdown in family support mechanisms; migration; gender inequality; and the impact of HIV/AIDS. Another contributory cause is the inadequacy of the education systems, which provide quality schooling for only a limited number of children. (India Today) Child prostitution is often dealt with exclusively as a form of child abuse. Although teen prostitututes

Great Expectations Essay Example for Free

Great Expectations Essay How does Charles Dickens create effective images of people and places in chapters 1 and 8 of Great Expectations? Great Expectations is a novel that is recognised as a classic. This particular Charles Dickens enchanting tale is based on the life of a young boy in the Victorian times named Pip. He is both the main character and narrator of the novel. In the chapters one and eight we meet Pip as well as his older sister and his sisters husband Joe. We also meet Magwitch an escaped convict. These characters are representing the lower class of the Victorian society. I believe this novel is about the fact lower class people may find it harder to push boundaries and achieve big thing. Dickens, I think, is trying to show just how wrong this is that people with lower social status are expected to stay lower class. Other Characters we meet in the novel are Estella the beautiful young adopted daughter of Mrs Havisham an eccentric, and possibly a quite mad but importantly rich old woman. I think it is no coincidence that Dickens shows these two upper class figures to be bitter and not accepting and at times quite stubborn. This highlights the idea that Victorian society is socially rigid. It is not based on who or what you are but instead about your heritage and your riches. Dickens uses this novel to demonstrate that people lower class are more than capable to easily slot into the life of riches and perhaps too easily. So the opening chapter starts with Pip he is in the process of analysing his parents and brothers gravestones in desperation for any knowledge of his heritage. This sense of desperation allows the readers to feel pity towards Pip. This is a great example of how effortlessly Dickens is able to control the emotions of his audience. Also the fact pip was visiting the grave alone may show how lonely Pip is without his parents and he may almost feel anger towards them for abandoning him with his rather unfeeling and regiment sister. She was often inclined to beat him regularly. Dickens starts by describing the graveyard as a dark flat wilderness. This allows the reader to point an image of a quite scary desolate place and perhaps quite intimidating. Dickens then quickly moves on to describe Pip as a small bundle of shivers. This again allows the reader to point an image but this time of a minute vulnerable child possibly quite haunted at the situation. This contrast seems to exaggerate the timid Pip allows the feelings of sorrow towards him to increase. Dickens then introduces us to quite threatening Magwitch who opening words were Keep still, you little devil or Ill cut your throat. This instantly makes the reader assume he is dangerous and threatening. As Pip explains he had a great iron on his leg it becomes quite clear he is a convict. This begins to make reader worry for Pip because we are not enlightened as to why he is a criminal. As Magwitch threatens Pip he takes it extremely seriously this helps to enhance three important characteristics of Pip the first that he is extremely scared shows he is very vulnerable and the second is the fact that he replies sir shows he has been brought up with manners. This again contradicts negative views of lower class people in Victorian times. Also the fact he worked out this man could possibly be dangerous showed Pip to be sharp and quick to react. Certain phrases like Who dye live with makes it clear that Magwitch is from a lower class background. Although after this negativity the reader cannot help but feel pity towards Magwitch and this because you can imagine how difficult it must have been. Dickens shows this in such lines as A man with no hat, and broken shoes. This is Dickens demonstrating his use of description to encourage emotions and reactions. The first chapter is set in a desolate church yard near the marsh land. Dickens descriptions such as This bleak place overgrown and raw afternoon towards evening contribute to the ever growing dark and oppressive atmosphere. This kind of description also help to redeem the understandably scared Pip but they almost make him seem more pathetic and helpless. If for example Dickens had decided to set the scene in a pleasant grave yard on a sunny day it would withdraw the sense of suspense amongst readers. Satis house is introduced to us in chapter 8 as well as the characters Estella and Mrs Havisham. Estella explains to Pip that Satis means enough this was because the designer of the house assumed whoever had this house would be satisfied and need nothing more. This extra information seems to contrast the first impression given to be by Pip where he is describing it as old brick and dismal. This allows the reader to ask questions about why such a great house now appears to be in ruins. The description of Satis house continues in this manner. He also mentions windows were barred and cemented. This makes the house seem daunting. Dickens also makes you acknowledge the houses former glory by saying there were no pigeons in the dove cot, no horses in the stable, no pigs in the sty, no mat in the stone house, no smells of grains and beer in the copper vat. However this line also illustrates how far from it is former glory. This leaves the reader to assume the owner has given up.

Case enron Essay Example for Free

Case enron Essay Enron faces most of the risk ordinarily faced by any energy company, including price instability and foreign currency risks. Enron operated in many different areas of the world with different regulatory and political risks. Enron faced business risks such as a complex business model, extensive use of derivatives and special purpose entities, aggressive transaction structuring and accounting, rapid expansion of business through complex and unconventional ventures, extensive reliance on credit rating, and limitations in GAAP. The complex nature of the business model of Enron increased the likelihood of material misstatements. It enabled the management to overstate its revenue while not disclosing the actual value of its debt. The risk of fraud by management was high. The transactions involving SPEs essentially involved Enron receiving borrowed funds that were shown as revenue without recording liabilities. Also, the amount of misstatements was huge as Enron had hundreds of such SPEs. Complex financial derivative transactions were used to hide enormous amounts of debt. Huge increases in borrowing were made to look like hedges for commodity trades rather than new debt financing. The network of SPEs along with complicated speculations and hedges kept an enormous amount of debt off the balance sheet. The accounting standards were inadequate in providing for the proper accounting of these transactions. The loopholes in the standards were used to structure transactions in such a way that hundreds of SPEs were excluded from consolidation. Also, the management took advantage of the complexity of accounting standards to shroud the actual economic substance of the transactions. Adequate disclosures with regard to related party involvement and securing outside SPE investors against possible losses were not made.

