Nomadic Children Research Articles

Turkana Children’s Rights to Education and Indigenous Knowledge in Science Teaching in Kenya

Using a qualitative ethnographic study of early childhood centres and lower primary schools operating in rural areas in a nomadic Turkana community of Kenya, this paper considers the failure of universal education to meet the culturally relevant educational needs of nomadic children. The study explored the extent to which the curriculum of schools in nomadic communities integrates indigenous epistemologies and social cultural lifestyles of the people in science instruction. Drawing from the literature and theories of indigenous people’s education in Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America, the paper discusses the critical role of indigenous epistemologies in science education.

Entretiens avec Marie Raynal, Redactrice em chef de Diversitè - France

The Revista Eletronica de Educacao (Electronic Journal of Education) has the privilege to interview Marie Raynal, which although having many activities, dedicated us time to answer it. Marie Raynal is head of the Departement de Ville-Ecole-Integration (Department of City-School-Integration) in Montrouge, France and Chief editor of the journal Diversite, which includes articles on social diversity. In 2003, the department Ville & Education is created under the authority of Marie Raynal. Its mission is to accompany all education members (teachers, education managers, communities, associations, etc.) that are in charge, during and after school time, children and youth in situations of fragility, including those living in neighborhood of the city policy, those within the education priority, the new arrivals in France and nomad children. On all these issues, the department is considered a national expert. This department has three magazines and a newsletter, including the quarterly journal of Social Science, the Diversite. Key words : school, diversity, inclusion

Environments of Disadvantage in Uganda's Universal Primary Education

This paper shows that children who are disadvantaged by their environments have educational outcomes that lag behind those of other children, despite the fact that it has been more than ten years since the implementation of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program in Uganda. While UPE has had a positive impact on access to education among children, improved indicators for educational quality (i.e., pupil/teacher ratio, pupil/classroom ratio and pupil/textbook ratio) and ensured gender equity in enrollment, the program nonetheless has not fully captured improved learning outcomes for some one million pupils considered disadvantaged in Uganda. These include girls, physically disabled children, orphans, street children, internally displaced children, nomadic children and very poor children. Nevertheless, the Ugandan government, working with a host of donors and employing a sector-wide approach to education, has initiated a number of non-formal education programs that have sought with varying degrees of success to address disadvantaged children's access barriers to basic education.

Entrevista com Marie Raynal, Redatora chefe da Revista Diversité - França (Tradução)

The Revista Eletronica de Educacao (Electronic Journal of Education) has the privilege to interview Marie Raynal, which although having many activities, dedicated us time to answer it. Marie Raynal is head of the Departement de Ville-Ecole-Integration (Department of City-School-Integration) in Montrouge, France and Chief editor of the journal Diversite, which includes articles on social diversity. In 2003, the department Ville & Education is created under the authority of Marie Raynal. Its mission is to accompany all education members (teachers, education managers, communities, associations, etc.) that are in charge, during and after school time, children and youth in situations of fragility, including those living in neighborhood of the city policy, those within the education priority, the new arrivals in France and nomad children. On all these issues, the department is considered a national expert. This department has three magazines and a newsletter, including the quarterly journal of Social Science, the Diversite. Key words : school, diversity, inclusion

Subjective Wellbeing on the Tibetan Plateau: An Exploratory Investigation

While working on a project to build a school for Tibetan nomad children in a remote part of the Tibetan plateau, the author carried out the first empirical exploration of personal wellbeing with a small (n = 102) sample of ethnic Tibetans. Using the PWI survey instrument, significant age, gender, and education differences with respect to satisfaction with life were revealed. In addition, the magnitude of overall satisfaction with life was found to be more consistent with Western rather than Asian populations and, future security, standard of living, gender and age were identified as the strongest predictors of life satisfaction. This paper reports on the findings drawing on the literature, Buddhist philosophy and the author’s observations for explanation.

Human and Animal Vaccination Delivery to Remote Nomadic Families, Chad

Vaccination services for people and livestock often fail to achieve sufficient coverages in Africa's remote rural settings because of financial, logistic, and service delivery constraints. In Chad from 2000 through 2005, we demonstrated the feasibility of combining vaccination programs for nomadic pastoralists and their livestock. Sharing of transport logistics and equipment between physicians and veterinarians reduced total costs. Joint delivery of human and animal health services is adapted to and highly valued by hard-to-reach pastoralists. In intervention zones, for the first time approximately 10% of nomadic children (> 1-11 months of age) were fully immunized annually and more children and women were vaccinated per day during joint vaccination rounds than during vaccination of persons only and not their livestock (130 vs. 100, p < 0.001). By optimizing use of limited logistical and human resources, public health and veterinary services both become more effective, especially at the district level.

