Monday, September 30, 2019

Enhancement Of Computer Literacy In Primary Students At Central Colleges

1. Beginning of usage of Information and Communication Technology have been re-engineering about all the Fieldss of human life from basic demands like pass oning with friend populating abroad to cardinal demands like instruction, wellness and administration. That is non merely a technological development but besides a societal revolution that enforces the primary pupils, to detect new wonts, advanced ethical motives and production of new life systems, so that to accommodate with planetary alteration in human civilization and life manner. Our instruction system besides to be formulate to run into this construct and to be aligned with this new engineering. Hence, the advanced distribution of Information Communication Technology ( ICT ) for instruction of primary pupils is going compulsive demand since the professionalism is the anchor that could alter the civilization and the society in clip to clip towards create outstanding life status expected by the people. 2. Today, it is highly of import that a primary pupil should be competent with coherency in the country of computing machines and engineering. It is impossible to be successful in today ‘s occupation market and high tech life style, if our primary pupils are failed for seasonably educate every bit early as possible to accommodate the bing demand to this topic. 3. The computing machine literacy is now an indispensable tool that all pupils must be familiar with in order to finish their everyday surveies and concentrating for future occupation demand. Whatever our occupation ; Teacher, Planner, Lawyer, Accountant or Salesperson ; computing machine literacy are compulsory them to win. Primary pupils are besides need to derive certain degree of computing machine literacy in order to finish basic every twenty-four hours skills to confront our future society. In Cardinal Colleges in Sri Lanka most of the primary pupils are cognizant with computing machine surveies but they have to utilize it in a manner to accomplish compulsory consequences need for fall in the future universe and fall in the hereafter community. 4. The usage of the cyberspace installation is extremely required accomplishment for pupils and they are to exhaustively get the hang it decidedly. Computer literacy and Internet are about one ; in the same thing normally one is n't mentioned without the other tagging along. Without the Internet, there would be no manner to immediately happen the name of a celebrated book your favourite author was in five old ages ago. Primary pupils will necessitate to be familiar with the Internet in all types of educational methods whether it is research on any subject or surfing for information. For this purpose primary pupils need to cognize what a hunt engine is and how it works, what a keyword is and how it works, how to open a browser and how to utilize a nexus, etc. The Internet is a immense wealth of information that every pupils should take advantage for gather information accomplishments. There are web sites that will assist primary pupils to happen educational Tourss by posting their ske tch online. Online skills allow primary pupils to larn and portion societal, cultural, environmental facts of other states, people and faiths. Many secondary degree pupils today are now acquiring their degree online in the comfort of their ain places on their ain agenda. It ‘s astonishing how today with a twosome of chinks, every pupil can travel anyplace in the universe in two, three seconds without go forthing their computing machine. 5. Promotion of computing machine literacy is one of the most indispensable countries in instruction. The of import function which it plays is rational, societal, emotional and religious development of kids. The pupils usually use centripetal perceptual experiences to cognize his immediate milieus. It is automatically widens his vision. The computing machine literacy accomplishments of pupils are non a one clip experience. It is a uninterrupted life-time experience. It is accepted that a proper accomplishments of Computer Literacy has to be inculcated and nurtured in the early old ages of age. 6. It must be distinguished as the ability to work with understanding and grasp. In Sri Lanka computing machine is largely a â€Å" Information Communication Technological † accomplishment which is brought about by beastly repeat of a given stimulation together with the appropriate response. It is a affair of some uncertainty whether all kids have acquired the ability to larn in the echt sense, by the clip they have reached school go forthing age. It needs at least four old ages to achieve the computing machine accomplishment and is it sensible to anticipate these kids who drop out after primary degree to prolong that accomplishment afterwards? Computer literacy is a non a terrible complex procedure. It is an mean simple accomplishment which one time learned, can be increased with referral to the Information Technological contented publications.Chapter IIMethodologyPurpose1. This paper will emphasis and analyse why the kids are non skilled in Computer Literacy and for examine the factors which determine computing machine literacy in kids and what stairss have to be taken for the sweetening of computing machine literacy and information technological accomplishments in primary school kids in Central Colleges in Sri Lanka.STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM2. It is required to analyze of Primary degree pupils of Central Colleges computing machine literacy and the present environment to heighten their capablenesss in computing machine literacy. In this research demand to concentrate on their Computer educational system and clear up the troubles and the to the mechanism that they required to beef up the computing machine literacy, information engineering facets, as sing the future occupation chances that can be gained by primary pupils in Central Colleges Sri Lanka. 3. The inquiry is at present scenario is, the primary school pupils in Central Colleges in Sri Lanka have non been able to get the needed criterion of Computer literacy, and information engineering to heighten their minimal accomplishments required in Computer field. 