Dart Group Plc SWOT and Porters 5 Analysis

Dart Group Plc SWOT and Porters 5 Analysis We chose our company from the aviation industry, because we think it can be interesting to analyze an airline in the current economic situation, how they can survive and actually realize profit and growth in this really strong competition. Furthermore our company, the Dart Group PLC is not just an airline but operates in three segments, it is a Leisure Airline, Package Holidays and Distribution and Logistics Company. So it can be interesting to see in the end of our semester that which is the part they can really grow and which segments need to be focused on and manage precisely. The company is specializing in the operation of scheduled and charter flights by Jet2.com to leisure destinations throughout Europe; the provision of ATOL protected package holidays by its tour operator Jet2holidays, and the distribution of fresh produce, temperature-controlled, and ambient products to supermarkets and wholesale markets throughout the United Kingdom. Dart Group Plc is a successful British company established in 2003 and only came to Hungary in 2006. The CEO is Philip Meeson, the company is operating from 8 airports, with 42 aircrafts, with more than 1500 employees. The leisure but also low cost airline division trades under the Jet2.com brand and operates scheduled flights to a range of destinations from its home base at Leeds Bradford International Airport, and Belfast, Blackpool, East Midlands, Edinburg, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle airports. Jet2holidays is the Groups package holiday operator; it is an integral part of the leisure travel activities, working closely with Jet2.com to provide holidays to a wide range of destinations from their 8 Northern UK bases. The Fowler Welch is one of the UKs leading logistics providers, serving UK retailers, importers and manufacturers. The business operates from 12 regional distribution centers and offers a range of logistics solutions, including storage, case pick-to-order and national distribution of both temperature-controlled and ambient products. They success is in always keeping the deadlines, working 24/7, providing integrated supply chain solutions to leading supermarkets including Tesco, A sda. Porters five forces This model analyzes the micro environment of the firm and gives a detailed understanding and evaluation of the forces that helps to measure the direct strategic competition. According to Porter the five forces are: the buyer and supplier bargaining power, threat of entry, industry competitiveness and threat of substitutes of products and services. The more unique the product, the smaller is the buyer power. The customers are sensitive for the price however if they make alliances for their best interest, they can get more information about the product and prices. The bargaining power of suppliers is influenced by their concentration and the number of unique product they offer. National and industry standards determine the entry to the market, and if these limits can be met easily then the sector becomes more and more attractive for other companies as well. If certain products or services are inflexible, so there is no substitute product, the company is able to determine very high pric es because the customers do not have other choices just buy them. So the profit of the firm depends on the substitute products and the quality of those products. The most important force is the bargaining power, the competitiveness, the strategy of the prices, the quality and the marketing. Buyer bargaining power The strong bargaining power of the Dart Group Plc. can be seen from the ratios analysis that we will mention later in the paper. The customers are very sensitive for the prices, so that is why they sometimes choose another airline that offers the same quality for cheaper prices. The services are not really differentiated, only in some parts eg. Jet2.com flies with allocated seats while like Ryanair let you seat wherever it is not taken yet. Some people prefer one some prefer the other. The bargaining power is very important in case of the cost reduction. If the company has lot of information of others and other opportunities they have the opportunity for change. They also need good and improved technology and their loyalty program to attract the customers with highly developed and fast services to be successful. Supplier bargaining power As we know the suppliers bargaining power is growing because the logistics and distribution industry is more strongly concentrated which can be seen in the prices and in the quality they offer. The change of the supplier can cause problems and has a high risk factor, it can result lower quality for the customers which decrease the whole value of the service. Also there is a threat that the supplier also can manufacture, produce the products. The bargaining power of suppliers depends on price of fuel, taxes and government policies which we are going to mention later as well. Threat of entry In the aviation industry the possibility of competitors to entry the market is small because large capital it is needed, which has a risk that it will not return. The congestion is high of the airports, even if these low cost airlines use the smaller airports. The industry has so many regulations, government policies, economic conditions, environmental and political risks which we are going to mention later in the paper. Finally we have to mention the brand loyalty because people prefer to use their well-know airlines, not just because the comfort but their loyalty program. So to conclude the barriers are very high to enter this industry. In the logistics and distribution the entry is easier, but to be successful they need to be good at several fields, transportation, inventory, packaging, integrating information and security also. Competition, Competitors The Group has active competitors in each business areas. The distribution market has consolidated; smaller companies exited the market or got taken over by bigger players. Risk appears in the sector by losing substantial customers, but the company could focus on services levels and cost control so the risk factor has been decreasing. The airline and the package holiday sectors are very intensely competitive, and the fare price competition is still intense at every base where they fly from. There are a huge number of airlines who try to be successful in different areas, in different comfort and price levels. They have to face slow growth rates because of the high competition and high fixed costs. As we already mentioned the low service differentiation does not help customers to choose, so it is only about small differences in schedules, prices on a given day and also the frequent flier program can be a reason for our decision. They try to focus on the customer needs, and reschedule in order to maximize the load factor, yield and revenue. For example in the winter they fly from Manchester to Budapest in the morning at 8am, while in the spring at 1pm and in the summer at 3pm. To operate efficiently after arriving to Budapest they depart back to Manchester in half hour. Jet2holidays operates competitively from all 8 UK base to the European destinations, mainly to the Mediterranean Sea in the summer, and to the ski resort in the winter time. Threat of substitutes of products and services The substitute of the aviation is road by car and bus, rail by train and the marine by ferry and ship. These are sometimes cheaper solutions, but definitely take longer time to get to a further destination; however sometimes the low cost airlines can offer very cheap tickets that can be cheaper even in shorter way however we have to add longer waiting time (get to the airport 1-3 hours before takeoff). So we can say that the threat of substitute of service is moderate. In case of the distribution the substitutes can be other transportation opportunities for cheaper. SWOT analysis Table: SWOT analysis Strengths 3 operating sections Growth and expansions Strong bargaining power Friendly low fares Safety Good technology Best scheduled British Airline in 2005 Group Leisure Award in 2012 Weaknesses Weather conditions High Competition Non-differentiated services Opportunities Exposure the high fuel price differences Expand the Jet2holidays program Expand the destinations of the airline Expand the companies who they deliver for Threats Fuel pricing Economic conditions Environmental risk Government policy Own Source In the next part we would like to mention further characteristics of the company that they have to face. The Groups strategy is to grow a combination of organic expansion and carefully planned acquisitions in the existing businesses and markets. The group has many uncertainty factors through its competitors, fuel prices, economic conditions, environmental risks and government policy. The cost of fuel it very important risk factor and the company aims a fuel price risk management strategy that enables to exposure the high price differences. In this case the Distribution sector is not very affected by the price fluctuation because due to their contracts they can increase prices to their customers. Due to economic uncertainty there was a discretionary reduction in travel in case of the UK consumers, even if they regard their pleasure time as a very important element of their budget. The company will plan its flying program carefully and use new strategies to forecast the demand more precisely to decrease the uncertainty risk. They also plan to expand the Jet2holiday program with new locations and new offerings that can increase the revenue as well. The political uncertainty also has an impact on the demand, and also on the prices of fuel and exchange rates. They can decrease this risk with a good management of the routes and through hedging fuel and foreign exchange risk. The aviation is always at a risk from the extreme weather conditions, and also we could see in the last years that volcanic activities can have a serious impact. They need a very precise respond to uncertainty events, and also they have a high level of liquid funds to get through an unsuccessful period. The tax burden increase in the aviation industry and the increase in Airline Passenger Duty caused the suspension of two flights to Egypt in 2011. These cost are always increasing and there is a chance that these economic cost of emissions will also decrease the demand of passengers. Strategy versus Ratios In the business life we use financial ratios to figure out what is the real standing of a certain firm. Through the usage of financial ratios we are able to understand better how the operations of the firm run, how utilized the all-day processes are, and how well does the company prevail in the competitive environment of its industry. The strategy of a firm bright out clearly from these easily-estimated ratios; in the following of our paper we will describe the relationship between the strategy of the Dart Group Plc., and the ratios that came from its annual reports starting from 2007. Of course the frame of this paper does not enable a wide and deep analysis; we would rather concentrate on those ratios that could show us how the strategy is supported by the financial policy of the group. First of all in the previous section of our paper we found that the group must operate in a very competitive environment together with several other jet companies that provide similar services. In our opinion a strong competitive environment generates price war, and harsh cost reduction. Price war brings the revenue down, that doesnt mean too much trouble on its own, but if it comes along with almost strict cost, then the profit margin will be quite small. In the case of an airline company this is the reality if we look at the structure of the costs. The main types of costs are fixed; these costs must be paid to anyway, so their reduction is not a real option. In addition one main element of the operating costs, namely the fuel cost is very sensitive to the changes of the global economy. Because of the fixed operating costs and through the price war generated almost strict costs, the only real option to maintain the profit level is to expand, to diversify the services of the group, a nd to build an empire. As we have already described in the previous sections of our paper, the strategy of the firm is to be bigger and bigger, because in the current economic situation this is the only reasonable strategy to generate enough profit, and to be successful in the aviation industry. The group level revenue is continuously increasing, from the 2007 amount of 349 M pounds to the amount of 683 M pounds in 2012, which is an almost 200% increase. This trend could be observed in the case of the costs, from the 2007 starting 348 M pounds they increased almost to the double, to 654.5 M pounds in 2012. This is a significant growth level, however in the case of the Gross Profit Margin a little fluctuation could be observed. The value of the ratio is the less in 2007 (0.3%) and the most in 2009 (9%), but mostly it is in the interval of 3-5%. Another issue is the liquidity risk at the company that we would like to cite from the Annual Report 2012 At the end of the year the Group had significant cash balances, together with a range of unutilized banking facilities, and had met all banking covenants. The Groups strategy for managing liquidity risk is to maintain cash balances in appropriately liquid form and in accordance with approved counterparty limits, whilst securing the continuity and flexibility of funding through the use of committed bank facilities. Additionally, short term cash flow volatility risk in relation to margin calls in respect of fuel and foreign exchange hedge positions is minimized through diversification of counterparties and appropriate credit thresholds. The Group seeks to match long term assets with long term liabilities wherever possible. (Annual Report 2012 p.15.) The company also uses foreign exchange and fuel forward contracts to hedge its exposure to movements in US dollar and euro exchange rates and to jet fuel prices. (Annual Report 2012 p.15.) The Groups policy is to forward cover future fuel requirement up to 100% and up to three years in advance. (Annual Report 2012 p.15.) They have a remarkable foreign currency exposure; the most notable are the US dollar and the euro. We also know from the Annual Report that the company have a conservative dividend policy, they rather retain the profit to support further growth in the sector. Another important phenomenon, the increasing bargaining power of the firms can be identified from the financial ratios of the Dart Group Plc. The stronger bargaining position comes eventually with the large size of the company, and it is also supported by the ratios. Let us see how the turnover times of the group change in time!As we could easily observe from these ratios the companies of the group seem to be in a position where they are able to hold back payments to finance their current assets in the best way. From these ratios we are able to read out the strategy of the group: their goal is to build up a dominant position in their supply chain in order to be more flexible, and less reliant on maintaining good liquidity. The average turnover period of the Payables is very high and it goes up year by year; so is the situation with the average turnover period of the Receivables, however the increasing rate is not as high as in the case of the Payables, and it is much more controllabl e in our opinion. When we examine the relationship between the current assets and current liabilities we can observe some other strategically important issues. It comes logically from the large difference between the accounts payables and account receivables that the difference between the current assets and current liabilities will be also large; plus the fact that the amount of current liabilities is more than the amount of current assets will generate a negative net working capital ratio. This ratio show us that not only short term assets are financed with short term liabilities, some of the non-current assets are also financed with such sources, what could generate a problematic situation, if the bargaining power is low. But in the case of Dart Group Plc we found that their bargaining position is strong, so they are able to perform such a financial strategy. We can also observe from this ratio, that its value decreases year by year, that points towards a more stable and sustainable future. This ca n also mean that the company will reach the mature position in the life cycle of corporations, its size will be even more controllable, and the possible problems from the empire building strategy will be easier to manage. The empire building and growing strategy of the firm could be also observed in the usage of their Free Cash Flow. The group uses a large amount of their free cash flow on capital expenditures; however the negative working capital change does influence the reinvestment rate, which will be also negative because of it. From these ratios we are able to see, that in the current state of the Group the growth is slightly unstable, some of the free cash flow needs to be hold back to ensure the controlling of the net working capital changes, plus the high amount of capital expenditures and depreciation also reduces largely the free cash flow. The growth is financed from inside. Conclusion So as a conclusion we can state that strategy of the company is to continue to grow in all three business section organically. They aim is to ensure the high quality service by meeting and transcending the needs and expectations of customers in all three section. They also try to improve their website with more convenient access to their services. The holiday program is carefully tailored to different leisure destinations according to the season and also provides carefully chosen accommodations from all-inclusive to self catering with leisure airline scheduled flights. Their strategy is to maximize revenue through fully loaded aircrafts and utilize the cabin crew. In case of the logistics, provide the best distribution service of both ambient and temperature-controlled products.

