Beijing city local market regulator said on Sunday, four online education agencies have been fined 500,000 yuan ($76,988) each for misleading customers with false advertising.

The regulator said the firms; GSX Techedu Inc, TAL Education Group, Koolearn Technology Holding Ltd and Gaosi, were all given the maximum fine for falsely claiming that the price for their online courses before discount was much higher than it actually was.

Chinese authorities have recently started paying closer attention to the regulation of online learning platforms.

Earlier this month, the education ministry forbade online education firms from offering minors live-streamed courses and games at night, to ensure children get enough sleep.

Education experts and child psychologists have raised the alarm about the increasing scholarisation of childhood in the United Kingdom as evidence grows that free play both at school and at home is being eroded in favour of academic, sporting and cultural activities.

Experts are concerned that children in the UK are losing unstructured play time during the school day, with shorter lunch breaks filled with supervised educational activities, followed by homework and extracurricular pursuits once school ends.

They are calling on the government to take advantage of the pause created by the pandemic to think afresh about childhood beyond the narrow lens of academic attainment and bring a halt to the increasing “schoolification” of young lives.

This week the British Children’s Play survey showed youngsters are having to wait longer before they are allowed to play outside on their own – they are typically 11, while their parents were two years younger – and often engage in less adventurous play than previous generations.

Meanwhile, debate continues to rage about measures to support children’s recovery following the pandemic disruption. While the government’s focus is on academic catchup, extended school days and shorter holidays, child psychologists have called for a summer of play to protect children’s mental health.

Dr Naomi Lott, an expert on the right to play at University of Nottingham, warned that tihe loss of play is incredibly serious.

She said that it has such wide-ranging impacts on children. But because play is viewed as frivolous, all the benefits are forgotten, which have a long-term effect on children and society as a whole.

Research by the UCL Institute of Education has shown that school breaktimes have been curtailed over the years and are as much as an hour shorter than they were two decades ago, often filled with a range of organised activities further limiting free play.

Former headteacher and Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw said school breaktimes had decreased as a performance culture took over in schools and he called for a better balance.

Experts say other examples of the “schoolification of childhood” include: breakfast and after-school clubs, which help working parents but extend the school day into once free time; the growing importance of homework even in primary schools; the pressure to get very young children “school-ready”; and the advent of the “back-seat generation” who are picked up from school and ferried to activities.

a professor of child psychology at the University of Reading, Helen Dodd, said children’s breaktimes at school have decreased, the age they are allowed without supervision has increased and the focus after a year of having their social play restricted is on ‘academic catchup.

She warns that this scholarisation of childhood, and the increase in time children spend in adult-led activities, decreases children’s time spent playing, removes opportunities for independence and denies them the simple joys and freedoms of childhood.

According to senior educational psychologist Dr Melernie Meheux: “Reduced opportunities for play and a heavy focus on structured/formal learning both at home and at school place unnecessary pressure on children and families.

“Parents can feel pressure for their children to perform and achieve, as can children, which in the long term can affect children’s sense of self, confidence and willingness to take risks.”

Meheux said learning is important, however, without opportunities to play and engage with friends and family, children will not have the capacity to engage with learning and thus achieve their full potential.

In its response, a Department for Education spokesperson cited the government’s £1.7bn catchup funding, including £950m to support pupils’ mental health, plus its sport and activity action plan.

The spokesperson added that indeed young people have faced unprecedented challenges over the past year, including with wellbeing and development, and so support for pupil mental and physical health is a vital part of the recovery.

The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, has charged youth corps members to develop interest in agriculture to enable them become self-reliant.

He stated this at the inauguration of the 2021 Farming season by NYSC Youth Corps members on a 16-hectare farm land secured by the NYSC in Doma local government area of Nasarawa.

Ibrahim said since 2012, NYSC had introduced a number of programmes, including Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) Programme, aimed at teaching corp members skills they would need to be self-employed given the scarcity of white collar jobs.

He said one of the trainings offered by SAED is agriculture, a sector capable of lifting many from poverty and employing many young Nigerians.

Ibrahim thanked the Andoma of Doma, Aliyu Onawo, for offering the land to NYSC for agriculture demonstration to corps members, among other uses.

He said that the acquisition of the land and the practical use of it would go a long way to convince corps members to see agriculture as a viable alternative.

He urged other royal fathers and state governments to emulate the good gesture of the Andoma to avail lands to corps members to enable them showcase their talents and get experience in farming.

Also speaking, Nasarawa State Deputy Governor, Emmanuel Akabe, lauded the commitment of the NYSC in pushing the agriculture agenda of the Federal Government to youth corps members with a view to encouraging them to be self-reliant.

Akabe, represented by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Water Resources, Prof. Allalana Otaki, pledged Nasarawa state government’s support for the NYSC agriculture initiative.

In his remark, Coordinator of the NYSC in the state, Stephen Dewan, expressed excitement over farming season development.

He promised to ensure that corps members in the state are thoroughly trained and exposed to the numerous opportunities available in the agriculture sector.

Meanwhile, President, NYSC Nasarawa state Agro Allied Community Development Service (CDS) Group who is also a Corp member, Johnbenedict Tyoakosu, said the group would commence the farming season with planting of melon seeds.

He said melon seeds mature in three months and two weeks, adding that they would also plant beniseed.

