Distinct Success Academy

If you believe it will work, you'll see opportunities.
If you believe it won't, you will see obstacles.

Let take note of this

*UNESCO calls for schools around the world to ban smartphones in the classroom*

By Giulia Carbonaro
Published on 26/07/2023 - 15:37•Updated 10/10/2023

_The UN agency said that even being close to a smartphone has been linked with students being distracted in the classroom, which in turn causes poorer student performances._

A new UNESCO report warns against the overuse of technology like smartphones and computers in education, saying that the benefits they bring disappear when they’re used in excess or without the guidance of a teacher.

“The digital revolution holds immeasurable potential but, just as warnings have been voiced for how it should be regulated in society, similar attention must be paid to the way it is used in education,” Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO, said in a press release shared with Euronews.

“Its use must be for enhanced learning experiences and for the well-being of students and teachers, not to their detriment.”

UNESCO’s 2023 GEM report warns that while technologies in the classroom can be beneficial to students’ learning, they can also have a detrimental impact if used inappropriately or excessively - as in the case of smartphones.

“Large-scale international assessment data, such as that provided by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), suggest a negative link between excessive ICT use and student performance,” the report says.

While mere proximity to a mobile device was found to distract students and to have a negative impact on learning in 14 countries, the agency writes, less than 1 in 4 nations across the world have banned smartphone use in schools.

Those that have banned them include France, which introduced the measure in 2018, Italy, where teachers collect students’ smartphones at the beginning of the day, Finland, and the Netherlands, which is going to introduce the ban in 2024.

As a result of their findings, UNESCO recommends a global ban on smartphones in the classroom.

“We need to learn about our past mistakes when using technology in education so that we do not repeat them in the future,” said Manos Antoninis, Director of the Report.

“We need to teach children to live both with and without technology; to take what they need from the abundance of information, but to ignore what is not necessary; to let technology support, but never supplant human interactions in teaching and learning.”

https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/07/26/unesco-calls-for-schools-around-the-world-to-ban-smartphones-in-the-classroom #:~:text=Those%20that%20have%20banned%20them,introduce%20the%20ban%20in%202024.

*A focus on human interaction*

UNESCO is wary of the beneficial impact of technology in the classroom, with evidence in its favour coming mostly from the richest countries in the world - like the UK - or from “those trying to sell it”, the agency says.

Instead of relying on technology to educate children, education should continue to be centred on human interaction, the agency says.

In the past 20 years, paper has been replaced with screens in many classrooms, and students have ditched the heavy tomes of the encyclopedia for Wikipedia - which had 244 million page views per day in 2021, according to UNESCO. The COVID pandemic accelerated the technological revolution in the classroom, forcing millions of students worldwide to transition to online learning.

According to UNESCO, some 50% of the world’s lower secondary schools were connected to the Internet for pedagogical purposes in 2022.

But while some changes are to be embraced, UNESCO said we should debate how much space we want technology to take over in the classroom. “Too much attention on technology in education usually comes at a high cost,” the agency writes in the report.

Resources spent on technology should be spent on classrooms, teachers, and textbooks for all children in low and lower-middle-income countries lacking access to these resources, so that they too can reach universal secondary schooling and minimum learning competencies.

On top of that, the agency warns that the benefits of technology in education are not evenly distributed, with disadvantaged kids usually being denied the opportunity to take advantage of it.

UNESCO calls for a global smartphone ban in schools The UN agency said that even being close to a smartphone has been linked with students being distracted in the classroom, which in turn causes poorer student performances.

A reminder.

It's now easier to call Distinct Success Academy.

⚠ Beware of our children! 👇

1: Warn your daughter or son not to sit on anyone's lap, no matter the situation, including uncles.

2: Avoid dressing in front of your children from the age of 2.

3. Never allow an adult to refer to your child as "my wife" or "my husband"

4. Whenever your child goes out to play with his friends, be sure to find a way to find out what type of game he plays, because young people abuse themselves sexually. And this is not new...

5. Never have your child visit an adult with whom he is not comfortable, and also consider whether your child becomes a big fan of a particular adult.

6. Once, a very cheerful child suddenly becomes shy. You may need to be patient and cautious, as well as clear up a few questions about why you are behaving.

7. Educate carefully about the correct values of sexuality. If you don't, society will teach you the wrong values.

8: It is always advisable to review any new material, such as cartoons you just bought from them, before you start watching them.

9. Make sure to enable parental controls on your cable networks and advise your friends, especially your children's. Visit frequently.

10. Teach your children from 3 years to wash their private parts well and warn them never to allow anyone to touch them (remember, caring begins at home and with you).

11: Keep away any associated materials that you think could endanger your child's mental health (this includes music, movies, and even friends and family).

12: Once your child complains about a particular person, don't keep quiet.
Remember, we are the parents who raise future parents.

A LETTER TO PARENTS.

Dear parents and Guardians
I want to appreciate your sacrifice in raising a great child and a future leader.

I know your pains and frustrations.
I know it's not easy raising a child in a very compromised and competitive society, but you're doing your best.

I want to share a few thoughts with you and also to encourage you.

This morning, my children brought out their school bags and lunch boxes to wash and some of them requested for new bags because a zip is bad.

The bags are still new and in very good conditions, except one or two issues with the zip.

So I told them to go ahead and wash them and we'll get the zippers changed.

Listen, you don't need to buy all new things for them at all times, even if you can afford it.

Teach them to value things and take care of things.

If that sandals can be repaired instead of replaced, by all means do it.

If the bag can be fixed, do it.
If the book can be cello taped, do it.

Stop throwing money away because they tell you that everybody in their class has a new bag.

Help your children understand that they are not everybody.

They are not in school to show off their new things or feel intimidated by other children's new things, they are there to learn.