Hsun Ching’s Life Changing Journey :: essays research papers

Hsun Ching’s Life Changing Journey The journey Hsun Ching would embark on began as nothing more than weight on his shoulders. Little did he know, it would be an expedition that would change his life forever. Not only changing his perspective on the world, but also life, his personality, and character. All the risks and sacrifices that Hsun Ching has to make during his journey are a very small price to pay for the positive benefits on his life. The journey not only revolutionizes his outlook on the world and life, but also on the Sutra and what it truly means to the world. Before Hsun Ching embarks on his journey he has nothing but negative feelings toward the expedition. He sees it as a complete and total waste of his time and doesn’t see the way the journey will revolutionize his life. The beginning of the novel depicts Hsun Ching as a man who does not go back on his word, and always follows through on what he says he is going to do. I think this is the main reason that Hsun Ching goes on the journey in the first place. He does not want to be looked upon as a coward and feels as if it is his duty to uphold his word. Throughout the beginning of the novel Hsun Ching makes his views on the sutra perfectly clear stating that the sutra is nothing more than a waste of time and is not real what so ever. His outlook on the sutra will rapidly begin to Senkbeil 2 change as his journey progresses and he soon begins to realize that the journey his is embarking on is one that will change his life forever. I believe the true reason why he finally decides to embark on his journey to find the sutra is because the sutra will bring eternal life to whoever finds it. Despite how much Hsun Ching dislikes the idea of the journey he cannot resist everlasting life and therefore agrees to go on the journey. The beginning of the journey for Hsun Ching is quite pain staking and certainly unmemorable. He begins to question why he ever agreed to go on the journey in the first place. The trail is hard and very unforgiving and as a result it gets Hsun Ching’s hopes way down. But despite all the negativity he still presses on in search of the almighty sutra.

Analysis of Trifles by Susan Glaspell Essay -- Susan Glaspell

"Trifles" is a play with a unified plot. Although there are verbal flashbacks to the events of the day of the murder of John Wright, the play's entire plot begins and ends in a span of one day. The author also extends the unified plot to create a single setting (the farmhouse kitchen). The plot centers on John Wright's murder. Mrs. Wright is the main suspect; an investigation is taking place as to the motive or reason for the crime. The Sheriff, Mr. Hale and the County Attorney are introduced first to the audience. They are investigating the crime scene. The women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, accompany the men to gather whatever of Mrs. Wright's belongings that she needs in jail. This exposition turns ironic when the women end up "investigating" and actually come up with evidence, while the professional men leave without an answer to their quest to find a motive for the murder of Mrs. Wright's husband. Mr. Hale gives an account of what he came upon the day of the murder. He found Mrs. Wright in a state of shock and nervousness. Mr. Hale states that Mr. Wright didn't care much for talking to people; all he wanted was peace and quiet. This foreshadowing will be used by the women, mainly Mrs. Hale, to connect the motive to the dead bird that they find later on in the play. Additional foreshadowing facts are the broken jelly jar and the "very cold" kitchen atmosphere. Again, the women feel that this coldness was what drove Mrs.' Wright to murder. Mrs. Hale informs the County Attorney that Mr. Wright was not a very cheerful man, which may be why the farmhouse does not look or feel cheery. The audience learns that Mr. Wright was a cold, uncommunicative, selfish man. The theme of men versus women come into view... ...ver, Mrs. Peters undergoes character development from believing that it should be up to the law to decide what should happen to Mrs. Wright to being convinced that women ought to stand together against the stereotypical views of women that the men have. This change occurs when Mrs. Peters recalls a childhood event that involved her cat and a mean, dreadful little boy. The play's rising action occurs at the point when the men could not connect the why and the how of John Wright's murder. The women, as they meddle with their "trifles", uncovers the knowledge and objects that the masculine detectives were seeking. In the end, the men come up empty and the women leave the farmhouse with concealed evidence in hand - the dead bird. The audience is left thinking that Mrs. Wright will be a free woman. As to what the actual verdict will be, no one knows.

