UFS Publications Platform (Univ. of the Free State)
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Food Insecurity and its Correlates: Empirical Evidence from Fish Farming Households in Nigeria
Get PDFOver the years, the Nigerian government and partner agencies have implemented several interventions to unlock the untapped food security potential of aquaculture. However, there still exists a dearth of knowledge on the effect of these programmes on household food security, particularly among fish farming households in Nigeria. Therefore, this study engaged the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke model and the Probit model to examine the food insecurity incidence and the drivers of food security among the fish farming households in Nigeria. The study engaged secondary data of 1,587 fish farmers from the 2018/19 Nigeria Living Standard Survey panel data. The food insecurity estimates show that about 52.49% of fish farmers are food secure. The result further shows that most food insecure households are males, married, have fish farming as a primary occupation, reside in a rural area and are from the Northern part of the country with no formal education. Empirical evidence reveals that education, household size, access to phone, occupation, sector and location of the household head are the major determinants of food security. The study concludes that educating the fish farmers and upgrading the rural facilities will increase the probability of food security among the fish farming households in Nigeria
Form and Function of Teacher’s Questioning Technique in English Foreign Language Classroom Interactions
Get PDFEnglish Foreign Language (EFL) teachers most frequently deal with question types in their interactions with students. However, questioning is not only concerned with type but also with form and function. Therefore, this qualitative study aimed to examine the types, forms, and functions of the questions altogether raised by EFL teachers as they interacted with students. The researcher observed and recorded two college-level EFL teachers. Using the conversation analysis tenets, the data were transcribed and examined. The results have demonstrated that the teacher questions used were insufficient for the questioning activity. The form is related to the question type. Additionally, the teachers’ questions had diagnostic, educational, and motivating purposes. Therefore, it is advantageous for teachers to ask questions during class discussions if they have a comprehensive understanding of type, shape, and function
Headteachers\u27 Leadership Practices and Students’ Discipline in Government Aided Secondary Schools in Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality, Uganda
Get PDFThis study examined the relationship between headteachers\u27 leadership practices and students\u27 discipline in secondary schools in Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality, Uganda. Particularly, the study tested the relationship between headteachers\u27 collaborative culture practice and students\u27 discipline, the relationship between headteachers\u27 distributed leadership practice and students\u27 discipline, and the relationship between the headteachers\u27 interpersonal relationships leadership practice and students\u27 discipline. The cross-sectional design was adopted using the quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data were collected on a sample of 310 teachers using a questionnaire survey. The findings revealed that while the collaborative culture and interpersonal relationship had a positive and significant relationship with students\u27 discipline, distributed leadership had a negative and insignificant one. Therefore, it was concluded that the collaborative culture leadership practice is imperative for promoting students\u27 discipline in secondary schools, distributed leadership practice is not an essential practice for promoting students\u27 discipline in secondary schools, and interpersonal relationship leadership practice is vital for the promotion of students\u27 discipline in secondary schools. Therefore, it was recommended that headteachers should promote collaborative culture practice in schools to promote students\u27 discipline, headteachers should not over-emphasise distributed leadership in implementing measures of promoting student discipline, and headteachers should prioritise enhancing interpersonal relationships in secondary schools to promote students\u27 discipline
Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) of Food and Drugs: The Role of Student Translator in National Development
Get PDFThe role of language in facilitating national development can never be over-emphasised because the national understanding and cohesion that run on the wheels of language create opportunities for sustainable development. An integral aspect of language that typifies this is Translation which serves as a key contributing force towards the consolidation of understanding while creating opportunities for personal, group and national development. The study and practice of French Translation now increasingly offer more opportunities for creative and constructive engagement of Nigerian youth as student translators empowered to meet French Translation/Interpretation needs in canned/preserved food and drug sectors of the country. Suffice it to add, that these initiatives carry the prospects of reducing Nigeria\u27s double-digit unemployment rate, curb youth restiveness, banditry and militancy, provide credible alternatives to crime, prostitution and illegal migration, thereby contributing to national development in quantum leaps and bounds. This paper aspires to initiate ways in which the teaching of French Translation in Nigeria Universities can include Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) with a view to unleashing the productive capacity of Nigerian translation students as well as channel their energies towards worthy ventures in sustainable growth and national development through TQA of the French Translation in canned/preserved foods and drugs. The paper provides fresh insights into how Nigerian universities can increase their contributions to national development by maximally leveraging on TQA of French Translations of canned/ preserved foods and drugs to access funding for initiatives that fall under current donor mappings. 