4. This paper will place and analyse why the Computer Literacy in primary pupils is dwindling, the factors which determine literacy and suggest recommendation for the publicity of mechanism that needs to heighten accomplishments, cognition in primary degree pupils.RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS5. Mechanism will be beef uping to confront the future occupation demand. In this facet is to be achieved in a manner of researching experimental computing machine survey of counsel in preparation with Government educational policies on Information Technology for sweetening of Computer Literacy of primary pupils in Central CollegesScope OF STUDYThe range of this research focused on the primary pupils in Grade 1 to Rate 5, their instructors and principals are to pull out their thoughts by questionnaire and interviews. Besides the research will analyse educational specializers ‘ personal positions on what should be the background environing the primary school kids to advance their Computer literacy. The namelessness of the research worker was maintained by inquiring inquiries from certain group caputs and instructors under the name of a consented person. The intent was to extinguish colored replies which may be given as a consequence of the fact that the inquiries are presented by a known IT teacher. This is besides to look into any differences in response for the same inquiries based on computing machine literacy. This method is adopted as the subject is of sensitive nature and based wholly on single attitudes.METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION7. Data aggregation methods are as follows. a. Primary beginning. ( 1 ) Primary beginning of information were collected by questioning IT educationists and caputs of schools. ( 2 ) Further information aggregation done by a questionnaire prepared for the primary school pupils and their instructors. B. Secondary beginnings. Books, paper articles and web sites used as the secondary beginnings of information.Chapter ORGANIZATIONThe thesis is structured as follows: a. Chapter I Introduction B. Chapter II Methodology Chapter III Computer Literacy of Primary Students in Central Colleges ( 1 ) Computer literacy debut of primary pupils ( 2 ) Present literacy accomplishments and IT environment of primary pupils Chapter IV Weather educational support and the needed counsel and aid will supply to heighten the computing machine literacy How instructors adopt educational method to better computing machine literacy of pupils through policies of educational section. How the other facets on substructure installations given to better on computing machine literacy of primary pupils ( 3 ) Enhancement of Computer literacy and IT Skills of Students I Learning involvements of pupils two Students involvements in cyberspace three College IT Environmentfour Teachers sentiment about Computer literacyChapter V Impact of Computer Literacy for primary pupils at Central Colleges and future Job demand at society ( 1 ) . How the computing machine literacy aid to increase occupation demand for future society ( 2 ) . Increase occupation demands and the computing machine literacy as chief educational facets of demands in primary pupils. Chapter VI Reasons behind the inefficiency of present patterns on computing machine surveies of pupils. Why the basic computing machine demands can non continue the computing machine instruction at Central Colleges Present accomplishments of pupils and personal involvement on computing machine literacy of primary pupils. Education degree of primary pupils in line with present engineering alterations behind computing machine educational systems. Awareness surveies and competence of instructors on freshly introduced package systems and theories on computing machine surveies. Other facets that can be used to increase the computing machine surveies. The malfunction exist in modus operandi and system stableness on computing machine surveies of pupils Advantages and disadvantages of using equal survey hours for addition computing machine literacy. Chapter VI Chapter VII J. Chapter VIIIChapter IIILANGUAGE APTITUDE OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN1. Language is a procedure that helps people to show themselves and to do effectual societal relationship among people all over the universe. It is done linguistic communication that people could get information to better their basic demands such as wellness wonts, consciousness, scientific alterations and different types of accomplishments to gain a life. Piaget, the celebrated physiologist believed that the existent key to human rational development, conceptual development, is linguistic communication. Language is the most effectual manner of communicating. The deficiency of linguistic communication ability frequently hinders one ‘s advancement. The linguistic communication aptitude and literacy public presentation of the primary degree indicates the criterions of kids ‘s reading wonts and information accomplishments.LANGUAGE LEARNING OUTCOME IN SRI LANKA2. Sri Lanka has attained the first coevals ins truction aim of supplying widespread entree to primary instruction ( grades 1-5 ) . However one major challenge that the state has to get the better of is the moderate degree of larning accomplishment in linguistic communication proficiency among primary school kids. 3. Harmonizing to recent surveies carried out by NIE and NEREC, University of Colombo merely between 35 to 38 per cent of primary school pupils have achieved standard degree of their female parent lingua ( Annex ‘B ‘ ) . This is a serious restraint to further acquisition, as all subsequent surveies will pull on the kid ‘s female parent lingua capableness. 