How Reliable Are Ofsted Reports as a Measure of School Effectiveness? Essay

This assignment examines the reliability of Ofsted judgements that were made on School X in 2009 and 2012. It will discuss how the two inspections were carried out-were they carried out in the same way? Were they felt to be fair? School X is a large 3-11 mixed school with 35.1 % of pupils who are eligible for free school meals FSM. The pupils are mainly Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi. The proportion of special educational needs and disabled pupils is similar to other national schools. The attainment and progress in both English and mathematics meet the current government standards. (Ofsted report 2012). How Ofsted reach an overall judgment about school effectiveness? The inspectors reach the overall judgments by considering the four key areas: achievement of pupils, the quality of teaching, behavior and safety, leadership and management. Inspectors also consider the quality of the curriculum and how the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at the school. They will also look if the school is meeting the individual needs in particular the needs of special educational needs and disabled pupils. The judgment they make is based on the overall evidence they gather from their observation, parents, pupils, interviews and the raise online, which is â€Å" a secure web-based system that provides schools, local authorities and inspectors with a range of analyses including: Achievement at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2; Progress from Key Stage 1 to 2; Absence and exclusions; and The characteristics (often referred to as ‘context’) of pupils. (Dave Thomson, RM Education, 2011). In addition, their judgments on the quality of teaching are based not only on classroom observations â€Å"snapshots†, but they are also checking pupils’ books, sequences of work, pupils’ academic progress and parents’ perspectives on their children’s progress. Ofsted: A summary of Evidence. Ofsted judgements on teaching through classroom observations face several challenges. First, there is the Hawthorne effect, whereby the pupils or the teacher might change their behaviour because an inspector in the room is a novel experience (Cohen and Manion 1994, Robson 2011). Additionally, Grubb (1999) stated that teachers complain that it is hard for inspectors to evaluate a full lesson from a â€Å"snapshot† as the unobserved part of the lesson may be crucial to interpreting what is happening in the observed part of the lesson. However, the above-mentioned methods that inspectors used to make a judgment on the quality of teaching mush be considered. According to Mr Jonathan Harris, as cited in the report from the Education sub-committee (1999), he was critical of possible changeability of judgements between inspections team where he argued that different inspection teams could make different judgments about the same school in the inspection reports which he stated â€Å"unacceptable†. Thus, there is no evidence which guarantee that Ofsted judgments are reliable. It is not just a matter of reliability as far as the validity of data concerned too. As Gorard (2009) points out, â€Å"if the initial relative error in either the actual or the predicted score is greater than 10%, as it almost certainly would be in reality, the error in the CVA result would be even greater than this, 40 times more than the size of the result itself.†, which makes serious doubts about the validity of the data. On the other hand, Ofsted keep raising expectations and the criteria used by Ofsted which are shown in appendices 1-3 could be one of the causes that the school has a satisfactory in 2009.Figure 1 It is also necessary to consider the fact that Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector raises expectations to ensure a good education for all focusing on the quality of teaching â€Å"the heart of good education†. Thus, a proposal was conducted to improve the education system. (A Good Education for All .2012). Thus, in the new framework it was stated that, â€Å"Schools will be judged on a smaller number of core aspects than before, but we will be examining them in greater depth. The changes will result in more streamlined inspections, with fewer judgments and grades, leading to sharper reports on the quality of education provided by schools and the most important aspects of their performance.† (Ofsted new framework 2012). Ofsted judgments on the school Ofsted judgements on School X’ Figure 1 Figure 1 shows the Ofsted grades for School X in 2006, 2009 and 2012. In each report, the first three judgments of â€Å"overall effectiveness†, â€Å"achievement of pupils† and â€Å"quality of teaching† were given the same grade.The common issue that was raised in all of the reports was about the quality of teaching. For instance, in 2006 they asked the school to ensure the good quality of teaching across the school. In 2009, they said; raise the proportion of good and outstanding teaching. In 2012, they said raise the quality of teaching through appropriate questions that cover different needs of different pupils. First of all, it was the same comment written differently each time and the last one they pointed how. Discussion and description (School’s perspective). Having considered the above-mentioned arguments about Ofsted judgments, it is also important to discuss the validity and reliability of the above-mentioned judgments. An interview was constructed to find the school views towards these judgments. The Deputy Head of School X points out that, children vary in their abilities each year and believed that Ofsted do not take this into account. She argued that when the school went down from outstanding down to satisfactory to good, it was because they had a lot of special needs children ,consequently, they were not able to get up to the standard of the government at that time. Although, the students made progress in Key stage 2 but they did not meet the government standards. (School Data included Appendix 4 & 5). Before considering how the two inspections were carried out, it is important to note that the inspectors in general are subjective people not objective. The deputy head mentioned this particular Ofsted inspector who came in 2009, he walked through the door on the first day and said: â€Å"I am Mr, so and so, if I had come to your school six months ago, I would have given you an unsatisfactory school and put you in special measures†. That clears straightaway that he is not on their side as he had this thought in mind. She also felt that they were making negative judgments not positive judgments about what they are seeing in the school. Indeed, the Deputy Head gave an example of that when the inspector went around the school then said to the Head teacher, â€Å"Where is the White English Board showing the Culture of the White English indigent’s people in Britain?† The Head teacher and the Deputy Head felt that the way the inspection went wasn’t fair. First, they received a call from the department of education the next morning as the notes went to a moderator who looked at the evidence then changed the curriculum from unsatisfactory to satisfactory. Second, within the next two days they received another call from the inspector himself saying that he has changed Leadership and management from satisfactory to good. As (Gibbon and Forster, 1999) point out, Ofsted revealed that there is no issue on who inspect the school and when, but, if two inspectors inspect the same school, the lesson, or the department, and they there was a variation in their judgments. Which inspector do we believe? Then, the Head teacher and the Deputy Head found out in the internet that fifteen schools with the same lead inspector that had the same exact comments in their reports as if they cut and paste the same comment in other reports. â€Å"The National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Russell Hobby said he had heard anecdotal reports of â€Å"cut and paste† reports, adding such a practice was â€Å"not acceptable given that the fate of the school rests on what is written.†BBC News. In contrast, the Deputy Head mentioned that the 2012 inspector was fabulous, open-minded looking for good things, the inspector said, â€Å"This is a good school, you are improving school, I can see your results are going up, they are not quite national, yet, as soon I walked through this door I can feel this is a good school and I want to know what you are doing good? How can you prove this? Where is the information for that? † In this respect, the Deputy Head argued that it depends on the inspector who comes around. However, these remain opinions of people as we cannot treat them as objective fact. Also, we cannot assume that all inspectors are subjective people because people look at things from different angles. For instance, if two inspectors attend the same lesson together and each one has his own believes about teaching, one of them might grade a teacher centered lesson as satisfactory and the other one sees it from a totally different angle. Conclusion. The leaders of this school believe they were judged unfairly and that general evidence on Ofsted points to the risks of unreliable judgements. As Ofsted keep raising the expectation it would be hard for a school to be outstanding as it would be rarely possible to find a school with a big proportion of an outstanding quality teaching. Thus, schools should be flexible and understand that the aim of Ofsted is to improve education for children which is what school is all about. Teaching is the core of school improvement and schools should raise the proportion of good and outstanding teaching. References â€Å"Cut and Paste’ Ofsted Report Claims.† BBC News. BBC, 06 Aug. 2012. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18353533 Cohen, L. & Manion, L. (1994).Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge. Gibbon, C, T & Forster, N, J, S. (1999). Is Ofsted Helpful? In C. Cullingford (Ed.), An inspector calls (pp. 97-118) Harlow: Longman. Gorard, S. (2010).Serious Doubts about school effectiveness British Educational Research Journal, 36:5,745-766. Grubb, N. (1999). Improvement or control?. In C. Cullingford (Ed.), An inspector calls (pp. 70-96). Harlow: Longman. Ofsted 2006 inspection Report for School X Ofsted 2009 inspection Report for School X Ofsted 2012 inspection Report for School X Ofsted. A Good Education for ALL. Feb. 2012. Retrieved from http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/good-education-for-all Robson, C. (2011). Real World Research. United Kingdom: Wiley THE EDUCATION SUB-COMMITTEE. THE WORK OF OFSTED. Rep. no. 4. UK: Parliamentary, 1999. Retrieved from: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmeduemp/62/6212.htm The Framework for School Inspection from September 2012.† Ofsted. 05 Sept. 2012. Retrieved from http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/framework-for-school-inspection-september-2012-UK Thomson, Dave. RAISE online for Governors of. Rep. UK: National Governor’s

