LASU Yet To Commence 2022/2023 Admission – Management

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August 19, 2022

Whale bones and some of the UK’s oldest steps are among new finds unveiled at the famous Ness of Brodgar Neolithic settlement in Orkney.

The Ness of Brodgar, next to the famous Ring of Brodgar, is one of the most important sites of its type in Europe.

University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) archaeologists have finished seven weeks of excavation in the first season back after the pandemic.

They say what they have found this year has got the whole team excited.

The site has been under excavation since 2004, revealing a complex of Neolithic buildings.

Site director Nick Card said: “We’ve expanded Trench J and revealed more of the northern wall – The Great Wall of Brodgar – and we can see stone steps built and actually integrated into it and these are some of the earliest steps in the UK.

“Again we see the Ness being a centre for innovation.”

Stone steps have been found
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Also in Trench J is Structure 5, the earliest building on site which dates back to 3,400 BC.

An expansion of the digging here revealed an unexpected find.

Project officer Anne Mitchell said: “There are these post-holes in the structure and we’ve found some quite interesting deposits in those.

“One by the side of the trench had a whale bone in it, a vertebrae sideways on, which we’re very carefully going to conserve and perhaps even find out what type of whale it was.”

South-West Wales: Hosepipe Ban Starts As Drought Is Declared

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August 19, 2022

A drought has been officially declared in parts of Wales after an extended period of dry weather and low rainfall caused water levels to plummet.

South-west Wales has seen just 65.5% of its average rainfall for July with rivers now running “exceptionally low”, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said.

It comes as the first hosepipe ban in Wales for more than 30 years is also now in force.

The ban covers Pembrokeshire and parts of Carmarthenshire.

It means people will not be allowed to water their plants or wash their cars using a hose.

Gardener Karen Hilton, who has an allotment in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, believed her onions and broccoli were smaller than expected because of the lack of rain.

She said the hosepipe ban meant she would be using her watering can more often.

Allotment holders had, she said, “all been doing rain dances.”

“We’ll be looking to see what vegetables were ok and what did not survive,” she added.

“And we’ll have to learn to plant veg that are more drought-tolerant.”

NRW said the threshold to trigger drought status in south-west Wales was met on Friday with the country experiencing its driest five-month period, between March and July, in 40 years.

It said the decision was taken along with the Welsh government’s Drought Liaison Group due to the impact the prolonged heatwave had wreaked on the environment, particularly rivers and reservoirs.

Exploring Yolyn Am Ice Field, Mongolia

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August 19, 2022

Yolyn Am Ice Field, more commonly referred to as Yolyn Am, is a deep and narrow gorge that fills with glacier ice in the winter period, and it is located in the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains that are stretching in the southern part of Mongolia.

The name derives from an Old World vulture, the Lammergeier, which is called Yol in Mongolian, thus the valley is sometimes translated to Valley of the Vultures or Valley of the Eagles.

Being also part of of the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, Yolyn Am can be found in the Zuun Saikhanii Nuruu sub-range of the larger mountain range, and also there is a very small part of the Gobi Desert that reaches this amazing Mongolian feature.

Even though the desert receives little precipitation, during the winter months, an ice field is created in the canyon that reaches several meters in thickness, and was 2 to 3 km (1 to 2 mi) long by the end of the season and until recently it stayed year round.

However, due to the global warming and the rising of the temperature, the ice has began to melt more and more quickly, sometimes even earlier than usual, and the visitors coming here are only able to enjoy in the mesmerizing hike that will offer and amazing view of the very wide entrance that opens up remarkably to a great gorge.

Still, not only visitors are able to see the vultures for which the canyon gets its name, but there are also mountain goats and pikas, which are actually part of the rabbit family.

Still, as Mongolia is very vast and there are many places that deserve to be seen in person, the Yolyn Am Ice Field is certainly among the top that will captivate everyone who dares to have an unique Mongolian adventure, whether if it is in the winter time to see the ice field, or some other colorful season.