Perception of Nomadic Household on Children Involvement in Animal Rearing Industry Among the Fulani Communities in Nigeria

A study was carried out to determine the nomadic heads perception of the childrens involvement in animal rearing critical to entrepreneurial activities among some selected Fulani communities in Osun State Nigeria. Specifically it identified some basic household demographic characteristics examined the level of their childrens involvement in what kind of animal rearing activities and; the relationships between the household perception of their childrens involvement in animal rearing activities and level of involvement education and income. Also implication was drawn for nomadic children educational development. Pre-tested structured interview schedule focus group discussion and tape recording were used to source from one hundred nomadic households which are randomly and proportionately selected from three nomadic Fulani communities in Osun State. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages were used to analyze the data. Pearsons correlation analysis was used to establish the relationships between the variables tested. The study revealed that ad 87 percent of the household heads had a very high favorable perception of their childrens involvement in animal rearing activities. Age financial gain and childrens level of involvement were found to be positively contributors to their high favorable perception at 0.05 level of significance. However high level of literacy was found to be a major factor that strengthened their favorable perception among others. (authors)

Children and Involvement in Animal Rearing: A Traditional Occupation for Sustainability of Nomadic Culture?

The present study was conducted to determine the nomadic children's level of involvement in animal rearing activities, the perceptions of their involvement and problems related to each of the activities in which they are involved. Discussion on sustainability of nomadic culture through children's involvement in this traditional occupation was explored. Also the relationships between the children's age, educational level, perceptions of their involvement and their level of involvement in animal rearing activities were established. A pre-tested and structured interview schedule was used to elicit information from one hundred children and one hundred parents that were randomly selected. Also, a focused group discussion forum was employed to source information from the nomadic families. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages were used to analyse the data. Pearson's correlation analysis was used to establish the relationships between the variables tested. The studies revealed, among other factors, that the nomadic children are highly involved in animal rearing activities and they have favourable perception of their involvement. The majority of them indicated road accidents, exposure to hardship and dangers, and neck, leg and back pains as some of the problems related to their involvement. Animal rearing to nomadic families is a traditional occupation that has a great potential for sustaining the nomadic culture if children continue to be involved. However, education could be employed as a way to refine some of the unprogressive aspects of the nomadic culture.

The Qashqa'i Nomads of Iran (Part II): State-Supported Literacy and Ethnic Identity

This is the second part of a two-part paper, based on some of my findings in the course of research undertaken in Iran over a period of twenty-four months (1993-1995). (1) On 6 September 1993, I began investigating a state-supported formal education programme provided to the Qashqa'i, a predominantly nomadic, pastoralist, Turkic-speaking2 Shia Muslim community of more than haft a million (Gharakhlou n.d.: 39), living in southwestern Iran. Much of these data were used to write a doctoral dissertation focusing upon Qashqa'i schoolteachers: the roles they played in the processes of formally educating Qashqa'i children, the ways they prepared their students for new roles within a transforming Iran, and the extent to which they enculturated them with values cherished by earlier generations. The Development of Formal Secular Education (amuzish-i jadid) for Nomads After the 1930s, several state-supported boarding schools were established for the children of nomads, and those attending these schools were mainly the offspring of tribal leaders (Sohrabi 1995: 31). Documents in the National Archives Organisation (saziman-i asnad-i milli) in Tehran suggest that these schools had multiple aims: to familiarise tribal children with city people and culture, to promote urbanised habits and behaviour, and to minimise further political threats by keeping potential elements of a political movement away from their power base (tribal society). Schools helped to discourage tribal leaders from turning against the state, for state officials could hold their children hostage. Educational Activities for Nomads in the 1940s Beginning in 1941 and until the coup d'etat of 1953, a relatively relaxed political atmosphere permitted free speech and expression. Qashqa'i tribal leaders and formally educated individuals expressed or demanded that state officials should treat Qashqa'i tribespeople like fellow Iranians and provide them with the services other Iranians received. One rapidly developing state service was formal education. Bahmanbaigi (1945) reiterated an idea first expressed in 1924 by a religious figure, Ayatollah Modarris, who mooted the concept of providing nomads with mobile schools (Sohrabi 1995: 51). In 1947, a major act on the part of state officials was the formation of a commission to examine the levels of literacy among nomads. Representatives from the ministries of education, war and home were this commission's members. They concluded that the forced settlement and disarmament of tribal people could not be a permanent solution to the political tensions that existed between tribes and the state. Instead, the commission suggested mobile and stationary schools, the improvement of Persian language skills among students, the teaching of `appropriate materials' through school textbooks, sending children of tribal leaders and gifted children of ordinary families to town and cities, and providing boarding schools for them (National Archives Organisation, Tehran; also see Sohrabi 1995: 52-54). These documents do not mention what the regime wanted politically in return for educating the tribal people. But given the context of existing tensions, one can discern in these documents that one official aim was to create in educated tribal youth a sense of nationality and loyalty towards the shah. They would in turn, it was assumed, influence their parents and kinspeople. All Iranians undergoing formal secular education were subjected to these policies. The role played by Mohammad Bahmanbaigi A rapid political change beginning in the early 1950s, and also involving Qashqa'i leaders, eventually reduced the political power of these leaders and provided an opportunity for formally educated Qashqa'i to emerge. Mohammad Bahmanbaigi arranged a private teacher for his kin in 1950 and then decided to expand his literacy project to the rest of the Qashqa'i tribespeople. In 1955-56, when he put forward his literacy plan to state officials in Fars province and then to high-ranking officials at the ministerial level, they did not at first approve it (personal interview, Bahmanbaigi, 1995; see also Kazimi 1990; Sohrabi 1995). …

Sedentism and child health among Rendille pastoralists of northern Kenya.