The Meaning of Acceptance

Human beings are social animals.   That means that they interact with each other apart from reasons of propagation.   One of the ways human beings interact is through communication.   However, not all communication is successful.   Oftentimes, communication between two or more individuals may cause misunderstandings and conflicts to occur.   In this paper, Rogers present his outlook towards acceptance and understanding, its importance and the benefits of achieving this. The Meaning of Acceptance and Understanding In a lecture given by Rogers (2007) in 1956, the premise of his lecture was that he firmly believed that all individuals have an inert tendency to grow, mature and be responsible for their lives.   His ideas with regards to the meanings of acceptance and understanding were influenced by both religion and philosophy.   Throughout his lecture, he emphasized that an individual would only be able to understand one self and others only if they have embraced the acceptance of one self and others. Rogers (2007) focused his lecture on a number of key points.   The first is that he discovered that in the long run, it would benefit the individual to accept himself or herself and to refrain from acting as though they were someone else.   This is because when an individual lives a fallacious life and portrays an identity that is other from his or her own, that individual would not be able to act in a calm and pleasant manner.   This would also lead to the failure of the individuals in keeping and maintaining personal relationships with others.   As a result, he believed that it is extremely imperative that an individual must learn to accept who and what he or she is. Once an individual is able to accept himself or herself for who and what they are, it is only then that they will be able to begin to accept other people.   This process is more difficult than the acceptance of one self.   Because human beings are social beings, they interact with each other.   However, there are instances when it becomes difficult to accept the words, thoughts, expression and especially suggestions of others.   This is because it is the nature of the individual to become judgmental about the statement and reactions received from another individual.   In fact, it is on very rare occasions that individuals accept criticism and suggestions given by other people, particularly if they view these people are inferior to them.   Some examples of these relationships are between parent and child, professor and student, or employer and employee (Rogers 2007). Rogers (2007) stressed the importance of accepting other people for who and what they are with regards to not only the development of deeper and more meaningful relationships with each other, but also this would become a valuable experience for the individual as well.   This is because once the individual has come to accept who he or she is; it will be easier for the individual to accept other people for who they are. As such, it will make the individual understand certain behaviors that another individual exhibits and would be able to understand and be more patient with one another.   Furthermore, because individuals are accepted and understood by others, they are more comfortable in exposing their true colors, instead of living behind a faà §ade, deepening further the relationship between two individuals. Conclusion Although human beings are social animals, human beings are also known to be judgmental towards other people.   This attitude has been seen long throughout mankind’s history.   For instance, unexplainable occurrences that happen in the environment have long been associated to gods, goddesses and deities.   When explorers from the West discovered various lands, they referred to the inhabitants of the land as savages or barbarians simply because they look different and their way of living is different. Even today, individuals from certain cultures are stereotyped by others.   Most of these stereotyping are degrading on the part of the individual being address.   As such, they are extremely apprehensive to accept who and what they are.   Instead, they acculturate themselves and become somebody that they are not. However, no matter how hard a person tries to change, certain behaviors and attitudes would still come across other people because these are part of the person and would often be expressed unconsciously.   As such, this would confuse other people or would cause them to shame him or her further because they are not being true towards himself or herself, but towards other people as well. Only when the individual is able to accept who he or she really is deep down, from gender preference to his or her cultural ancestry, this individual would not only be able to be more comfortable in expressing himself or herself in society because they are not worried on how they should act to please other people but also they will be able to establish stronger, more fruitful and deeper relationships with other people since only those who are willing to accept them for who and what they are will be those who are worth having a relationship with. References Rogers, C. (2007). What understanding and acceptance mean to me. In H. S. Friedman & M. W. Schustack (Eds.), The personality reader (pp. 241-49).   Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Educational Aspiration of Primary School Child Essay

