Reducing Illiteracy through Social Entrepreneurship

Photo Credit: Bayo Omoboriowo

Education is one of the best gifts that can be given to children because of its secondary advantage to the society.

When children are educated, their minds are developed through the knowledge and skills that they acquire. The knowledge they gain helps them understand their importance to society, and the skills they acquire gives them the opportunity to contribute to the socio-economic development of their communities. Therefore, the outcome of child education benefits the children as young individuals and extends to the society in terms of development.

However, education is not always available and affordable to all children. This is a common experience for the children of low-income earners in many developing countries because their parents always struggle to find and pay for good education. The free education that is sponsored by government in some African countries is not evenly efficient across all states. Hence, most parents avoid sending their children to public schools at the primary level. Yet, some of these parents are also uneducated. In fact, UNESCO reports that Africa is the only continent where more than half of parents are not able to help their children with homework due to illiteracy.

For example, in Nigeria, where 10.5 million children are presently out of school, several parents are finding it difficult to enrol their children in public primary schools. The shortcomings of public education are still visible and the cost of enrolment in private primary schools keeps escalating. Many parents say schools that have efficient teachers charge high tuition fees while the risks involved with sending their children to schools run by government are high. Again, parents who do not value education actually prevent their children from going to school and would rather engage them in local trades. If handled by government alone, the problem of illiteracy would remain unbeatable ...

 

Read more on Commonwealth Youth Portal

Education is one of the best gifts that can be given to children because of its secondary advantage to the society.
When children are educated, their minds are developed through the knowledge and skills that they acquire. The knowledge they gain helps them understand their importance to society, and the skills they acquire gives them the opportunity to contribute to the socio-economic development of their communities. Therefore, the outcome of child education benefits the children as young individuals and extends to the society in terms of development.
However, education is not always available and affordable to all children. This is a common experience for the children of low-income earners in many developing countries because their parents always struggle to find and pay for good education. The free education that is sponsored by government in some African countries is not evenly efficient across all states. Hence, most parents avoid sending their children to public schools at the primary level. Yet, some of these parents are also uneducated. In fact, UNESCO reports that Africa is the only continent where more than half of parents are not able to help their children with homework due to illiteracy.
For example, in Nigeria, where 10.5 million children are presently out of school, several parents are finding it difficult to enrol their children in public primary schools. The shortcomings of public education are still visible and the cost of enrolment in private primary schools keeps escalating. Many parents say schools that have efficient teachers charge high tuition fees while the risks involved with sending their children to schools run by government are high. Again, parents who do not value education actually prevent their children from going to school and would rather engage them in local trades. If handled by government alone, the problem of illiteracy would remain unbeatable.
- See more at: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/2013/12/17/reducing-illiteracy-through-social-entrepreneurship/#sthash.bk2kPG85.dpuf

Education is one of the best gifts that can be given to children because of its secondary advantage to the society.
When children are educated, their minds are developed through the knowledge and skills that they acquire. The knowledge they gain helps them understand their importance to society, and the skills they acquire gives them the opportunity to contribute to the socio-economic development of their communities. Therefore, the outcome of child education benefits the children as young individuals and extends to the society in terms of development.
However, education is not always available and affordable to all children. This is a common experience for the children of low-income earners in many developing countries because their parents always struggle to find and pay for good education. The free education that is sponsored by government in some African countries is not evenly efficient across all states. Hence, most parents avoid sending their children to public schools at the primary level. Yet, some of these parents are also uneducated. In fact, UNESCO reports that Africa is the only continent where more than half of parents are not able to help their children with homework due to illiteracy.
For example, in Nigeria, where 10.5 million children are presently out of school, several parents are finding it difficult to enrol their children in public primary schools. The shortcomings of public education are still visible and the cost of enrolment in private primary schools keeps escalating. Many parents say schools that have efficient teachers charge high tuition fees while the risks involved with sending their children to schools run by government are high. Again, parents who do not value education actually prevent their children from going to school and would rather engage them in local trades. If handled by government alone, the problem of illiteracy would remain unbeatable.
- See more at: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/2013/12/17/reducing-illiteracy-through-social-entrepreneurship/#sthash.bk2kPG85.dpuf

Madiba, What Can We Say?

