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UK issues transgender guidance to schools

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Britain’s ruling Conservative government has issued guidance for schools dealing with children considering changing their gender identity, in a key “culture war” issue likely to feature in the next election.

The education department on Tuesday, said it had published the long-awaited guidelines for schools in England.

This, it said was “in response to the complex phenomenon of the increasing number of children questioning their gender”.

The issue has caused splits in the Tory party, with some right-wingers calling for an outright ban on children identifying as a different gender from their sex at birth.

The transgender guidance states that there is “no general duty to allow a child to ‘social transition’”.

But it adds that pupils “may be allowed to informally change their names if it is in the best interests of the child and parents have been fully consulted”.

Social transitioning can include going by a different name, dressing in a way that may commonly be more associated with the opposite sex and choosing one’s own pronouns.

The advice, which is not mandatory, says that teachers and children “should not be required” to use a child’s preferred pronouns.

It adds that “parents should not be excluded” from decisions taken by a school or college relating to a child’s request to socially transition.

The guidance, now subject to a 12-week consultation, reaffirms that single-sex schools can refuse to admit pupils of the opposite sex, regardless of whether they are questioning their gender.

Women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, who styles herself as “anti-woke”, said the guidance “is intended to give teachers and school leaders greater confidence when dealing with an issue that has been hijacked by activists misrepresenting the law”.

But Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders’ union NAHT, said it appears the guidelines leave “a lot of questions unanswered, meaning school leaders will continue to be placed in an incredibly difficult position”.

Right-wing former prime minister Liz Truss, who ruled for 49 days last year, said in a statement the guidance “does not go far enough”.

She called for a change in the law that will “define sex as biological sex to protect single-sex spaces” and also wants to ban under-18s from accessing puberty blockers.

Education

JAMB student automatically fails as he mistakenly clicks submit at the beginning of exam

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A Nigerian guy recalls how his friend accidentally pushed the submit button at the commencement of his UTME.

@princejoexclusive revealed that the UTME applicant made an expensive mistake after months of preparation.

“Based on true life story, I didn’t know if I should laugh at the guy or should cry for him,” @princejoexclusive captioned his post on TikTok.

@princejoexclusive made a video inspired by his friend’s JAMB UTME situation, which drove internet into a frenzy.

The boy’s error means that he would flunk the exam because no score could be calculated for him on any of the subjects.

@princejoexclusive

based on true life story, I didn’t know if I should laugh at the guy or should cry for him 😂🥲 #fyp #trend #nigeriantiktok🇳🇬 #jamb #exclusive

♬ Traq SpongeBob Mashup Ft Ms Tatiana and Skepta – TRAQ
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Education

4-year-old boy dies after being fed meat in Abuja school

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Miguel Ovoke, a four-year-old pupil of Brickhall School in Kaura, Abuja, has died during feeding hours.

Ovoke was said to have been pronounced dead upon arrival at Excel Specialist Hospital, following complications during his lunch on Wednesday.

PUNCH reports that the hospital issued a death certificate stating the boy was brought in by his teachers around 11 am in an unconscious state.

The report, signed by Akinwande Ajayi, on behalf of the medical director, indicated that he was brought in “on account of aspiration on meat while feeding at school”.

The hospital said upon examination, the medical team found that “the boy’s pupils were fixed and dilated with a nonreactive response to light”.

Ovoke’s peripheral pulses were said to be “impalpable, blood pressure was unrecordable, and there was no cardiopulmonary activity or respiratory excursions, silent chest”.

The medical report indicated that all efforts to resuscitate him failed while concluding that he was “brought in dead”.

The sudden nature of Ovoke’s death has, however, prompted his parents to seek justice by contacting Deji Adeyanju, a human rights lawyer.

Brickhall School is said to be owned by Joy Emodi, a member of the 5th and 6th senate. She was appointed chairman of the senate committee on education.

Emodi also served as the special adviser on national assembly matters to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Efforts by TheCable Lifestyle to get the authorities of the school to comment did not materialise as of the time this report was filed.

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Education

Father arrested for writing UTME for son

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The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says cases of people having double national identification numbers (NIN) made impersonation possible in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The statement from the exam body came after a father and his son were arrested for alleged impersonation in the ongoing UTME.

The father, whose name has not been disclosed, was said to have impersonated his son to help the latter pass the university entrance examination.

Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), confirmed the development in an interview on Wednesday.

Oloyede inspected the Kaduna State University (KASU) Computer Based Test (CBT) centre after which he spoke to the press.

He said it is unfortunate that some parents have descended so low in morals to the extent of resorting to such shameful acts.

“Two of them are now in custody. I can’t understand what the father will tell his son when they are locked in the same cell,” Oloyede said.

Oloyede said the 2024 examination recorded huge success, except for a few cases of impersonation.

He said impersonation became possible because some people now have multiple NINs.

“For those who engage in cheating, they should know that it does not pay. The technology is helping us to check that. Across the country, most of the problem we have is impersonation,” he said.

“For instance now, we say we have NIN. We now have cases of people with two NINs. That has defeated the purpose of identity verification. We will take that up with NIMC; that there are people who have two NIN.”

Oloyede said a total of 1.94 million candidates sat for the 2024 UTME.

He added that those who have missed the exam for reasons not caused by JAMB should forget about it.

The registrar said the board cannot spend millions to reorganise a session for candidates who missed it due to their recklessness.

“Most of those candidates who missed the UTME are students from hostels who were made to register through schools because of the money the schools want to collect from the parents in the name of JAMB, They would now put 30 students in one bus,” he said.

“They will now be dropping them in different locations. By they get to the last student’s centre, he is already late for the exam. You will now see the principal writing to me. What business do I have with a school?

“Even a religious body wrote to me that ‘the following 100 candidates, I want them to write their exams on a particular day of the examination’. They were even deciding for me the school to post the candidates. How is that possible?”

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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