4. There is a considerable difference in the accomplishment of command degree in their first linguistic communication between urban and rural schools. Harmonizing to the above surveies more than 40 per cent of urban kids achieve command degree in their female parent linguistic communication contrast to below 34 per cent in rural countries. Besides more than 1/3 of students have failed to accomplish standard degree for their female parent linguistic communication. This shows the dwindling of reading wonts and information accomplishments among primary school kids. 5. The regional disparity in accomplishing command degree in first linguistic communication is clearly shown in Table III.I. 41.24 per cent of Western state Grade 5 pupils achieve command degree in contrast to 42.40 per centum in Uva state pupils have failed to accomplish the needed criterion degree. This shows how the handiness of physical and human resources affects public presentation. Mastery = 80 % – 100 % Non Mastery = 0 – 59 % Table III.I – Achieving command degrees in literacy in Grade 5 – by provincial degrees Source – Performance of Grade 5 pupils in literacy and numeracy – NIELITERACY SKILLS OF CHILDREN5. Harmonizing to the research undertaking on development of linguistic communication accomplishments among primary school kids carried out by NLDC ( Annex ‘C ‘ ) , the overall public presentation of Grade 2 students is satisfactory. There is barely any disparity between territories or among school types. 6. The Grade 4 appraisal revealed disparity in public presentation among the territories and between school types. AAVG degree schools show highest public presentation while SS degree schools show hapless public presentation. These fluctuations in public presentation pin-point the inequalities in distribution of acquisition and instruction installations for the school topics, peculiarly in linguistic communication accomplishments. 7. More than half of the figure of students in the sample have non been able to achieve the expected accomplishment degree for the vocabulary & A ; synonyms/ opposite word, spelling and grammatical authorship ability and originative squeeze accomplishments for the Grade, after four old ages of schooling. This suggests that they are enduring from deficiency of reading wonts.Chapter IVReading INTERESTS AND INFORMATION SKILLS OF CHILDRENReading INTERESTS OF CHILDREN1. There is no peculiar age at which a kid should really get down the procedure of larning to read. It should appeal to existent activity, to self-generated work based upon personal demand and involvement. Children have an innate desire to cognize about their milieus. As the kid develops larning through centripetal perceptual experience, he becomes more and more funny to understand his environment ; what has happened and what is go oning are his involvements. 2. Children may come to understand an of import portion of their universe through the experience of reading. They start to larn about reading in a natural and incidental manner. If a book satisfies child ‘s demands, he will get down reading it for pleasance. A kid begins familiarity with a book by looking at images. If the book catches his involvement, he returns to the book once more. Besides he is being exposed to the printed word in the environment such as coach boards, assorted postings on the main road, route marks, labels of goods in the market, advertizements on telecasting and newspapers. The kid sees tonss of words in his environment and attempts to hold on them meaningfully. Therefore, most kids have a signifier of consciousness of the printed word. 3. Harmonizing to the survey it has clearly shown that kids are interested in books, magazines, kids ‘s documents and they have a thirst for information, cognition and communicating. This built-in desire and involvement found in kids has to be harnessed to better their reading wonts and information accomplishments. As such it is the responsibility and duty of the parent, the instructor and the governments to take the full usage of it. Table IV.I would wish to pass my Table IV.II would wish to pass my leisure clip aˆÂ ¦aˆÂ ¦.- Grade 2 leisure clip aˆÂ ¦aˆÂ ¦.- Grade 4CHILDREN ‘S INTERESTS IN MEDIA4. The child gets motivated to read when he hears narratives or when an grownup reads aloud a narrative to him. Today the kid could acquire this type of satisfaction through the mass media. When kids watch telecasting or listen to the wireless, those programmes which are meant for kids create consciousness and demand for reading and they could be made usage of to develop reading wonts and information accomplishments. 5. As per the survey it is revealed that Both Grade 2 and 4 kids ‘s best telecasting programme is cartoon narratives. Most of kids like to listen to vocals and narratives by wireless. These involvements could be made usage of in varied ways to develop reading wonts and information accomplishments in the schoolroom and place. Table IV.V – Interest on Television Table IV.VI – Interest on Television Grade 2 Grade 4 Table IV.V – Interest on Radio Table IV.VI – Interest on Radio Grade 2 Grade 4Table IV.I – Grade 2 Table IV.II – Grade 4Children ‘s involvements on kids ‘s paper6. Above two tabular arraies indicate that a really high per centum of kids in all three territories read kids ‘s documents. It was found that this is a wont developed by the good instructors of those schools by interchanging documents within the category, when those parents who could afford to purchase documents for their kids convey them to school. This high per centum suggests that if reading stuffs are made available to kids, and so reading wonts and information accomplishments of primary school kids could be decidedly improved.Chapter VReading AND CHILDHOOD ENVIRONMENT1. As a foundation for the development of reading wonts and information accomplishments, the four linguistic communication accomplishments listening, speech production, composing and reading has to be developed in the schoolroom and the place. The kid should be able to read with easiness and installation in order to develop reading as a wont. The first necessity for this is to derive ability to place letters and words. Then the kid has to read words and sentences to deduce significance and addition cognition, information etc. This is a complex procedure. 