What can we say?
That you lived a good good life
A pretty, spirited and selfless one
A life endured by you for the good of others

What can we say?
That we knew it Madiba, when
Death arrived without any shame
To knock upon the door shielding your life

That we felt within us a deep
But faint impression that you would die
And we sought God about it in our heavy hearts
And He said that you are going to die in 2013 anyway

What can be said?
About how we still prayed
Though without much faith because
We knew you would soon go away forever

What can be said Madiba?
That we doubted you'd die anymore
Until again He said, "Wait till December"
And you indeed went away in its very genesis

You could have stayed till Christmas
You could have waited till New Year Eve
You could have left on the 31st at 11:59:59PM
But for you, there was no better time to go yonder

What can we say?
You wanted to leave here
The pain was too much to bear
You only smiled just to keep us hoping

What can we say?

That you were brave, wise and selfless

And no one could take these away from you
You were just the right gift that South Africa needed

But we say goodbye to you Madiba!
Thank you for your inspiring existence
The whole of Africa appreciates your life forever
And the world in its entirety will respect you even in death

May Nigerian leaders look into your life and learn something about leadership.

Dear God, teach us all to number our days even in the flurry of our youthfulness.

Spotlight on Good Employee Relations

“We developed our business ideas in the belief that our priority should be the people who work for the companies. If staff are motivated, then customers will be happy and stakeholders benefit through the company’s success.” –Richard Branson

Good employee relations is a significant requirement for achieving teamwork and overall corporate goals. Without it, no organization can thrive or even survive.

Since every organization is made up of people who work together to perform tasks and meet objectives, the collective behavior, efforts and accomplishments of all the individuals determine the organization’s position.  Therefore, what the employees of an organization achieve is equal to what the organization achieves and vice versa.

When good relations is lacking among the employees of an organization, for instance between the managers and the people they are managing, inefficiency sets in. Managers find it difficult to drive their subordinates towards set goals, good efforts are generally wasted and progress rate is reduced. This leads to overall inefficiency and jeopardizes the organization’s ability to meets some of its timely goals. In addition to the usual constraints of cost, time, quality and scope, the organization’s projects face prolonged storming of human resources due to the new constraint of employee relations.

There is a need for managers to balance the interests of their subordinates with management demands using the organization’s values, culture and policies as their model. They must truly understand the values and culture-template of the organization and demonstrate obvious commitment by practicing them. They should stand as corporate ambassadors and hold senior and executive management accountable in this regard.

When subordinates lose confidence in their managers, it is usually because they feel betrayed. In this wise, some employees suppose or even see evidences that their bosses are self-seeking, deceptive, unethical or exhibiting eye-service. They are either not convinced that their interests are respected or do not see traits of sacrificial, committed and exemplary leadership in them.

Perhaps, this is because while management thinks in terms of figures (i.e. financial implication, cost-cutting possibilities and profit projections), other employees think about general welfare, income increment and promotion. Yet, all other factors being equal, the gap between set goals and present situation can only be bridged by motivated employees. Therefore, there is a need to continuously strike an unequal but realistic balance between the two sides.

In a business environment like Nigeria’s, where the government is still struggling to fight the problems of poor infrastructure, unreliable power supply, insecurity, unstandardized transportation networks and inadequate financial support, business development is a difficult task. This is not unconnected to why business owners and management executives in Nigeria tend to place strong emphasis on prevalent cost-cutting even when it undermines employee welfare and safety.

To promote good relations between managers and their subordinates, teams must be able to have confidence in their managers. Where necessary, employees should be helped to understand the importance of their minor roles in achieving major strategic objectives. Also, managers should champion good relations and help their subordinates see the connection between teamwork and the unit’s productivity.

In the end, if the organization’s growth continues to reflect in the lives of its employees, everyone would be eager to work together to make things better. That’s good employee relations.