Evolving Horizons

A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE

2023-05-09T12:30:31+00:00

This project summarizes my doctoral dissertation concerning the South China Sea (henceforth SCS) dispute by utilizing a qualitative research design. The purpose of this study was to explore why the SCS dispute has long been regarded as one of the most complex and challenging ocean-related maritime disputes in Southeast Asia. This case study provides the opportunity for readers to examine whether this dispute has the potential of escalating into serious international conflicts because of its geographic position in major oceanic routes as well as for both tapped and untapped natural resources. The study is designed to create an understanding as to why this region is important not only to the regional claimants but also to global powers like India, and the United States. The sources of qualitative data collection and the data analysis are outlined along with a summation of the findings of the case study.

URBAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND WATER CONSUMPTION PATTERN IN BANGLADESH: CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT

2023-05-09T13:43:10+00:00

Water-centric problems and limitations are many. Although 70% of the planet is covered with water, only 3% of the water is potable. Among this 3%, 23% is contained in Lake Baikal, in Russian Siberia, which is usually frozen and therefore not usable even by people living in that area. 7 billion people have to share the other 77% of 3% (about 2.2%) of the Earth’s surface which is covered with water.
The point is that water, on which humans depend for life, is amazingly scarce. The demand for water is increasing at a terrific rate but no new water can be produced to meet it. Conservation and sharing of water supplies are our only options to survive. We do a poor job of this and thus billions of people have water problems.
Some 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to potable water, and a total of 2.7 billion people find water scarce for at least one month each year. Inadequate sanitation is a problem for 2.4 billion people—they are exposed to diseases, such as cholera and typhoid fever, and other water-borne illnesses. Two million people, mostly children, die each year from diarrheal diseases.
One-third of the world’s countries face moderate or extreme water problems. Almost all of them are located in North Africa, West or Central Asia and South Asia. High-level difficulties mean that, at some point in the year, these countries face severe difficulties in supplying potable water to all their people, all of the time.

PRACTICES OF INNOVATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

2023-05-09T13:57:47+00:00

Bangladesh has had endemic problems of being unable to keep enough children in school long enough to ensure mass literacy, let alone completion of primary education. The Bangladesh Government struggled toward its goal of “cent percent literacy” with a raft of policy changes. The historic average of 50% primary school attendance has been pushed up to 80% in this century but further progress has been limited. The Bangladesh Ministry of Primary and Mass Education knew that major innovation was needed to make school attractive to children and simply required that State schools innovate. This research was a case study of primary schools in two local government areas, using qualitative methodology, to see how these new policies were working in practice. The data indicate that Ministry policies have been largely ignored and have had little impact in the vast majority of the schools. To some extent, the Ministry policies are unrealistic in the rural and poor areas mostly served by State education. Single computers were dumped in rural schools without the software or training to create multimedia classrooms. Old school buildings had neither the space nor the staff to support libraries and gardens. Teachers endorsed Girl Guide chapters, honesty shops, humanity walls, complaint boxes and elected student councils but were not willing to put in the extra time and labor to administer them. To make the new Ministry policies work in practice, the Ministry needs to facilitate and coordinate implementation, supplying resources, incentives, assigning responsibility for implementation and assuring accountability for results.

POST-COVID PEDAGOGY OF LANGUAGE TEACHING

2023-05-09T14:01:41+00:00

‘Pedagogy,’ an emerging concept of 21st century has got its root in Greek Dictionary. Comprising of two Greek words ‘Paidos’ and ‘Agogos’ connoting ‘Boy, child’ and ‘Guide’ and ultimately directly indicates a teacher or teaching related issue. Until the impact of Covid-19 (A highly infectious disease prevailing in the world with mild to moderate respiratory illness caused due to newly discovered Corona virus) on Education system teachers were comfortable with traditional ‘Chalk and Talk’ method but the sudden circumstances arrived due to the pandemic Covid19, the habitual face to face mode of transaction transforms into a world of virtual digital world where Technological skill enhancement for the teachers gains utmost priority. Here this study was done with sixty language teachers of ten schools (six teachers from each) of rural and urban regions of Kolkata to assess their awareness of Techno-pedagogical skills. A self – made standardized questionnaire was distributed to them for data collection and it revealed that though we are in the age of digitalization the language teachers of today still lag in technical application in the field of education. The trained teachers’ awareness of Techno-pedagogical skill was higher than the untrained ones. There was no difference in the area of awareness of Techno-pedagogical skill between the male and female language teachers. Urban language teachers showed greater level of alertness in techno-pedagogical skill than the Rural Language teachers.Keywords: e-teaching learning, e-gadgets, epidemic, COVID-19, ICT, Learning- design

MESSENGER IN CHIEF: PARTY IDENTIFICATION AND PUBLIC RESPONSE TO COVID 19 IN THE U.S.