2. Reading accomplishments could develop merely if reading stuffs are available. Non handiness of suited reading stuffs create serious restrictions in developing reading wonts. Hence the laying of foundation on a sound terms is the duty of the parent, the instructor and the school.SCHOOL BACKGROUND3. A teaching-learning state of affairs is significantly affected by the handiness of edifice with sufficient figure of schoolrooms, siting adjustment and furniture. Primary subdivisions of some popular urban schools have more than 50 students in one schoolroom, which could suit merely 40. This state of affairs has resulted adversely. Neither the instructor nor the student could travel approximately freely to give and have single attending. 4. The state of affairs is worse in some schools where the categories are conducted in unpartitioned unfastened halls. In such schools both learning and acquisition has become plodding and some instructors are force to carry on categories under the trees in the garden. 5. The instructor is the cardinal factor in bettering reading accomplishments and wonts in students when resources are sub criterion. In those schools the instructor is the lone beginning of larning. Out of the 25 instructors who supplied information through the questionnaire, 21 are primary instruction trained and 3 are trained alumnuss. However the response of caput of the schools revealed that there are quite figure of instructors who are non trained. The criterion of instruction doubtless recedes when instructors are non trained for the profession. 6. Out of 15 schools entirely primary instruction is given in merely 5 schools. In those schools primary instruction is wholly managed by a Deputy Head. Of other 8 school primary caputs three are trained five are alumnuss with station sheepskin. Academic professional position of the caput of the school, his attitude toward bettering the female parent lingua, committedness to his profession, his support in supplying reading stuffs and advancing reading wonts is of significance in this context. 7. Out of 15 schools of the sample five schools do non posses libraries providing to the reading demands of primary school kids. Out of the 10 school libraries three of them have 100 – 500 books. Three school libraries have less than 1000 books and two National schools in Colombo territory and one National school in each other two territories have a wealth of 3000 or more books. The two schools in the sample which have a few books received as a contribution complained that there are no storage installations available for them even to maintain them safely. Out of the 15 schools 7 schools do non purchase even a individual newspaper. In the average clip out of remainder 8 schools merely 5 schools buy kids ‘s paper for the primary school kids. 8. Except for the national schools bibliothecs trained for the occupation are non available in the remainder of the schools. In most of these schools a instructor from the staff helps in the library. In three schools a miss is employed for the work in the library paying a nominal fee. 9. This clearly displays the disparity between schools with sub standard resources and schools with above mean standard resources. This fact substantiates the position presented earlier that the socio economic degree at place and school affect achievement degree of kids.TEACHERS OPINION ABOUT Reading10. The response presented by the 25 instructors of the schools of the sample revealed that kids are truly interested in reading and instructors do their best to advance reading by pull offing schoolroom libraries under hard state of affairss. Each kid in the schoolroom brings a narrative book at the beginning of the twelvemonth. Sometimes instructors give the names of the list of narrative books. Besides those who can afford to purchase kids ‘s paper conveying them to the category. These books and documents are exchanged among the students. There by instructors help kids to develop reading wonts. Alternatively in some schools instructors get a few books, approximately 30 from the s econdary school library and administer them among kids one time a month or so. 11. Some instructors are of the sentiment that the primary course of studies contain far excessively much stuff for the twelvemonth that they can non finish and it is hard for them to concentrate on developing the reading wonts separately. There should be truth in the content of the course of study to provide single demands. Besides they pointed out that Grade 2 and Grade 4 even Grade 5 text books do non actuate kids to read as the narratives do non rouse their feeling and wonder. Narratives do non make chances for kids to believe. Therefore the instructors say that kids automatically read by bosom, even if they can non place letters, words or significance of what they pretend to read. Therefore the governments concerned have to be more cautious in the choice and rating course of study and text book content. 12. Teachers besides revealed that in add-on to the scarceness of reading stuff, kids of sub criterion and mean type schools suffer from other lacks such as socio economic conditions at place, big households, parents non been educated, their inability to recognize the importance of reading. 13. Method of learning dramas an of import function in larning state of affairs. What was observed was instructors are more concerned with covering the course of study, simply utilizing general methods of learning without thought of particular and advanced techniques and single differences of scholars. There is barely any system of measuring reading. Teachers do non look to set about feedback programmes and maintain record of it. Lack of learning AIDSs was observed in most of the schools and instructors depend merely on ‘Talk and Chalk ‘ .Home BACKGROUND14. Research done in western states has revealed that success in reading had been achieved by kids who were provided with plentifulness of chances for reading and entree to books. Avid readers had narratives read or told to them on a regular basis by parents or expansive parents. 