Interrogating the Causes, Effects and Societal Responses to Rape and Child-Defilement in Nigeria
Get PDFNigeria’s social landscape has been inundated by an alarming spate of rape and child defilement cases, so much more that there is hardly a week without media reports of rape in the country. Records released by the Nigeria Police Force shows that a total of seven hundred and seventeen cases of rape and child defilement were recorded in the first five months of the year 2020. More alarming is the defilement of minors and underage children by adults. The foregoing raises concerns and the need to interrogate the causes of alarming cases of rape and defilement of minors in Nigeria. The mixed methods research approach was adopted to generate both primary and secondary data. For the primary data, an online questionnaire was designed and administered to a total of two hundred and nine Nigerians across various sectors and regions of the country. Besides, six (6) key informants, each from the Ministry of Women, Legal Department, National Human Rights Commission, NGO, religious leader and media practitioners, were interviewed. On the other hand, government reports, gazettes, journal and newspaper articles were used to generate secondary data. Findings show that defilement of minors in Nigeria is perceived from a socio-cultural perspective as an avenue for money rituals. Other causes include mental disorders of perpetrators, alcoholism and substance abuse. Effects of such acts are physical and psychological. Recommendations on ways of curbing the menace include life sentences, name shame of perpetrators, and strict enforcement of existing laws prohibiting rape and defilement in the country
Remuneration and Job Performance of Teachers in Government Aided Secondary Schools in Western Uganda
Get PDFThe study investigated the relationship between remuneration and job performance of teachers in government-aided secondary schools in Western Uganda. Remuneration was studied in terms of basic pay, income security schemes, and bonuses and allowances. Teachers’ job performance was considered in terms of classroom teaching, management of students, discipline and regularity and interpersonal relations. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design using the quantitative approach on a sample of 333 teachers. Data were collected using both a questionnaire. Descriptive results revealed that job performance of teachers high and remuneration moderate. Inferential analysis showed that while income security schemes had a positive and significant influence on teachers\u27 job performance, basic pay had a positive but insignificant influence on teachers\u27 job performance, and bonuses and allowances had a negative insignificant influence on teachers\u27 job performance. It was concluded that low remuneration to teachers impedes high job performance, especially when basic pay is low and there is a lack of bonuses and allowances. Existence of income security schemes increases the job performance of teachers. Therefore, it was recommended that stakeholders involved in the management of schools such as Government, headteachers, and Boards of governors, devise means of enhancing the remuneration of teachers. Teachers should be given bonuses for exceeding performance and allowances when they do extra work. The pension plan and social welfare benefits should also be made attractive to increase the job performance of teachers.  
Impact of Effectiveness of Early Childhood Education on Students Learning Outcomes in Pakistan
Get PDFLearning occurs faster in the early years of life. Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs generally entail an acquisition of concepts, skills, and attitudes that lay the foundation for school readiness. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of ECE on students learning outcomes and highlight problems related to the implementation of ECE program in District Faisalabad of Punjab province, Pakistan. All the teachers managing these ECE centres in Government schools of District Faisalabad were the population for the study. There were 313 ECE schools, and a sample of 173 ECE teachers was selected randomly (one teacher from each school). A well-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected data was analysed through SPSS, and the results were interpreted. It was concluded that a lot of challenges existed. These include untrained ECE teachers, lack of financial resources, lack of learning and physical facilities, continuous mentoring and evaluation, and lack of awareness of the significance of ECE among people. These also have a significant influence on the effectiveness of the ECE program. In Consequence, the effectiveness of ECE programme has a significantly positive impact on students learning outcomes. It was recommended that emphasis should be placed to improve the provision of ECE and to address the problems related to its implementation. And That government should introduce a proper system for effective monitoring and evaluation to maintain a conducive environment for learning and for complete mainstreaming of the ECE program
Witchcraft and Mathematics Learning in South African Rural Schools
Get PDFIn South Africa, there is no adequate research that explored mathematics learning and teaching within rural schools and classrooms. Various literature posits that mathematics education research has virtually over-concentrated on urban and township schools and consistently ignored rural contexts and schools. Arguments exist that rural education and rural education research have been understudied in South Africa. Presumably, this would include mathematics education research as well. This paper explores the relationship between witchcraft beliefs, which is considered as an entrenched cultural phenomenon, and learners\u27 mathematics learning within rural classrooms. In this paper, the local influences include that the learners end up not demonstrating their full understanding of mathematics contents because of the beliefs that if they exhibit their knowledge of the subject, they may be bewitched. Cultural Relativism was used to theorise the study within qualitative critical phenomenology as a methodology for the study. The study comprises 12 mathematics learners from a rural Acornhoek region in Mpumalanga Province, and data were collected using individual semi-structured interviews while the collected data were analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis. Findings from this study illuminated that local beliefs and knowledge such as witchcraft exert significant influence on schools and learners\u27 learning, including learners\u27 not demonstrating their optimum understanding of mathematics. 
Sociality and the Need for the Epistemology of Social Relatedness: IJSS Editorial Statement
Get PDFAs our inaugural statement, this article conceptualises sociality, which forms the focus of the "Interdisciplinary Journal of Sociality Studies". We reinvigorated its “scope and focus” for the cognisance of our potential authors. We also explicated, step by step, our fundamental editorial process, including the issue of originality, trustworthiness and misconduct, ethical considerations, citation and referencing style, disclosure and conflict of interest, permissions and acknowledgement, as part of our quality production process. The article also presents the academic background of all our inaugural editorial team to display the potential of IJSS towards the production of quality knowledge on sociality studies. Based on this exploration, we conclude that IJSS accommodates any scholarly articles that solve social-related problems with an iota of sociological and emancipatory tendency involving humans and their relationships with but not limited to environment, objects and subjects. Therefore, we recommend that all potential authors ensure that the author guidelines\u27 instructions are strictly adhered to while preparing for submission
Sustaining Learning during COVID-19 Seismic Shift: The Need to Develop Flexible Pedagogy
Get PDFThis study examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on educational system; investigates how meaningful learning is promoted and continued despite the unprecedented global challenges; and investigates if the channels through which learning is promoted cater for students\u27 learning styles. Two hundred and one secondary school students selected from Ekiti State, Nigeria, participated in the descriptive research study. A validated questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents. The study found out that the learning channels mostly employed during the pandemic were television stations, school on-air via radio programme, virtual learning, and private teaching. The findings revealed that respondents had no preference for specific perceptual learning styles but embraced different learning channels employed. They modified their learning styles and developed flexibility in learning. A recommendation was provided that new viable policies that promote diverse learning opportunities and alternative learning strategies capable of mitigating the present and future academic obstructions should be made and diligently implemented. This paper concludes that during future emergencies, diverse learning platforms, channels, and digital media employed for learning should cater to students\u27 learning styles: visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, group, and individual. It is noteworthy that learners would learn better if they are exposed to varieties of teaching/learning media