2023-05-09T14:05:06+00:00

Party identification is an important factor when considering public responses. Individuals with opposing party identifications often react differently to political messaging. In 2020, this expectation extended to the Covid 19 pandemic. Public responses to pandemic messages quickly began to divide. Why did party identification become relevant in explaining public reactions to Covid 19 messaging? The analysis seeks to answer this question by examining two interconnected factors: political ideology, and the role of the messenger in explaining public reactions to Covid related messaging. Face masks represent the first aspect of Covid 19 over which public opinion in the United States became strongly divided. Public opinion data related to mask-wearing is presented, including differences in mask usage between Republicans and non-Republicans in the spring and summer of 2020. The implications of divided opinions about mask usage extended well beyond 2020. The analysis recommends government officials understand and consider the significance of political ideology and party identification when crafting and disseminating information about public health.

INTEGRATED LIBRARY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND ITS EVALUATION CRITERIA

2023-05-09T14:07:28+00:00

for the library. The different parameters can be considered in selecting the best ILMS to provide the best services to the patrons. Library management systems are now accessible through Local Area Network as well as Cloud Hosted platform. There are different types of devices which could connect to the library application server at anytime, anywhere and in any form of documents. The objective of the present study is to know the criteria for evaluation of integrated library management system This paper indicates some of the parameters which are very much relevant in this respect particularly in the present perspectives.

GIRLS’ EMPOWERMENT WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE INDIAN CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS

2023-05-09T14:10:26+00:00

Indian women enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects in ancient ages where Rig Vedic ideologies were the fundamental base for the society. In the pre-Independence era the status of women in the society were fluctuating with the regnant and regime. Sometimes women became a constituent part of decision making and sometimes they were clutched under patriarchal subjugation and suppression. But after the Independence the Constitution of India indentures that there shall be no gender-discrimination in the country. The democratic nature of India is exercised via the gender equality practices but its consequence should reach all sectors in the entire nation. Keeping this prudence in mind, this study attempted to explore the awareness of girls of government sponsored secondary and higher secondary schools in Purulia, a socio-economically backward district in West Bengal regarding the Constitutional rights and legal provisions. Probability cluster sampling technique was employed to select 345 Secondary girls from class IX & Class X and 430 higher secondary girls from class XI & class XII and total 775 girls were interviewed face-to-face through semi-structured interview schedule. Analysis of their response showed that 91.6% (n=316) of secondary girls didn’t know about the Constitutional provisions and women empowerment was totally new term for them. However, 70.47% (n=303) of higher secondary girls were acquainted with the Constitutional provisions but concept of women empowerment was unfamiliar to 95.82% (n=412) girls. Girls admitted that subject combinations in the curriculum and inherent messages from the co-curricular as well as Kanyashree club activities helped them to gather information about the empowerment through legal provisions. It was revealed from their responses that girls’ access to physical resources as well as their participation in school activities and community programs was free from gender bias..

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ICT IN TEACHER EDUCATION

2023-05-09T14:13:17+00:00

Effective use of ICT in teacher education programme can motivate students, make our classes more dynamic and interesting, and renew teacher enthusiasm by learning learn new skills and techniques. The integration of ICTs in teaching in general and teacher education is the need of the day. ICT can play and important role in motivating learners and encouraging them to engage in learning, within and beyond the classroom. Objectives: The objectives of the present study are to know the various ICTs services to be used and approaches of ICT in teacher education. Methodology: This paper is based on the analysis of review of the various literature published in journals. Findings: The study reveals that different ICTs are now set to become instrumental to help expand access to teacher education, strengthen the relevance of teacher education to the increasingly digital work place and raise teacher educational quality, helping make teaching and learning into an engaging, active process connected to real life. Suggestions: The study demands that by offering ICT as a compulsory and special course, integrated approaches need to be studied along with method courses.