Once Upon A Time – August 19 – 1970 – The Chinese Community In South Africa Is Granted ‘White’ Status

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August 19, 2022

43 BC Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul

1839 Details of Louis Daguerre’s 1st practical photographic process are released in Paris

1942 World War II: Over 4,000 Canadian and British soldiers killed, wounded or captured raiding Dieppe, France

1988 Iran and Iraq begin a cease-fire in their 8-year-old war (11 PM EDT)

1991 Conservative members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union attempt to depose Mikhail Gorbachev in a coup d’état

2010 Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1950 ABC begins Saturday morning kid shows (Animal Clinic & Acrobat Ranch)

Today in Music
2008 “The Fame”, debut album by Lady Gaga, is released (Grammy Award Album of the Year, Best Electronic/Dance Album 2009)

Today in Sport
1909 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of automobile race Indianapolis 500, opens in Speedway, Indiana

MORE FACTS…
1970 The Chinese Community in South Africa is granted ‘White’ status

1900 Start of first and only Olympic cricket match in Paris; GB beats France by 158 runs

Famous Weddings
1800 Social reformer Elizabeth Fry née Gurney (20) weds tea dealer Joseph Fry (23) at the Norwich Quaker Meeting House in Norwich, England

1935 French singer Édith Piaf (19) weds Andrew Johnseppe in Belleville, Paris

1956 Actor Christopher Plummer (26) weds actress Tammy Grimes (22) at Cherokee Castle in Sedalia, Colorado

EdoBEST: UBEC Partners Agencies To Train Officers on E-Quality Assurance

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August 19, 2022

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has partnered the Edo Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) to train Quality Assurance Officers (QAO).

The two-day workshop, which ended in Benin on Friday, centred on how to conduct quality assurance activities, using digital tools, in line with global best practices.

Head of Division, Security Geospatial Intelligence, Department of Strategic Space Application, NASRDA, Dr Idris Jega said it was imperative for quality assurance processes to be digitalised for efficient service delivery in education in Nigeria.

According to him, a country with diverse socio-cultural and environmental resources such as Nigeria, needs current, accurate, and cost-efficient data and resource management.

“The training component for this collaboration is focused on capacity building, for quality assurance officers, Edo SUBEB.

“This is to ensure development of skills and capacity in the application of space technology and GIS (Geographic Information Service) for quality assurance, as well as geospatial intelligence on the activities taking place at schools,” Jega said.

Switching to e-quality assurance, Edo SUBEB joined its counterparts in other states in carrying out quality assurance processes, as a means of improving quality education in the country.

Welcoming the participants earlier, the executive chairman, Edo SUBEB, Ozavize Salami, stressed the importance of the training toward upskilling QAOs to deliver on the EdoBEST 2.0, an education reform mandate in the state.

“The Quality Assurance process provides us the framework to independently and objectively assess the impact of our investments in teaching and learning, teacher professional development and school environment.

“With e-quality assurance, this very vital feedback will be available, just by the click of a button,” the SUBEB boss noted.

Edo State UBEC coordinator, Beatrice Oke, commended the state, on its migration to e-quality assurance.

Oke noted that quality assurance was the core of input processes and output.

“Incorporating ICT in our processes ensures that officers are doing the right thing at the right time.

“This will help us carry out quality assurance in a better way, keeping us at par with other states, while actively increasing the involvement of officers in the basic education ecosystem”, the UBEC coordinator noted.

Ethiopia University Teachers Threaten Action Over “Adminstrative Abuse”

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August 19, 2022

University teachers have stressed that unless their demands for salary raises, promotions, housing, life insurance, credit mechanisms, and transfer rights for teaching staff are met, the Ministry of Education shall be held responsible for any subsequent measures that will be taken, which would in turn affect the teaching-learning process.

The University Teachers’ Association, which numbers 40,000 teachers under its wings, sent a letter on 03 August 2022 to the Ministry of Education and other high-level governmental institutions. The letter detailed that the teachers’ demands were communicated to relevant ministries and governmental institutions repeatedly and then cautioned that if their questions were not answered by the 11th of September, the teachers would enact their own measures.

The union’s letter describes that regarding earlier demands for promotion amendments (JEG) preliminary recommendation notes were discussed in the presence of concerned stakeholders on 18 October 2021 and then sent to the Ministry of Education, and while changes were being expected, however, a decision with no connection to impacts on the living conditions or work motivation was passed and this was found as inappropriate.

The executive committee of the teachers’ union detailed what it called ‘administrative abuses’; it was said that firstly, the promotion amendments (JEG) were deemed unworthy even through the lens of the entire teaching sector, more so individuals with professor rankship have seen no improvements and during the month of July 2019, the announced salary scale by the Civil Service Commission, Federal Civil Servants Job Allocation and Assessment, was not made applicable to university teaching staff.