The topic Educational aspirations of rural India deals with studying the aspirations of the rural children and trying to focus on the various factors that affect the aspirations of the children in some way or the other. Five of us had gone to five different states in India with the aim of studying the aspirations of the rural children of that region and then trying to find out the factors that really contribute towards them. The reason for selecting this particular topic was that we were given a choice of our own to explore any field we want. We were all interested in knowing more about the rural youths and their aspirations. To try to know what is the difference between the kids from a rural India and since we some of us had lived and had our education in rural India we wanted to go back and explore the changes that have come in the society if any. Our curiousness towards the education system and to know where the future of India sees itself made us choose this topic. Initially we all were thinking individually on the topic but once we knew about our similar interest, we tried coming up with a topic in the field that excites us all and finally we chose this topic. Also one more reason for choosing this topic was that few of us were going to really backward states and some of us were going to the states with the best educational services. So in a way we were getting the opportunity to study across states and come up with our findings of the reasons of particular aspirations in particular regions and how these are affected in different societies. The topic in our view holds quite an importance in today’s time as learning about the primary kids of the rural India gives us a glimpse into what the future might hold in for them and also for the nation. Since children of today are the future of tomorrow so knowing their aspirations, factors affecting them can certainly help in making changes that can lead the society and the nation towards a better future. The five of us had gone to five different states namely Bihar, Odisha, Haryana, Kerala and Uttarakhand. The comparative study in the later part of the report talks about the status of primary education across these states along with the factors affecting them. 2. OBJECTIVES * To develop an understanding of the educational aspirations of the primary level children in rural India. * Trying to understand the various factors that play an important role in affecting the aspirations of the primary level children. * To do the comparative analysis across 5 different states under a common platform and identify common issues and problems. 3. STATUS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN INDIA Education is important not only for the growth of an individual but also for the nation as a whole. Primary education has been the foundation on which the development of every individual as well as the nation depends. But making primary education available to everyone has been a major issue and along with this making quality primary education available has all been more problematic for the state. But in the past few years, India has shown tremendous growth in the literacy levels and achievements in providing successfully education to all at the primary level. Various govt. schemes are being implemented in different states that have resulted in providing assistance as well as incentives to the children to come to school and study. Right of children to free and compulsory education bill was passed in 2008. Special schemes for the underprivileged sections of the society are being implemented. 3. 1 Govt. schemes Different govt. schemes are being implemented in various states across India at the primary level. Some of them are: * Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS): MDMS is a scheme that was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in 1995. This programme ensures provision of cooked mid day meal to children studying at elementary level at govt. , local body or govt. aided schools. * Cycle distribution: Another scheme in Bihar where a cycle is distributed to the children†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. * Scholarships for EWS: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. * SSA: Sarva Siksha Abhiyan meaning education for all is another one of the many govt. schemes that aims at providing education to all. This program aims to universalize elementary education by community ownership of the school system. This program also provides an opportunity for improving human capabilities to all children. * Education Guarantee Scheme: This is one of the components of SSA aimed at providing education to the children. 3. 2 Literacy level The literacy level has been on a rise in India with the latest census report stating the literacy rate of our country to be 68% in 2007. This is a substantial increase from 12% at the time of independence and is commendable since the population is also growing at an abrupt pace. Among the Indian states Kerala holds the highest literacy level where Bihar is the lowest. This also accounted for an interesting study as these were the 2 of 5 states being covered. The adult literacy rate was 66% in 2007 whereas the youth literacy rate was 82% in 2001. 4. METHOD OF STUDY * Structured and unstructured interviews: One of the techniques used by us for getting information was structured and unstructured interviews. Many a times, going with questionnaires in our hands raised doubts in the minds of the people, so to avoid that we started with informal chats and then went on with the topic. * Questionnaires: Questionnaires were a means of getting information especially from the primary teachers and the village level authorities. Household interviews were also conducted based on the questionnaires. * Emoticon analysis: For the children of primary level it is many a time difficult to ask questions and get the answers. Also they identify more easily with the visual aids rather than talking, so for a part of our questions to the primary children, we had a set of emoticons for them and they had to choose the answer based on the emoticons. These emoticons basically expressed their feelings and moods at different points of time. * FGDs: FGDs were conducted among teachers so that we can come to know their view points on the current education system and the factors affecting the level of primary education. * Observations: Also observing was one of our main methods of studying about the village and also what the kids do in the school during their breaks and the classes. 5. CHALLENGES FACED There were many challenges faced by us during the work we were carrying out on the theme paper. Many a times the teachers were suspicious as to why we are doing this work and why do we want to know about them and the education there from the kids? Initially most of our time went in explaining our field work objectives and our reasons to be there. Getting information from the kids was one major challenging task as most of them were very shy and it really took great effort to get things out of them and that too correct information. Also a major challenge faced was that many lower caste families who didn’t send their children to primary schools showed no interest in talking on this topic to us. It was hard for us to convince them to talk to us. Language was one more challenge that was faced especially in Odisha. Few of the people in Uttarakhand too, especially women talked in the local Jaunsar language that made things difficult to interpret. 6. STATEWISE DATA All of us had gone to different states viz. Bihar, Odisha, Haryana, Kerala and Uttarakhand. Following is a brief description of the villages that we had gone to along with some of the information about our villages and the level of primary education there, along with the factors affecting them in our respective villages. The comparative analysis across states shows the factors affecting the aspirations of the primary level children and how they differ in different societies. 6. 1 BIHAR Literacy rate of Bihar: 47. 53% Literacy rate of Samastipur: 45. 76% Male: 57. 83%. Female: 32. 69% Educational programmes going in Bihar: 1). Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) 2). National programme for Education of Girls at Primary Level (NPEGEL) 3). Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) 4). School Sanitation and Hygiene Education Programme (SSHE) Literacy rate of Muhammadpur Kowari village: 42% Population of Muhammadpur Kowari village: 11,500 Income sources: Agriculture Laborer Business Rickshaw pulling Government and private service. Income level: Annual income ranged from Rs. 20,000 – 1, 50,000 per annum of the respondents. Education Infrastructure: 1) Anganwadis- 11 in no. 2) Government School- 5 in no. Primary-4 Middle- 1 High– Nil 3) Private School- 1 ( upto class 8) 4) LSC runned by AKRSP-22 Village had eleven Anganwadi centres which would impart learning to toddlers and preschoolers. There were five government primary schools out of which one was upgraded to the middle school. In addition to this there was one private school in village upto class 8th. For higher studies students had to go to Tajpur for class eighth upwards. Apart from this there were private schools at Pusa Road and Tajpur where students of better off families used to study. Muslim families preferred Madarasa education for their children in adjoining village Shahpur Baghauni. One can also find coaching centres mushrooming in and around the village where unemployed college graduates were taking classes and also private tuitions. We came to know that this mushrooming was due to ‘Haushla Afjaaayi Sceme’ of state government who would reward students promoted from class ninth to tenth and those who passed tenth board examination with first division marks. Parent would supplement government school education with private tuitions (Rs.50-100 per student) and coaching for class eighth upwards. But this was not the case for poor who had higher dropout rates. Regarding this the role of AKRSP is worthwhile to mention that it ran Learning and Support Centre (LSC) in minority and dalit tolas which imparted free education at nominal fee of Rs. 10 per child per month for two hours in the morning at 22 centres. It was not considered as substitute for schools rather a complement to emphasize role and awareness regarding education. It attracted students from muslim community and dalits who could not afford high cost otherwise. Here education was more fun rather than drudgery unlike government schools. 6. 1. 