15. Children read anything and everything they get hold of as they are interested in reading. If is hence the responsibility of the grownups to choose suited books for kids, as they can non know apart between suited books and books non suited for them and measure them. 16. It is assumed that when household size is big, kids do non acquire equal demand satisfaction enjoyed by kids of little households of the same income degree. In the questionnaire the household size of students was divided in to two classs. a. Class 1 – Number of household members four or less B. Class 2 – Number of household members five or more Table V.I – Bespeaking household size 17. Harmonizing to the tabular array V.I in Colombo territory smaller sized households per centum is higher than other two territories. This factor seemed to hold affected the achievement public presentation of kids, as it is evident from the highest ML per centum in Colombo territory. 18. Parental support in providing reading stuffs such as books, documents and magazines doubtless helped development of kids ‘s reading wonts and information accomplishments. This in bend is conditioned by the socio economic position of parents. Table V.II & A ; Table V.III indicate the figure of books Grade 2 and Grade 4 kids posses is quite eloquent of this factor. Table V.II – No. of books kids posses for auxiliary reading – Grade 2 Table V.III – No. of books kids posses for auxiliary reading – Grade 4 19. The tabular array V.II shows 10 per cent of Grade 2 students in Colombo territory have more than 10 books for excess reading while other two territories kids have below 10 books. Besides the tabular array V.III indicates 54 per cent of Grade 4 students in Colombo territory have more than 10 books for excess reading while other two territories it is below by 36 per cent. This factor besides seemed to hold affected the achievement public presentation of kids, as it is evident from the highest ML per centum in Colombo territory. 20. The names of books read by students indicate that they read whatever those come in their manner, they have no pick. They read anything and everything they get hold of as they are interested in reading. It is hence, the responsibility of the grownups to choose suited books for kids as they can non know apart between suited books and books non suited for them and measure them. Daily%Lord's daies%Sometimes%Never%Kandy 12.9 40.5 35.3 11.2 Kalutara 19.5 34.5 32.7 13.3 Capital of sri lanka 22.4 41.3 28.4 7.8 Entire % 18.2 38.8 32.2 10.7 Table V.IV – Houses that bargain newspapers – Grade 4 21. 10.7 per cent of the overall sample of kids ‘s parents do non purchase a newspaper. However 38.8 per cent of the sample bargain Sunday newspapers. This may be due to the fact that other signifier of mass media like the telecasting and wireless are being sought after for enjoyment and acquiring information. Thereby a good chance that the parents could offer in actuating the kid to develop his wont of reading is neglected. It is merely a really hapless per centum of parents buy newspapers daily. Even in Colombo territory 22.4 per cent of the sample merely buy newspapers daily. It may hold been caused by two factors. It may be due to miss of money or of clip to read documents. Whatever it is, if the parents could afford to purchase newspapers day-to-day it would be a motive for the kid to read and better their information accomplishments.Chapter VISUMMARY OF FINDINGS1. More than 1/3 of primary school students have failed to accomplish standard degree for their female parent li nguistic communication. 2. Most of Grade 2 students have acquired the linguistic communication skills satisfactorily. 3. a. More than 50 per cent of students have non acquired the linguistic communication accomplishments expected for the class, at the terminal of the twelvemonth. B. Performance of Grade 4 students in vocabulary & A ; synonyms/ opposite word, spelling and grammatical authorship ability and originative squeeze accomplishments are really hapless. 4. There is a pronounced disparity in accomplishment of linguistic communication accomplishments among territories and between school types. 5. There is no just proviso of physical and human resources available in schools as yet for the publicity of reading wonts and information accomplishments. 6. Most of the primary schools of the sample do non posses libraries. Lack of suited reading stuffs, bibliothecs, varied sorts of books, a big measure of books of quality to provide to change demands and involvements of primary kids are found to be obstructions which stand in the manner of development of reading wonts and information accomplishments. 7. The course of study, text books and methods of learning do non look to accommodate the changed society of the modern twenty-four hours and it will non supply any encouragement to kids for the betterment of reading wonts. 8. The parental support and encouragement at place is non plenty for the kids to develop reading wonts and information accomplishments. 9. Family size the and the socio economic position of parents affect to the development of reading wonts and information accomplishments of kids. 10. Childs are interested in books, magazines, kids ‘s documents and they have a thirst for information, cognition and communicating.Chapter VIIDecision1. Reading is one of the most of import constituents of linguistic communication. It is a basic tool topic particularly in primary school. Reading helps to larn all the other countries of the school course of study and provides critical agencies of larning. Reading is believed as a procedure of geting information, having a massage from a print in a meaningful manner. 2. Reading is of greatest significance to the educationalist because it is their duty to steer the kid to develop his entire personality for the public assistance of the single kid and for the public assistance of the full society and besides because it is the right of the kid to be literate. It is of import for kids to read good books and develop their reading wonts and information accomplishments, in order to turn physically and mentally. Good reading wonts are necessary for a healthy rational growing. 