Application of Pragmatism to Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) in Kenya: An Analysis of Basic Education Curriculum Framework

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Globally the world is experiencing rapid changes economically, socially, with new demands setting in. It is therefore necessary for every country to reform education system to remain relevant and functional. Educational philosophies provide ideas that can be applied to make education instrumental. Pragmatism is one of such philosophy which has been used to advance reforms in education. This paper examines the concept of pragmatism in terms of aims, principles and theoretical bases in guiding curriculum reforms. The need for reforms has also been highlighted. The new education system in Kenya (CBC) has been presented in terms of mission and vision and how it relates to the Kenya blue print for economic development- vision 2030. Theoretical underpinnings for CBC have also been presented. Further the paper has related the principles of pragmatism to the CBC through a critical analysis of the Basic Education Curriculum Framework in Kenya to conceptualize how ideas of the philosophy have been reflected in the new curriculum. The paper concludes that, to make education meaning, prior experiences of learners must be exploited and learner engagement must take precedence in the teaching- learning process to develop them as empowered citizens. The philosophy has been applied to a great extent in the new curriculum. To fully actualized the new curriculum, the paper recommends that more funding be provided initiated from the budget making desk to cater for additional facilities, resources and teacher development.

Awareness Regarding First Aid Management of Sports Injury among Primary School Teacher

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First aid management of sports injury means during the time of any sports activity injury occur in children that time what type of first aid management is given to resolve the wound or any injury and to prevent complication. So, that the basic knowledge of first aid is required in primary school teacher.

Objective: 1.to assess the knowledge regarding first aid management of sports injury among primary school teachers 2. To the effectiveness of health education regarding first aid management of sports injury among primary school teachers 3. To associate the knowledge with selected demographic variable.

Research approach: Quantitative research approach.

Research design: Experimental design

Participation: 40 primary school teacher.

Tool: Questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge among primary school teacher.

Results: The comparison of mean and standard deviation of pre – test and post – test level of knowledge regarding management of sports injury among primary school teacher. The mean score was increased from 10.55 to 16 which showed a marked deference of 5.45 respectively and the standard deviation was 0.300 to 0.42 after the administration of health education. ‘T’ test value is 11.94. This value is significant at p < 0.05 level. It indicate the effectiveness of health education on increasing the level of knowledge regarding first aid management of sports injury among primary school teacher. Hence the hypothesis was accepted.

Conclusion: Teachers had increase level of knowledge.

Awareness on Immunization Schedule among Nursing Students

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Introduction: Immunization is the process of including the immunity in an individual against an infection organism or agent, through the vaccination. It stimulates immune system (either humeral or cell mediated) to generate specific protection against an infection agent. Vaccine may be prepared from live modified organism, inactivated or killed organism, toxics, or combination of these. The immune system protects an individual against invasion by foreign bodies, specifically microbial agent and their toxoid product.

Design: The analysis of data was done by descriptive and inferential statistics.

Tool: using a simple random sampling technique.

Sample size: The sample size was 45.

Result: That between age and knowledge level 21 to 22 years of students had adequate (100%) knowledge, between source of information and knowledge level family member has adequate (57.14) knowledge, between area of residence and knowledge level are English language had adequate (50%) knowledge, between parents education and knowledge level 12th pass has adequate (44.74%) knowledge, between course of study and knowledge level GNM students had adequate (66.67) knowledge on immunization schedule. The study result show that knowledge score on immunization for average mean is 12.62 and standard deviations is 5.18.

Determinants and Preventive Strategies to Reduce Food Waste in Households

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Reduction and better management of food waste affects food security at the household level. Various efforts to increase availability by optimizing production have been carried out but it will be more difficult if it is not accompanied by a reduction in food waste which tends to increase, especially at the consumer level. This study aims to examine how behavior and preventive strategies to reduce food waste in households from various literatures can be used as educational materials or the basis for food waste management programs from households. This Systematic Review study was conducted using the PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, and Google Scholar search databases. Search was limited to articles in peer-reviewed journals, written in English and Indonesian between 2013 and 2022. Publications older than 2013 were not included in compiling the study. After the literature was obtained, then the articles were filtered by title and abstract, including filtering out irrelevant and duplication articles so that there were 13 articles eligible for review. Food loss and waste accounts for > 20% of all food produced, which should still be avoided because reducing food waste can increase food availability for the community. The most widely discussed determinants in the study review are behaviors that include food selection, eating habits and food processing, shopping practices, and waste minimization practices. The potential for reducing food waste can be increased with the most dominant preventive strategies, namely education and socialization, then food management at the individual level, community and government participation.