1 Factors affecting primary education: a). Parents- Parents attitude and perception regarding the education determines the education and aspiration of children. This attitude and perception in turn is decided by the education of the parents, environment they live in, earnings, some past experiences and interest in child development. Muhammadpur Kowari village had 58% muslim population and 42% hindus of lower castes and their education level and income was very low. Mostly worked as farmers, laborers, and rickshaw pullers and migrated to other states and cities as land holding was less while family size was quite large. So they had a pressure to earn from the very beginning and hardly anyone was matriculate except few. Given the constraints they could not afford good education or think big and were reluctant as many had daughters to marry. Though fathers were not so optimistic regarding education of the child but mothers were very conscious and enthusiastic. Mostly the reply came they don’t want their children to suffer hardships as they had and education was the way to end misery by getting better jobs and lifestyle. Migrant workers that returned on Chhath and BakrId had exposure to outside world and emphasized the need of education and it was evident in their family. However there existed a disparity between spending on education of male and female child in financially sound or medium families whereas there was slight or no difference in poor families as both sexes went to same school and no access to tuitions or coachings or private school. The difference was owing to notion that male child would support family while girls are a liability. b). Teachers- Their qualification, training, apathy, absenteeism or engagement in other works( e. g. election duty, vaccination drives etc. ) proves to be a deciding factor in shaping the minds and thus aspirations of the children. The differentiation on basis of caste, religion or gender has very deleterious effect emotionally and psychologically. Such children develop low self esteem, unwantedness and develop bitterness. In this village when the teachers were interviewed regarding this topic they agreed the lack of staff s (4 teachers were for a middle school upto 8th standard) and hampering of studies due to other official works. Also, the teachers arrived late for the duty and could be seen chatting on the verandah and had no concerns what was going inside the classroom. The lack of trained teachers was felt as para teachers appointed to take classes were not qualified enough to take classes off higher standards. In 2 schools it was found that more than 1 class was going on in a single classroom and in 1 school had 2 rooms only so the classes were conducted under a thatched roof. It was common in many schools the student of class 6 had less learning what would have been otherwise obvious for class 4 reasons being the quality of teaching in government school. An incident was there when a teacher was asked in an informal conversation about aforesaid e. g. he told parents would come and quarrel that my child knows less than the ‘Y’ child and create nuisance so they had to pass all. As a result of this child would fare badly in high classes. Moreover the mismanagement of funds in midday meal scheme was brought in a notice in panchayat meeting. In another example when an Anganwadi staff was asked about the afternoon meal offered at anganwadi she told that out of Rs. 10,000 allocated Rs. 6000 would be shared among officer issuing the fund and the rest would serve the purpose naturally the quality will decline. c). Students- When the students were interviewed along with emoticons it was a real fun for them. However it was tried best to interview them post school so in front of teachers they would hesitate and could not express freely. Female students were interviewed in school only because of the conservative nature of the households and they used to come from far places. In schools as well as at LSCs the performance of girls was better than that of boys. The students had interest and had better result in mathematics but had poor performance in language paper. According to the survey it s because of 2 reasons- teaching was boring and teacher was usually absent, secondly many students had been taught in urdu at home and thus had difficulty in writing in hindi. When boys were asked about being absent from school they gave following reasons- going to relatives house ( as it was a festival time), helping father in fields( sowing time for tobacco and cauliflower), no teaching in school as many teachers were either absent or had taken leave after the election duty. Also, there were boys who came to school but did not attend classes as their peers were playing. However girls had a different reason as some of them had to look after their younger brother or sister while her mother went to work in fields while some of them accompanied their parents to pusa road market to sell vegetables. But surprisingly the attendance, interest and performance of the students were better at LSC because it incorporated rhymes, playthings, drawing and games period and more dynamic teachers. LSC had meeting with parents once a month, emphasized on curricular activities as well. It had organized ‘Bal Sabha’ (parent’s day) on 19th November which was a new experience for kids and more fun. d). School infrastructure- The debilitated conditions of government schools with leaky roofs, lack of drinking water and toilets is a discouraging factor for girl child enrollment and also absenteeism. Lack of teaching aids, text books, sports articles makes teaching learning process a monotonous act so a child tries different ways to escape school. Also, bullying by other boys or fear of corporeal punishment by teachers is a major cause of dropouts and absenteeism in these schools. All these were common in the village and absenteeism was more in rainy season as school had lessrooms or was leaky. One can imagine the scene of two classes commencing in a single room and learning of child in this environment. Moreover if there were any marriages around it was a practice to stay Baraat in the school so unofficially it was a kin of holiday. e). Economic condition of family- This factor was found to be the most important factor along with parent’s attitude and perception during the village stay. Now here are 4 cases- firstly the family was poor and wanted the child to continue study, secondly they wanted child to earn or assist in fields or do other works for livelihood, thirdly family was well off and could afford education and fourthly they wanted them to look after agriculture as land holding and agricultural income was more so they felt there is no need to study. It has been discussed in detail in parents section. f). Societal culture – It describes how the society affects parents and children thinking and feeling about education and what they aspire to become in future. At Muhammadpur Kowari the villagers were involved in agriculture and labor works mainly and were either illiterate or had very less formal education so they were less informed. They viewed education as a way to overcome poverty by seeking jobs such as teaching, police, army, government service etc. So any successful example of anyone getting such jobs was looked with respect and younger generation wanted to emulate his success. On the other hand many of the views that every educated man does not gets the government job so there is no use to study and wanted their child to engage in works. Another kind of thought that emerged was to seek benefit of schemes by enrolling child to school or to engage naughty children for few hours or the meal served in the afternoon at school. Many dalits had bitter experience of discrimination in the past and viewed education and ‘aspirations’ as privilege of upper class and caste and it would make no difference to their conditions. Muslims send their children to madarsa for education and by 14 years of age they dropped out to learn some tailoring or masonry works to earn bread and butter. Very few muslim households send their children to school and those belonging to Sheikhs and business class had tutors for their children. Home tutors were available for girl child because of parda system they were not going outside the village to study and after 8th standard they dropped out. However it was a matter of surprise that these girls when interviewed were happier and had no desire to study further and it had developed in their society as upper limit of girl education.. One more observation was that muslim family had no issues in sending their girl child to LSCs run by AKRSP because it was nearby or in their locality and mostly the female teachers were in that centres. Hence concern for security and parda system was guiding the aspirations. 6. 2 ODISHA Village:Badampada Block:Kaptipada District:Mayurbhanj State: Odisha 6. 2. 1 Village:Badampada: -The village Badampada is 60 kms from Baripada, the district head quarter of Mayurbhanj. It is around 8 km away from block head quarter, kaptipada. The place I visited is coming under tribal belt of Mayurbhanj. The Similipal reserve forest is near to our village. since the area is surrounded by the dense forest, people are more involved into NTFP collection from the jungle. Since the forest cover is depleting day by day, more people are diverted towards agriculture. Besides agriculture, some people depend on livestock. A very few people are salaried and a small fraction of the villagers are businessmen. The literacy rate of Orissa is 63. 08% (2001 census), while the literacy rate of the district is 52. 43%. The literacy rate of the district is not par with the state, because the tribe constitute 57. 67% of the total population of the state. Since there was very less tribal family in our village, literacy rate of the village is more than that of district i. e 60%. The various schemes are implemented by the state govt to attract the children to the school. The children in the primary school are provided Mid Day meal . The students are also text books, free of cost through District Primary Education Programme (DPEP). To improve the female literacy rate, the state Govt is providing school uniform to girls in the primary school. TheState govt. declared Rs 500 cr for Sarva Siksha Abhijan scheme . There is a primary school in the village, badampada which caters to the need of nearby villages like vaisnab sahi,Dhumkheta ,sisodia etc. Among them Vaisnab Sahi is the tribal dominated village. 6. 2. 