3. It is a affair of some uncertainty whether all kids have acquired the ability to read in the echt sense, by the clip they have reached school go forthing age. Teacher influence, place background and book proviso hold the key to an betterment in reading. The chief aim of transporting out this survey was to happen out the ground for lack in reading wonts and information accomplishments among primary school kids. The quality of reading wonts and information accomplishments of anyone depends on many factors. Cardinal factors among those are ability to read with easiness and installation, comprehended what is read and infers information. Besides achievement degree of reading wonts and information accomplishments depend on the ability to construe either in written or unwritten signifier when necessary state of affairs arise. 4. During this research it has been observed that there is no just proviso of physical and human resources in the schools to develop reading wonts and information accomplishments in primary school kids. It is besides revealed that this of import duty has non been undertaken earnestly and satisfactorily either by the parents or by the instructors and governments concerned though the kids have clearly shown that they are like to be engaged in excess reading. 5. This survey suggests that there should be quality and measure betterment in kids ‘s reading wonts in Sri Lanka. Besides there should be better methods of choosing books for kids and better technique to administer them, within primary school kids. Further it suggests to supply sufficient physical and human resources to the primary schools to develop kids ‘s reading wonts and information accomplishments.Chapter VIIIRECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONSRECOMMENDATIONS FOR EDUCATION AUTHORITIES1. About 50 per cent of the schools of the sample suffer due to miss of physical and human resources. Equitable proviso of resources to all primary schools in the inland is an impossible undertaking. Yet, action has to be taken to relieve these disagreements by providing basic necessities, such as separate categories, libraries and reading suites, 500 – 1000 kids ‘s books a few magazines and kids ‘s documents, storage installations and trained bibliothecs. Renovating pri mary school edifices at least one time a twelvemonth and besides maintain the ambiance of the school pleasant and attractive to kids is recommended. 2. Principles as leaders have to educate the parents and acquire their aid for the public assistance of the school. Besides could seek community aid for readying of learning AIDSs, acquiring reading stuffs as contributions from the flush etc. Leadership and committedness of principals is critical importance for the betterment of kids ‘s instruction. Therefore caput of the schools have to be selected carefully and they should be given a preparation how to develop primary kids ‘s instruction by bettering reading wonts.SUGGESTIONS FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS3. Developing the love for good reading is one of the greatest benefits that we can supply for kids. In order to enrich the reading environment of kids, reading wonts should make the people in rural countries. We have to advance reading among them. Therefore engagement of people in the community should be promote in reading publicity activities, because first and first parents have to understand how of import it is for kids to read good books and develop a reading wont. 4. Parents ‘ consciousness towards reading dramas an of import function in advancing reading by making a reading household environment. The parents should recognize that reading must get down from a really immature age and the instructors should steer them. Mothers can assist a great trade in advancing reading wonts by narrating narratives, singing rimes, vocals, verse forms etc, while feeding, dressing their kids. 5. Those who are able can read books to kids who can non read letters. This will make merely an involvement in kids to read. When kids can read female parents should listen to their reading and praise them. Then kids will experience proud of them and go fond of reading and accordingly parents would purchase reading stuffs whenever they could. 6. The school is the centre in advancing reading wonts and information accomplishments among kids. The instructor is the cardinal factor who integrates all activities of kids ‘s acquisition. One possible agencies of advancing reading wont by the instructor is to form a category library or a book corner exposing kids to a richer reading environment by supplying more printed stuffs to accommodate the class degree. This could be done with the cooperation of parents. 7. The instructor should form a free reading activity one time a hebdomad. She could present such points as marionette shows, games, competitions, dramas, play, narrative relation and other activities related to linguistic communication development and reading involvements. 8. The instructors besides must try to associate reading to every activity of the school twenty-four hours. This is possible in the primary school as it offers a conductive environment for integrating survey accomplishments and reading development work into the regular course of study. Because one instructor is normally responsible for most countries of the course of study, the instructor could easy set her normal schoolroom activities for reading publicity.MASS MEDIA AND READING HABITS DEVELOPMENT9. Using mass media is another avenue for making an involvement in reading. For illustration holding interesting book reappraisal columns in newspapers, treatments on books over the wireless and telecasting and besides treatments, kids ‘s programmes etc. These activities would help in circulating information to the multitudes about value of books and reading on a wider graduated table. However sometimes parental neglect force kids to acquire addicted to watching the telecasting and it would be an obstruction for reading wont development. 