Give them what really matters to their learning and comprehension, not paparazzi.

Wash their jeans and avoid shredded jeans for these children.

Keep their hair moderate and undistracting.
Use normal nose masks, avoid colourful cartoon nose masks that will make their friends want to "wear and see".

Protect your child from unnecessary attention.

Teach them to respect teachers and cleaners in school and tell the teachers to punish them when they are wrong.

Don't go insulting teachers for punishing your child.
One day that child you don't want to be punished will become a punishment to you.

Help them understand that your car is not their car.
They should stop bragging to their friends about your car.

Teach them that those children that don't come to school with fine cars are not less than them.
In fact, tell them how you used Trek to school, so that they can appreciate their privilege.

Let them attend guided Islamic Seminar and camp in addition to the sound Madrasah that they are attending to miss up with other Muslim kids.

Make sure you do Ta'aleem with them. I mean teach them the word of Allah. This will be light for them in the darkness of the world.

If you can give God to them, you would have given them all they'll ever need in life.

Teach them to perform Salat and pray to God concerning their needs and not make you a god.

Help them know that you can only provide for them as God provides for you.
It will make them Pray for you more.

Let me stop here for now.
Expect more of this kind of letter from me.

Copy and edit from a friend.

Common mistake in English language

This topic is saddled towards the identification of common errors in the English language. These are:

1. Divine upliftment/Divine uplift
Divine upliftment (wrong)
Divine uplift. (Right)
Note: the word upliftment is commonly used in the English language and it's coined by people as it has been frequently used. *UPLIFT* can be used as a noun or as a verb. It means to raise, to increase, or promote. It's also a feeling of hope and happiness.

2. Graduant/Graduand
Graduant (Wrong)
Graduand (Right)
Note: the word *Graduant* is commonly used by several people. The correct spelling is *GRADUAND* which means "a student that just completes a section of learning to the next stage.
E.g. Tunji is one of the graduands in my school.

3. godsent/godsend
Godsent. (Wrong)
Godsend(Right)
Note: when things happen to someone through somebody unexpectedly, they use the word *godsent*. The word doesn't mean that *"God has sent somebody"* as it is wrongly used by most users. The correct usage is *"godsend*. It means something good that happens unexpectedly, and helps somebody or something when they need help.
E.g. i. This man is a *godsent* to this family. ❌✖
ii. This man is a *godsend* to this family ✅☑

4. Spray perfume/wear perfume
Spray perfume ❌✖
Wear perfume☑✅
Note: perfume is not an insecticide. So. Perfumes can't be sprayed but wear.
E.g. i. I like *spraying* very mild perfume whenever I'm going out for an important occasions. ❌✖
ii. I like *wearing* very mild perfume whenever I'm going out for an important occasions. ✅☑
iii. Sola, I love the scent of the perfume you *wore*

5. Dash me one/ give me one for free.
Dash me one❌
Give me one for free☑✅
Note: *"Dash"* is one of the punctuation marks(-). When you're requesting something which you don't intend to pay for, do not say: " Dash me one". The right thing to say is: "Give me one for free".

Ride-on/Right-on
Ride on means " to encourage someone to continue riding(motorcycle, bicycle, tricycle, etc.) It also means to run, sprint, scamper, etc.
*"Right on"* means to encourage someone while giving a speech(word of encouragement).
E.g. i. We're enjoying your sermon. Ride on, sir! ❌❌. ii. Right on, sir! We're enjoying your sermon!

6. Buckle up/buckle down.
Buckle up means "to fasten your seatbelt".
Buckle down means " to encourage someone to stay focus in his or her studies.
I. Olamide, your performance is not encouraging at all. You need to *buckle up* in your studies. ❌✖
ii. Olamide, your performance is not encouraging at all. You need to *buckle down* in your studies.

7. Stop toasting me/ stop wooing me.
Stop toasting me.❌
Stop wooing me. ☑
Note: when a man is trying to win a woman's love at all costs, he woos the woman. When a lady says, "John is toasting me", it means the lady has become something that can be toasted e.g. bread. It's also wrong to use these words to replace *woo*, spinning, chase, coding, etc.

8. Practicalize/ put into practice
Practicalize. ❌
Put into practice ☑
Note: practicalize is not in the dictionary. So, it's the wrong usage of words.

9. Point of correction/ point of order
Point of correction. ❌
Point of order. ☑

10. Call me a taxi / call a taxi for me
Call me a taxi. ❌
Call a taxi for me ☑✅
Note: When you are making a polite request for somebody to help get a taxi for you, do not say, "please call me a taxi". This is because, " call me a taxi can be interpreted to mean "henceforth, call my name a taxi".
E.g. The guest artiste asked me to *call him a taxi*. (Wrong)
ii. The guest artiste asked me to *call a taxi for him*. (Right).

11. Boo/Beau
Boo /buː/
beau /bəʊ/
Note: this boo here is commonly/ wrongly used by several ladies/ women as a *male lover*. The word *" boo"* means a shout or extended disapproval for something/ someone. While the word *"beau"* means a *male lover."* It has the same pronunciation as *"BOW"(i.e. ARROW AND BOW).*
E.g. Immanuel Oshamika is my *boo.*❌
Immanuel Oshamika is my *beau.*☑✅

12. For better for worse/ for better or (for) worse.
For better for worse❌✖
For better or (for) worse✅☑

13. Put to bed/ put to birth
Put to bed ❌❌
Put to birth ✅✅

14. alot/a lot
alot❌❌
a lot✅✅

15. Alright/All right
Alright ❌❌
All right✅✅

I hope you've learned one or two thing(s) today?

See you in our next class.

Have a nice day!!!

Ramadan Kareem