Additionally, there were indications of interest for the housing allowance to be revised immediately taking into consideration the housing costs, stating that the promotion revision was conducted in a manner inconsiderate of teachers’ experience, and moving forward with this revision does not allow for an equitable salary parity between teachers thus it called on the revision to be cognizant of experience and rank, it was expressed.

It was explained that the assistant professorship academic title now requires the minimum bar of a post-grad degree on which the teachers say they have comments, previously those who possessed an MA/MSc/M.Phil was able to progress into assistant professorship as long as they met the requirements. Thus the decision is unscientific, illogical, and unreasonable, according to the teachers. They explained that there are those who are internationally published and also others who are waiting to meet the needed service time, hence this decision is not right.

Furthermore, it was indicated that the standards might have seemed to need improvements, however, canceling the previous path of academic entitlement completely would go against the rights of teachers, plus there are fields of study that don’t have Ph.D. programs within the country, all this would impact on the future teaching careers of many.

The union stated that the minimum required education level for academic technical assistants is a bachelor’s degree, and associated with this, the association said that they want the future of technical assistants who were at the diploma level to be detailed, and if bachelor levels were demanded, they requested universities pay for their salaries and benefits and ask for them to acquire their undergraduate degree.

Finally, it was said that most university teachers have a master’s degree, however, the revised Chief Technical Assistant II level of education requires a third degree (Ph.D.), which does not take into account the realities on the ground.

The association has issued a strict warning that if the Ministry of Education does not accept the demands and give an appropriate response, we will take the necessary legal measures, including stopping work, to enforce the rights.

The association added that the Civil Service Commission and the Ministry of Education, who failed to understand the teacher’s pain and burden, will take responsibility for any procedural disruption, disruption of the education program, student misbehavior, and additional pressure on their families.

Group Speaks On Lasting Solution To End Incessant University Strike

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August 19, 2022

The Secretary General of the African Universities Association, Prof. Olushola Oyewole, says it is in the interest of the country that the government and the Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU, find a lasting solution to the incessant and often long strikes in the Nigerian higher education sector.

Prof. Oyewole also called on the Nigerian government to listen to the concerns of the members of Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU on the Integrated Payroll & Personnel Information System IPPIS ,saying the system negates autonomy of universities.

Responding to emerging issues between the government and lecturers of public universities in Nigeria, Prof. Oyewole said that the no work , no pay pronouncement has never worked with the University.

According to him, “All that the world knows is that there is disruption in the higher education system of Nigeria.“

“The resultant effect is that our youths are affected as many of them are stagnant now and the Nigeria situation will be used by the world to access them in the future.“

He added that the complexity of the system makes it difficult for Universities to attract short term international staff into the universities.

According to him, “On the issue of IPPIS, Government should listen to the concerns of ASUU on IPPIS. The system negates autonomy in universities and makes it difficult for universities to attract short term international staff into the University.“

2022 Nigeria’s Annual Teachers’ Conference Set To Hold Aug 22-23

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August 19, 2022

Nigeria’s annual teachers’ conference is set to hold with over 30,000 professional teachers duly registered to participate.

The conference, organised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will also attract tens of thousands of viewers from across the world.

This was made known by the Registrar/Chief Executive of TRCN, Professor Josiah Olusegun Ajiboye, in a statement made available to Journalists in Abuja on Friday.

According to the TRCN Registrar, the teachers’ conference- the second in series, which will hold virtually on Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd August, 2022, would be declared open by Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.

Ajiboye said the annual conference has been institutionalized in fulfillment of TRCN’s mandate, adding that the theme of this year’s edition is : “Strengthening Teacher Capacity for More Resilient, Transformative and Inclusive Education System.”

“The 2022 annual conference of registered teachers is the second edition of the conference and over 30, 000 participants have registered online, about 9,000 followers are expected to follow on our social media handles such as Facebook streaming live.

”Similarly, over 10,000 others will view the programme live on UNESCO social media handles.

”A couple of others will be viewing the program in set up viewing centers across three states – Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna,” he said.

According to the registrar, apart from UNESCO, this year’s conference is also being supported by PLANE and Save -the- Children- International (SCI) as well as some government agencies such as National Council for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and National Teachers’ Institute (NTI).

Recall that the first edition of the conference was held January 26th and 27th, 2021, with thousands of registered/professional teachers in attendance.

China’s Drought Disrupts Industry, Hydroelectric Dams

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Elizabeth Williams

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August 19, 2022