10. Therefore parents should ; a. Curtail telecasting screening clip and offer kids other interesting activities as options. B. They should watch good programmes with kids and discourse their good facets. c. Talk about force shown on telecasting and show disapproval of aggressive behaviour and point out alternate ways of confronting jobs and see that they watch less force.Distribution OF QUALITY BOOKS11. It has been found that still there are lacks in the production of quality books for primary school kids. Besides there are lacks in appropriate and just distribution of books, both bibliothecs and instructor replacements etc. Quick remedial action has to be taken to extinguish these defects, for the betterment of reading wonts among primary school kids. 12. There is a deficiency of clear apprehension among authors and publishing houses, of the aim of bring forthing kids ‘s books and how it should be directed. Therefore stairss have to be taken to bring forth quality books, which become more originative and awaken kid ‘s imaginativeness and wonder so that kids begin to read for pleasance, which is a stepping-stone for life long involvement in reading. 13. Distribution of books has to be carried out in such a manner that many kids are benefited. It could be done through public libraries, provincial libraries, community libraries, school libraries and so away. It is indispensable that all primary schools in the island be provided with a library equipped with a scope of books, kids ‘ paper and suited magazines and trained bibliothecs. Thus publicity of better library installations all over the state is envisaged. 14. Library system has to be recognized in such a manner that even a class 2 student could do usage of the library. The kids should be taught how to happen a book, what type of book to choose etc. The instructor should look into the kids ‘s reading wont by inquiring inquiries about the inside informations of books read. These manner kids could be motivated to read, making a life long involvement for reading. 15. Another demand for the twenty-four hours is altering of the library system in conformity with the altering society. Librarians could play a important function in advancing reading wonts among kids with dedication and devotedness. These Public and Provincial libraries can form interesting activities such as ; the narrative hr, quiz competition, book nines, book carnivals, reading cantonments, reading hebdomads at regional, provincial and national degrees with the co-operation of high bookmans.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Mutual Fund Project Essay

The fund employs a passive management investment approach. It is a low cost way to gain diversified exposure to the equity market in the United States. The fund invests in 500 of the largest companies in the United States. The companies span many different industries and the fund accounts for about 75% of the United States stock market’s value. VFINX measures the investment return of large-capitalization stocks. The most obvious risk is the volatility that comes with its full exposure to the stock market. The mutual fund portfolio’s composition is made up of 99. 45% stocks and . 55% cash. The expense ratio for this mutual fund is . 17%. This is the annual fee that shareholders are charged. It expresses the percentage of assets deducted each fiscal year for fund expenses, including 12b-1 fees, management fees, administrative fees, operating costs, and all other asset-based costs incurred by the fund. For the Year-to-Date (ytd) rankings in its category, VFINX ranked in at 24 according to Yahoo! Finance. Over the last 10 years, the fund has performed in direct correlation to the S&P 500 being that it is an index fund and there is a beta of 1, meaning that whatever the S&P 500 does, the fund will do as well. VFINX is a good choice if an investor is seeking a mutual fund that offers the stability of large, established companies and the wide exposure of a fund that holds both value and growth stocks. Fidelity Magellan Fund (FMAGX) has ridden the ups and downs over the years of the market’s roller coaster. The fund has gone through many changes over the years and one of the most important key factors to the fund’s performance has been related to the way it was managed. The fund currently has assets totaling 14. billion and its portfolio consists of growth and value stocks across the capitalization spectrum from around the world and the United States. The fund keeps about 20 percent of the holdings in foreign stocks. It is one of the world’s most known actively managed funds and has finally found some stability due to its newest manager, Harry Lange. In 2008, during the financial crisis, the management chose to stay aggressive instead of investing defensively and incurred a bad loss, which lead to the changes in management. FMAGX is classified as a large growth fund and is ranked 24 in its category according to Yahoo! Finance. The 3-year beta is 1. 7, which means that it bears more risk than investing directly in the S&P 500, however this also means that it could provide heftier returns. The mutual fund portfolio’s composition

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Corporate Giant WorldCom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Corporate Giant WorldCom - Essay Example As the E/R ratio imbalance kept increasing, the managers sought to cook the books so as to prevent investors and government from getting the consistent results. 1. Case Summary WorldCom, the Nation’s second largest long-distance Telecommunications Company filed for bankruptcy protection on July 21st, 2002 revealing that it had overstated earnings in 2001 and the first quarter of 2002 by more than $3.8 billion. Further on August 8th of the same year the company again admitted that it had maneuvered its reserve accounts also affecting another 3.8billion. Substantial accounting fraud was charged against the firm by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual cause of the corporate failure lies with the enormous oversupply that could be attributed to excessively optimistic projections of Internet growth. Evidently, the company’s projections on expense-revenue ratio flawed as â€Å"the industry conditions began to deteriorate in 2000 due to heightened competition, overcapacity, and the reduced demand for telecommunications services at the onset of the economic recession† (Kaplan & Kiron, 2007). Subsequently, the stock market value of the firms in the telecommunication industry plunged and people at the WorldCom’s helm of affairs intervened in the accounting practices to conceal the actual trouble from the public. In short, what they did was that they transferred a considerable part of current expense to a capital account as the capitalized cost would normally be considered an investment. 