2 Factors Affecting aspiration of the Children of Primary School * Parents- School students in the village are enthusiastic about education; however, parents are not very supportive. Most parents seem to think education as a meaningless practice without any real benefit. Most people in the village are from the working class, they force their children to help them in their work. I found major difference between Odiya and tribal families. While parents of Odiya family are very much enthusiastic to send their children to school, the case is opposite is in tribal families. * Teachers-The teachers play a vital role in the primary education. The teachers in the village show very little interest towards the education . I came to know, some teachers are involved in parallel business during school time. They do not work for the entire duration of their duty period and go home early. Another trick used by teachers is periodic presence by teachers (at a particular time one teacher remains present, while may be the remaining one is absent) . I am reliably informed that the school Head master was caught while stealing eggs which were provide for Mid day meal . * School Infrastructure- There is two class rooms and one office room in the primary school. So multiple classes are going on in one class room. The situation inside the class room is very much chaotic. It is very difficult on the part of the teacher to handle the multiple classes at a time. I have observed number children moving outside the classroom during school time. The teacher student ratio is 38 in the school. The school children are not getting books at the right time. No audio visual aid is provided to the school. * Economic status – The parents of the well off family send their children to English Medium School at Kaptipada. Due to poor economic status of the tribal household, they can’t afford the other facilities to their children during festival period; there is high absenteeism in the school in case of tribal students. Since they are not provided with any amusement in their home, they attend the fair without going to school. Some children help their household working in others firm to meet the day to day household consumption. * Societal Culture- Children imbibes from the society, surrounding them. Since, the parents are not much aware about the benefit of the education; they don’t motivate their children to attend the school. They are in favour of instant income. Children leave school in early age to earn money in tribal family. 6. 3 HARYANA Village : Gundiani Block : Mustafabad Tehsil : Jaghadhari District : Yamuna Nagar 6. 3. 1 Village: Gundiani: – A small village of population 494, located about 4 km away from a small town called Mustafabad, connected via road and rail routes. According to my fieldwork stay , village seems to be prosperous and it was supported by government data of BPL family number which was eight only out of total 68 households. Major income generating source of villagers is agriculture and apparently few villagers do have some business and services options as well which they have chosen over agriculture, even there are some instances of villagers going abroad for earning livelihood. Hence as the sources of income was varied so the income level was also have a varied range of about one lakh to 60 lakh per annum. Infrastructures related to education available in village boundaries were a government primary school, however within a 3 km radius of village one government higher secondary school, three private schools were located and school buses of 3-4 prominent private schools of which one include Delhi Public School, ply to the village for picking students. Literacy rate of Haryana is 67. 91 % ( 2006 data ), and that of the Yamuna nagar district is 72. 20 % ( 2006 data ) while that of village Gundiani was found to be 68. 81% ( 2010 data collected by Kamal & Sandeep). Well irrespective of all these infrastructure the literacy level of village was on not a brighter side as compared to overall state literacy level and on the lower side as compared to that of district. This can be attributed to the previous generation literacy as the thinking of previous generation was that they need to do agriculture only, so there is no need of education for that, hence this thinking pulled down the overall literacy level to lower side. 6. 3. 2 Factors affecting aspiration of primary school children: * Parents: They play the most important role as home is the building stone of the child’s life and in the home the family i. e parents play a vital role in aspiring the child for education. Educational qualification of parents is a major factor which shapes the thinking of parents towards education and future of their child. In village Gundiani, although the literacy level was low but still parents were conscious enough about education of their child. But they were not aware of future aspects and where to get this information. Parents just see other children from the village and their society and hence understand the importance of education and hence inspire high for the children. * Teachers: At primary level teachers influence the most the future of a child as they mold the mind of a child and hence inspire the actions of child towards life and education as well. In village Gundiani, in government primary school there were only two teachers and they were taking enough pain to work towards better future of students. They used to educated students regarding what they have to face in future if they don’t study well and always used to give examples of various other people from their village only so that children can easily relate them and can learn easily the importance of education. While in the private schools in nearby areas it was not so as the teachers employed by majority of schools were not well qualified, they were there to just teach from text books and were helping the children to understand the importance of education. But still the parents tend to send their child to a private school, the main reason behind this was that admitting your child to private school was seen as a status symbol in the village, and even few poor people used to send their child just to develop their status. Hence we can say that the teachers play a vital role developing the aspirations of a child at primary level. * School Infrastructure: This is one of the vital components affecting the aspiration of children and their perception towards education. In the village Gundiani the government school was having two class rooms and one room for mid day meal scheme meal preparation. There were six standards in the school but there were only two class rooms in each of which three consecutive standards were taught by teachers side by side. While in case of nearby private schools each standard was taught in different class room and enough teachers were available but the qualification of teachers was questionable to some extent. In the class rooms teaching aid were available in case of government schools while in some of the few private schools they were thinking of incorporating it. * Economic Status: Economic status of family matters a lot in case of the education provided to the child and hence in direct proportion affects the inspirations of the child as well parents towards education. As the family income largely determines the chances of a child getting education and its quality depending upon the schools to which children are sent. Apart from the school the outside school education and facilities provided by parents according to their economic status like availing school bus so that child can go to far off better school and also time wastage in traveling can be minimized, availing private tuitions, better text books. Also better economic status of parents give a high confidence level to the child and in turn all the above factors highly influence the inspirations of child as well that of parents towards education of their child. * Societal culture: This section basically include the society and culture the village which highly affect the thinking of parents, teachers and in the end that of child. In society parents see the other children and then compare their child with others and hence try that their child also progress up to some benchmark set by them. Also availability of few role models in the village like few villagers have migrated to other big cities due to jobs and a few migrated foreign which proved to be role models for the parents of other children and hence they also wanted their child to prosper in life and get up to those positions. For this the parents were clearly aware that their child needs to be sent to school. Hence the societal cultures of the village influence significantly the inspiration of the parents in in turn that of the child. 6. 4 KERALA It is possible to say that the state of Kerala has a unique position in the education map of India with a literacy rate of 90. 92%. This rate is the highest in India according to 2001 census. Out of which literacy rate of men and women accounts to 94. 2% and 87. 86% respectively. Kerala became the first state in India to declare full literacy in one district called Ernakulam (1990). With the support of central government, government of Kerala launched a number of programmes in education sector. One of such programmes is â€Å"Akshara Keralam† introduced in 1991. It was aimed at bringing maximum number of illiterates to schools and other study centres. Apart from all these NGO interventions on education are also there in rural and backward areas of Kerala. In April1991 Kerala was declared as fully literate state by NLM (As per the norms of NLM, a literacy rate above 90 % shall be treated as complete literacy). Kerala topped the Education Development Index (EDI) among 21 major states in India in year 2006-2007. A report by NLM in 2007 states that Mizoram surpassed Kerala in literacy rate. SSA is also running well in Kerala. CDS, Trivandrum is monitoring the activities of SSA in Kerala. Kerala has made major achievements in school enrolment at the primary level and in preventing drop outs. Education providers in Kerala include both government and private parties. The percentage of private aided schools is considerably high. Government schools constitute 33% of total schools in Kerala. Education in these schools is completely free. Government aided private schools and fully private owned schools accounts to 45% and 22% respectively. Number of primary schools in Kerala is 6712(2551-govt, 4003-aided private, 158-unaided private) Education accounts for more than one third of the total revenue expenditure of the state. The per capita expenditure on education is the second highest among states in India. 6. 4. 1 Idukki District Profile Idukki is the high range district of Kerala. It is famous for its Mountainous Hills and Spices. This district occupies 13% of the area of Kerala. It can be said that for Keralites Idukki, means power generation also. About 66% of the state’s power needs come from the Hydroelectric Power Projects in Idukki. 88. 58% of the district population is literate. Male literacy rate (92%) is much higher compared to female literacy rate (85%). 6. 4. 2 Karunapuram Village Profile Karunapuram village comes under Udumbanchola taluka of Idukki and Nedumkandam block. It has a population of 26033 according to 2001 census. The major source of income is agriculture and allied activities. The literacy rate of this village is 87%. 40 Anganwadis are there. 6. 4. 3 Factors affecting the educational aspirations and their role in Karunapuram * Parents: -.