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Optimised MLP Neural Network Model for Optimum Prognostic Learning of out of School Children Trend in Africa: Implication for Guidance and Counselling
The relationships between teachers’ professional competence licensure test, teachers’ competence, and students’ academic performance in Ethiopia: mixed research
Assessing service quality in tertiary Education using adapted SERVQUAL scale
Association of Life-Course Educational Attainment and Breast Cancer Grade in the MEND Study
Optimised MLP Neural Network Model for Optimum Prognostic Learning of out of School Children Trend in Africa: Implication for Guidance and Counselling
by Joseph Isabona
One crucial and intricate problem in the education sector that must be dealt with is children who initially enrolled in schools but later dropped out before finishing mandatory primary education. These children are generally referred to as out-of-school children. To contribute to the discuss, this paper presents the development of a robust Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) based Neural Network Model (NN) for optimal prognostic learning of out-of-school children trends in Africa. First, the Bayesian optimization algorithm has been engaged to determine the best MLP hyperparameters and their specific training values. Secondly, MLP-tuned hyperparameters were employed for optimal prognostic learning of different out-of-school children data trends in Africa. Thirdly, to assess the proposed MLP-NN model's prognostic performance, two error metrics were utilized, which are the Correlation coefficient (R) and Normalized root means square error (NRMSE). Among other things, a higher R and lower NRMSE values indicate a better MLP-NN precision performance. The all-inclusive results of the developed MLP-NN model indicate a satisfactory prediction capacity, attaining low NRMSE values between 0.017-0.310 during training and 0.034-0.233 during testing, respectively. In terms of correlation fits, the out-of-school children's data and the ones obtained with the developed MLP-NN model recorded high correlation precision training/testing performance values of 0.9968/0.9974, 0.9801/0.9373, 0.9977/0.9948 and 0.9957/0.9970, respectively. Thus, the MLP-NN model has made it possible to reliably predict the different patterns and trends rate of out-of-school children in Africa. One of the implications for counselling, among others, is that if every African government is seriously committed to funding education at the foundation level, there would be a reduction in the number of out-of-school children as observed in the out-of-school children data. © 2023, Modern Education and Computer Science Press. All rights reserved.
The relationships between teachers’ professional competence licensure test, teachers’ competence, and students’ academic performance in Ethiopia: mixed research
by Ahmed, Abdulmejid
One significant component that has a demonstrable impact on students’ achievement is the professional competence of teachers. The study employed a sequential-explanatory research design, a mixed research approach, and a pragmatic worldview. Semi-structured interviews, standardized scale tests, and document analysis were used to gather data. The populations included 60 teachers and 2400 students for quantitative study and 19 respondents for qualitative study. Document analysis, inferential and descriptive statistics, and thematization procedure were used to analyze the data. Out of the 313,295 teachers that took part in the testing between 2017 and 2019, 74,772 (24%) met the minimal criterion (62.5%), and only 14% had a license. There was a correlation (r =.89, P < 001) between the academic achievement of students, the competency of teachers, and their licensing exams. Teachers’ preparation at higher education institutions, their academic background, their socioeconomic background, their job satisfaction, unavailability of resource, sand lack of intervention were the key obstacles. Creating a professional development program for teachers who are teaching on the job is beneficial. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Assessing service quality in tertiary Education using adapted SERVQUAL scale
by Aklilu Alemu
The study aimed to investigate undergraduate students’ perceptions of the service quality at Madda Walabu University. An innovative sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed to comprehensively analyse students’ experiences. The quantitative analysis utilized the well-established and adapted SERVQUAL tool with a substantial sample of 409 students. The initial analysis revealed a negative gap score between students’ expectations and their actual perceptions of service quality, with all dimensions of service quality reflecting negative gap scores. This prompted further qualitative exploration with a smaller group of 14 students, and the qualitative data supplemented the quantitative findings, providing a holistic perspective. The study found a disparity between students’ expectations and their perceived scores across all dimensions of service quality, namely tangible (−1.13), reliability (−0.93), responsiveness (−0.46), assurance (−0.58), and empathy (−1.05). The qualitative data strengthened the understanding of the reasons behind the negative gap scores between students’ expectations and perceptions across all dimensions of service quality. Overall, the study definitively concluded that Madda Walabu University was not effectively meeting the needs of its students. There is an urgent necessity for the institution to provide services that align with customers’ expectations. This realization underscores a critical recommendation for the university: in order to enhance its image and attract competent students, it must prioritize customer satisfaction and diligently address the highlighted shortcomings. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Association of Life-Course Educational Attainment and Breast Cancer Grade in the MEND Study
by Salako, O
Background: Nigeria reports the highest age-standardized mortality rate for breast cancer (BC) among African countries and disproportionately high rates of high-grade cancer. Histological grade is a strong predictor of mortality, and evidence suggests that educational attainment influences cancer outcomes. Objective: We characterize the association between educational trends across the life course and BC grade at diagnosis. \ Methods: Data on 224 BC patients enrolled in the Mechanisms for Established and Novel Risk Factors for Breast Cancer in Nigerian Women (MEND) study was analyzed. Participant and parental (mother and father) education was categorized as low (primary school or less) or high (secondary school or greater). Accordingly, the educational trend across the life-course was determined for each participant relative to each parent: stable high, increasing, decreasing, or stable low. BC grade was classified as high (grade 3) or low (grades 1-2). Findings: About 34% of participants, 71% of fathers, and 85% of mothers had low education. Approximately one-third of participants were diagnosed with high-grade BC. Participants with low-grade BC were more likely to have highly educated fathers (p = 0.04). After adjusting for age, comorbidities, marital status and mammogram screening, participants with highly educated fathers were 60% less likely to have high-grade BC (aOR 0.41; 95% CI 0.20 to 0.84) compared to those with less-educated fathers. Stable high life-course education relative to father was also associated with a significantly lower likelihood of having high-grade BC (aOR 0.36; 95% CI 0.15 to 0.87) compared to stable low life-course education. No significant associations were observed for the participant's education, mother's education, or life-course education relative to mother. Conclusions: Early-life socioeconomic status (SES) may influence BC grade. This deserves further study to inform policies that may be useful in reducing high-grade BC in Nigeria.
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