Many nomadic pastoralists of Africa are settling near towns and famine-relief centers in response to drought-induced livestock loss, loss of pasture land, increased involvement in market economies and political turmoil including civil war. The present study uses measurements of child health, particularly morbidity, dietary and growth patterns, to evaluate the consequences of sedentism for three Rendille communities of northern Kenya. A nutritional and health survey utilizing interviews, anthropometric measurements, physical examinations and hemoglobin measurements was conducted for 105 mothers and their 174 children under six years of age in three Rendille communities, one fully nomadic and two sedentary, in July 1990, a year of above average rainfall, and again in June 1992, a drought year. Results indicate that while the nomadic Rendille community of Lewogoso shares similar morbidity patterns with its sedentary counterparts and had similar numbers of malnourished children during the wet year, the sedentary communities had significantly more malnutrition among children under six during the dry year. Moreover, the children in the settled town of Korr had significantly higher levels of anemia. Differences in malnutrition are attributed to distinctive dietary regimes: during the drought, nomadic children consumed three times as much milk as the sedentary children, while settled children's diets concentrated on starches, fat and sugar. This study suggests that the pastoral nomadic diet, particularly one dependent on camels' milk, offers children better resistance to the pressures of drought and supports findings that the subsistence base of mixed-species pastoralism is superior to sedentary alternatives with respect to child health.

Growth of Young Nomadic and Settled Turkana Children

Growth patterns of Turkana nomadic children (N = 333) and settled schoolchildren (N = 280) aged 4 to 9 years were compared. The objective was to assess effects of a sedentary life‐style on the growth patterns of Turkana children. Settled children with institutional food support tended to be larger at all ages than nomadic children in most measures of size and body composition. At age 9 years, settled children were 7.5 cm taller than the nomads. Weight, calf circumference, and skinfolds were also larger in settled children, but the proportional differences were less; arm circumferences were roughly equivalent. Only a small fraction of settled Turkana children (including those measured in the present study) attend schools where food is provided. Further studies of nonsupple‐mented settled Turkana children are needed to clarify relationships among subsistence, nutritional status, and child growth processes.

NO FOSTER CARE AVAILABLE

They are nomad children, hundreds of New York City children who are moved each night from one foster care home to another. These children, ranging from infancy to adolescence, spend most of their days in field offices of the city's Special Services for Children. At night they are shuttled from borough to borough, carrying what few possessions they have in plastic bags. These children have been lost in the maze of the city's foster care system.

Diet and cerebral malaria: the effect of famine and refeeding

In an outbreak of Plasmodium falciparum malaria following refeeding after famine cerebral malaria was restricted to children eating grain. Nomad children consuming a predominantly milk diet were free of this complication despite an equivalent incidence of uncomplicated malaria. Freedom of nomads from cerebral complications may be due to inhibition by the milk diet of rapid division of the parasite combined with delayed recovery after famine of T cell function

Physical standards of nomadic aboriginal children.

Figures are given for stature, weight and head circumference in 445 male and 424 female Aboriginal children ranging in age from newborn to 20 years, and comparisons are made with the children of other peoples. It seems probable that in a normal season nomadic children enjoyed a better diet than those brought up under partial acculturation.

NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG NOMAD CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OF AGE IN DISTRICT FAISALABAD

Background: Globally, more than 150 million under five children are malnourished. In Pakistan 43.7% of under five children were stunted, 15.1% were wasted and 31.5% were underweight according to NNS, 2011. Nomads are the shifted or migrated people, they are the neglected ones therefore have a very poor health status and knowledge about nutrition. The aim of this study was to improve the nutritional status of the under five nomad children in district Faisalabad. The objectives were to assess the nutritional status of nomad children, knowledge of mothers regarding the nutritional status of their children, factors associated with the nutritional status of these children. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in nomad settlements of four Union councils of district Faisalabad. A structured questionnaire was used and anthropometric measurements like height, weight and MUAC of 296 children selected consecutively were calculated. Results were analyzed by using WHO Anthro to identify stunting, wasting and underweight cases whereas SPSS-20 was used for descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Results showed that the proportion of malnutrition among under five children was 86% in which 10.8% were wasted, 53.4% were stunted and 58.8% were underweight. About 76% of the mothers have no knowledge about their child's nutritional needs. A significant association was found between malnutrition and sociodemographic, child health and maternal health characteristics including knowledge of mothers. Conclusion: The nutritional status of the nomad children less than five years was unsatisfactory. Therefore efforts should be made to enhance nomad mothers knowledge through CMW's and LHW's and also provide nutritional support to them.