 

Proposed Capital Budgeting: Should PT.FST Close its Kelambu Division?

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In 2021, the manufacturing industry is Indonesia’s most significant contributor to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Within the manufacturing industry, there is a sub-industry called the textile industry. The textile industry in Indonesia is highly fragmented. For instance, there are three niche textile markets: textile for households, textile for clothing, and textile for agriculture. The three segments have different growth of 4%, 7.5%, and 5%, respectively, and this difference in growth rate will create a dilemma for companies. For instance, companies must decide which segment needed to be perused or avoid since each segment will have its opportunities and threats.

PT. FST also faces this dilemma. The differences in each segment’s growth rate are reflected by the company’s sales growth of each product. The sales of plastic products Waring and Benang growth rates are 34% and 52% five years CAGR, respectively. Those are substantial growth compared to the textile products of Kelambu with only 23% five years CAGR. From there, the company’s owner and CEO see a shift in the growth of products sold, from textile products to plastic products. To capture the shifts in demand within the market, he decided to close the Kelambu division to make the company leaner and will be able to focus its resources on the products that will generate revenue the most.

From capital budgeting analysis, the plan of shutting down the Kelambu division will result in a faster payback period of 7.2 years compared to 8 years for the regular cash flow and 8.05 years compared to 8.12 years for the regular cash flow the discounted cash flows. More importantly, it generates a higher NPV of IDR 1,087 bio than IDR 976 bio. In addition, the plan also has a higher Profitability Index and IRR of 6.04 and 25% compared to 5.01 and 22%. From risk analysis, the expected value of the project’s is IDR 1,457 bio, with a probability of NPV less than zero is 8%.

Lastly, this final project contributes to the literature by providing an alternative framework on how to use capital budgeting techniques to compare two expansion plans or closing down divisions within a company. Moreover, other textile industry players, especially SMEs could also refer to this final project if they face a similar dilemma.

Review on Broken-down Resistance to Diseases and Its Management; the Hidden Challenge in Breeding and Production of Banana and Plantains in Developing Countries

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Resistant breakdown is the genetic vulnerability that is devastating agriculture breeding and production of banana worldwide, therefore threateningburgeoning population.It takes 15 to 20 years for banana breeding pipeline and other stakeholders to release a cultivar that is fully evaluated to farmers. Disease like fusarium wilt disease (race 1) was reported to wipe away Gros Michel and the Tropical Race 4 (TR4) has wiped away all cultivars which were resistant to race1. Again banana breeding for resistant to sigatoka successively bred and released many hybrids but of recently of these hybrids including FHIA hybrids, Yagambi KM 5, Paka, young Calcutta 4 and T8 has lost their resistant to sigatoka. Due to political and commercial pressures, it is true that most of the released resistant cultivars are from single effective genes. Though durable resistance with a single dominant gene has been a serious challenge to achieve in breeding, this is because of broken-down resistance. This review used online resource to identify some causes of broken resistance in banana and provided some possible solutions to increase durability. Causes of broken resistance includes the practice of monoculture in large area, illegal use of chemicals, multiple infections, evolution of pathogens as the result of recombination, mutations, nature of interaction exhibited by released cultivars, low genetic base in banana, gene flow, through introductions of pathogens and climate change. It is widely accepted that different agronomic practices combined with strategic breeding and release of cultivars can elongate durability of resistant cultivars to pathogens in agricultural system. Through all the literature searched it is being unveiled yet the factors that govern quality and durability of resistance in resistant cultivars. I hereby conclude that breeding for resistance to diseases in banana should go par pursue with other disease management strategies. This is aimed at increasing durability of resistance to diseases in this highly expensive produced banana and plantain hybrids.

Review on the Mutual effects of Conservation Agriculture and Integrated Pest Management on Pest and Disease Control in Agriculture

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Crop pests and pathogens have caused a serious significant yield loss of more than 40% in major crops worldwide in recent years. It is projected that many important crop producing countries will be fully saturated with pests and pathogens in next few years. Endevours to control pests using conventional methods have failed to achieve the goals of sustainable yield in agriculture. This is due to negative effects associated with the used modern agriculture inputs to control insect pests and pathogens. The failure to supply enough food to feed the growing population calls for identifying appropriate method that will sustain yield without harming the environment, human and other organisms. This review used online materials to identify the advantages of combined integrated pest management (IPM) and conservation agriculture (CA) in the agricultural crop production. The benefits farmers accrue as the result of combined appropriate IPM and CA management strategies includes; reduced production cost, slower development of resistance to chemicals. Achieving long term pest, pathogens and weeds control, reduce risks due to pesticides or herbicides use, reduction of emergence of cultivar resistant breaking species/isolates/tribes/strains, ultimately improves yield. Others are low labour requirement, increase water conservation, fertility increase and reduced land degradation. The job that is yet to be done is research on appropriate IPM and CA for specific crops is needed. It is concluded that the appropriate solutions will depend on the effective promotion, monitoring and evaluation of changes in farming practices. This calls for stakeholders including researchers, scientists, political class, the government and farmers come together to discuss issues and lay down laws and regulation that will help the implementation of IPM and CA to rescue the world vulnerable community and the environment.