He said the farm will be used for demonstration purposes for corps members interested in farming to learn the best agronomic practices of the crops that will be cultivated there, adding that it will enable them train the beneficiaries not just theoretically but practically.

Tyoakosu noted that the agricultural activities on the Demonstration Farm would contribute to the food security of Nasarawa State and Nigeria as a whole.

He further stated that practical work on Agro based SAED can also be done to equip the corp members with the skills which will make them self-employed and subsequently employers of labour.

The Nigeria Petroleum Development Company Ltd. (NPDC) says more than 10,000 indigent students from its host communities have benefited from its scholarship programmes since  year 2000.

The Manager, Community Relations Department, NPDC,  Dahiru Abubakar, made this known during the conduct of the year 2019/2020 scholarship examination in Warri, Delta.

Abubakar noted that about 379 students were invited for Saturday’s examination from all the NPDC host communities.

Represented by the team leader of the Warri examination centre, Noble Imabibo, Abubakar revealed the  examination was being conducted simultaneously in three centres at Warri in Delta State, Egbema in Imo State and Port Harcourt, Rivers State

He said “We are here to basically conduct NPDC yearly scholarship examination. This exercise is for year 2019/2020 and the process is going on smoothly.

“Basically, this is a tertiary scholarship exams, what we do is to send invitation to our host communities asking them to nominate four candidates to compete for one slot per community.

“The Warri venue has about 179 candidates, while Egbema and Port Harcourt centres have 100 candidates each.

“In total,  we have 379 candidates sitting for the exam out of which about 160 successful candidates would be awarded the scholarships.

“The NPDC Scholarship Programme started in the year 2000, and since then about 10,000 students have enjoyed and still enjoying the programme,”.

According to him,  the effort is part of NPDC corporate social responsibilities to its host communities aimed at promoting human capital development.

Abubakar further stated that to ensure transparency in the process, NPDC engaged the management of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE) as consultant to conduct the examination.

He added that the whole idea is to make the examination highly competitive and transparent in line with the TAPE agenda of the NNPC administration.

Also speaking, Coordinator of the NPDC Scholarship Examination, (FUPRE), Professor Prekeyi Tawari-Fufeyin, thanked the NPDC for the privilege given to the students.

Tawari-Fufeyin urged other corporate organisations to emulate NPDC by coming up with people oriented programmes.

She advised the students to always prepare well for the examination, adding that  performance in the past few years had reduced.

The Western Cape Education Department says it is currently implementing a plan to place 2 550 learners that are currently registered as unplaced in the province.

According to Minister of Education, Debbie Schäfer, the plan includes the provision of 129 mobile classrooms to schools, as well as the addition of teaching posts.

The department acknowledged that while some schools already have extra classrooms available, others do require mobile classrooms, which take time to construct.

The Minister said schools that have received additional teaching posts have agreed to accommodate learners in alternative spaces, such as school halls or laboratories, until classrooms are constructed.

Schäfer said learners will be placed in schools, and ready to begin the second term.

She added that the department is well aware that these learners have missed a full term of work, and lesson packs for the first term will be made available at the schools where the learners will be placed.

District officials will also guide schools on how to support learners with a catch-up plan, and will monitor the learners’ assessment results for the second term to determine future support programmes.

Schäfer further stated that the plan would not be possible without additional funding and this has been the main challenge with regards to additional infrastructure and teachers.

The department have had to reprioritise existing funding for this, which means future budget allocations will be negatively affected, as well as current long-term plans.

Ekiti State University proscribed all labour unions within the institution following continued protests that have disrupted academic and non-academic activities in recent time.

The institution, also, suspended all academic activities with immediate effect while all students were directed to return home until its management issued a directive asking them to resume.

These directives were contained in a statement the Head of EKSU Directorate of Information and Corporate Affairs, Bode Olofinmuagun issued in response to industrial conflict rocking the institution.

The unions in the institution had been protesting against the management for alleged non-payment of salaries and some specific allowances, among others.

Consequently, the protests triggered a total lockdown of the university, which paralysed academic, non-academic and commercial activities within the academic community.

The university proscribed all the four unions with immediate effect. The unions comprise Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

The statement reads: “This is as a result of the continuous disruption of lawful activities on campus which have endangered lives and property in the last one week.

“Consequently, to guarantee peace and orderliness on campus, all the four unions – ASUU, SSANU, NAAT and NASU – are hereby proscribed with immediate effect”.

The management directed all students to vacate the campus with immediate effect.

From Monday, the protesting lecturers and other non-academic staff had occupied the university causing a standstill of traffic and activities on campus for over two hours. They sang solidarity songs and vowed to increase the intensity of the protest daily.

The unions were aggrieved that the state government failed to meet their demands for payment of three months salary arrears dated 2018, six years of earned academic allowances and unremitted cooperative deductions among other demands.

The Chairman of ASUU, EKSU Chapter, Kayode Arogundade accused the state governor, Kayode Fayemi of shunning several appeals from the union and other intermediaries.

The unions vowed to go beyond the usual strike action as they have threatened to make the university and state ungovernable until their requests are granted.

On it’s part, the state government has blamed the situation on over-bloated recruitment done by the immediate past administration and the inability of EKSU to meet its own portion of subvention.

Special Adviser to the governor on Tertiary Education, Sikiru Eniola pleaded with the protesters to embrace dialogue and also find alternative funding channels in the face of dwindling revenue.