Factors Affecting Listing of Small and Medium Enterprises on LuSE Alternative Investment Market in Zambia: A Case of Lusaka Business District

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Economic growth in both developed and developing nations is strongly linked to the growth of alternative investment markets. Alternative markets for the listing of start-up companies have been established and launched by many exchanges in order to assist small and medium businesses in raising finance through initial public offers and listing their shares for trade. The rise of these alternative markets has been slow, particularly in poorer countries. The study’s major goal was to discover the characteristics that influence SMEs’ ability to list on the Lusaka Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (LuSE AIM). Examine whether information accessibility is a critical factor in determining SMEs listing on the Alt-M; determine if regulatory requirements are a factor to consider when SMEs decide to register on the AIM; determine if corporate governance is an important factor in determining SMEs listing on the AIM; and determine if SMEs support platforms are important factors in determining SMEs listing on the AIM. The study used a quantitative cross-sectional design using a survey as the research approach to attain this goal.  The approach was deemed appropriate and useful towards assessing of the elements influencing listing of SME firms on the securities exchange. The population of the study included all 1663 SMEs registered under Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Businesses Association in Lusaka. Stratified sampling technique was used for the study where random sampled quotas were selected from each industry. The sample size of SMEs derived 322 companies and only 161 SMEs successfully participated in the study as respondents. Primary data were used to obtain information in this study using closed-ended questionnaires. To identify the characteristics that influence the listing of SMEs on the stock market, the study used quantitative analysis and factor analyses. The parameters that determine the listing of SMEs on the Alternative Securities Market were identified using factor analysis. Factor I (information accessibility), Factor II (regulatory needs), Factor III (business governance), and Factor IV (corporate governance) identified as the four elements (SMEs support platforms). Information accessibility, enabling legislative requirements, sound corporate governance, and SMEs support platforms were identified as the barriers to small and medium firms receiving finance through the LuSE Alternative Investment Market, according to the conclusions of the research study. The findings of the study suggest that availability to information is critical to listing, and that a regulatory environment that is friendly to small and medium firms will encourage them to list. Furthermore, while corporate governance is not a prerequisite for SMEs to list, good corporate governance practices have been proven to promote SMEs to list. According to the survey, relevant authorities should educate SMEs on the critical information required for securities market listing so that they may make educated judgments. Policymakers should make it easier for SMEs to expand by enacting favorable policies and making it easier for them to list on the AIM. Corporate governance regulations should be tailored to the structure and environment of SMEs by policymakers. The government should develop an atmosphere that includes support systems tailored to SMEs. Putting support platforms in place increases SMEs’ desire to list.

Factors Affecting the Adoption of Mobile Money Services in Zambia: Case of Central Bank of Zambia

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Mobile money services has technologically advanced with an increase in popular usage in Africa and the rest of the world. The advancement in technology has birthed mobile money which is a new and popular service in Zambia. This study was a cross sectional study conducted to determine the influences of consumer adoption of the service. This study used a mixed research design involving both qualitative and quantitative methods (Saunders et al, 2016). The qualitative method was used to provide an explanation of various variables while the quantitative approach was used to quantify incidences in order to describe current perceptions as regards the factors influencing the adoption of mobile services. This enabled the researcher to gain in-depth information that would be used to find solutions for the research questions of the study. Purposive sampling techniques was employed to select respondents to select a sample size of 100. It is a conclusion emanating from this study that the majority of the respondent’s number of customers believed mobile money service by network operators was less costly than traditional banking and this influenced their adoption. As electronic money transfer service by network operators is becoming more prevalent, so is the level of customer service delivery thus the level of customer adoption of the service is increasing as the service is perceived not only to be convenient but a low cost service. The study recommended that Mobile network operator’s staff and officials should be adequately trained in e-banking products and services to be able to address customers’ needs and challenges. Furthermore, the network providers need to effectively package their products to ensure increased use of the service. Products and services to customers to close the seemingly knowledge gap that exists among the populace with regard to the benefits that can be derived from mobile money services. Such innovation now includes small loans which consumers can access and repay within a chosen time period.