2. What were the pressures that led executives and managers to â€Å"cook the books?† Evidently, the company struggled to maintain its E/R ratio since the first quarter of 2000 ‘while facing revenue and pricing pressures and its high committed line costs’ (Kaplan & Kiron, 2007). WorldCom had to spend beyond its capacity due to unnecessary acquisitions of other firms. In order to overweigh the short term loss, managers were as ked to spend exceedingly so as to raise immediate revenue. There was incessant pressure from the top. For instance, CFO Sullivan directly insisted Myers and Yates carry out his plans. And on the bottom line, individuals like Betty were forced to partake in accrual releases and capitalization of line costs. These were the situations in brief that made executives and managers to â€Å"cook the books. 3. Why were the actions taken by WorldCom managers not detected earlier? What processes or systems should be in place to prevent or detect quickly the types of actions that occurred in WorldCom? The company officials could qualify a considerable amount of costs as an investment in 2001 and the first quarter of 2002, and this could have allowed the company to spread the costs to subsequent years if Cooper had not come across the issue. Obviously, the incident indicates the prevailing pitfall in the US corporate governance. Evidently, audit firms have to make strategic amendments to their processes and procedures to detect frauds and errors in the account books of the client on time. WorldCom was indirectly supported by the Andersen accounting firm, who ignored the fact that the organization’s practices were apparently unethical. Only government can safeguard the interests of its citizens against unscrupulous business practices. Likewise, various service institutions particularly that of banking and accounting must keep themselves reliable and sustainable to prevent this kind of fraud in future.  

THE ARTICLES AND THE MEMORANDUM FORM A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE COMPANY Essay

THE ARTICLES AND THE MEMORANDUM FORM A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE COMPANY AND ITS MEMBERS. DISCUSS WITH REFERENCE TO RELEVANT STATU - Essay Example In this regard, the law relative to the memorandum of association prior to the enactment of the Companies Act 2006 is relevant to this study. Suffice it to say for present purposes that the extent to which the articles and memorandum forms a contract between the members and the company are reflected by the functions of each document. The memorandum’s functions have been altered, but its historical significance continue to be applicable as it has been resurrected and placed within the articles of association. Prior to the implementation of the Companies Act 2006, the memorandum defined the company’s external charter while the articles define the company’s internal charter. Ultimately, the memorandum and articles of association functioned together to determine the member’s commitment to the company’s goals and objectives and how the members will and can facilitate those goals and objectives. ... Instead of referring to the memorandum and articles of association, it merely attributes the contractual basis to the company’s constitution. Elsewhere in the 2006 Act, the company’s constitution is described as the articles of association. This essay analyses the contractual role of the articles and memorandum association in binding the members to company. I. The Memorandum of Association A. The Contractual Nature of the Memorandum of Association Prior to the Companies Act 2006 All UK companies are required to have a memorandum of association.5 Under the Companies Act 1985, the memorandum of association was required to specifically state the company’s objects and constitution.6 Recent reforms promulgated by the Companies Act 2006 have effectively reduced the memorandum of association to a mere shell of its former contractual significance. The current memorandum of association is no more than a simple instrument reflecting basic information such as the companyâ⠂¬â„¢s name, its registered office in the UK, share capital and shareholder liability. Even so, the memorandum of association has historical significance in that its main contractual basis has been transferred to the articles of association. Therefore the common law relative to the members’ commitment to the company’s objects under the memorandum of association are now relevant to the same commitment under the articles of association. Moreover, the share capital and limitation of liability as stated in the memorandum of association are also important parts of the members’ contractual relationship with the company that they form. Under the Companies Act 1985, the Memorandum of Association set out the objects of the company and the purposes for which it was formed.7 Section 2 also provides

Thursday, September 26, 2019

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

History - Essay Example The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was the foregone solution to their conflicts. However, with the advent of a new century, the Mexicans were still confronted with issues and conflicts. To understand this situation of what has become of the ethnic Mexicans in the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the advent of another hundred years, it is necessary to consider the circumstances of the times and survey the events that make their late history. On the second day of February 1848, in the small village of Guadalupe Hidalgo close to the present day Mexico City, the treaty that ended the war between Mexico and the United States was signed. Mexico was obligated to turn over the regions of California, Rio Grande, and New Mexico, in exchange for $15,000,000 from the United States. The agreement could have been beneficial for both countries, if not for the violations committed by the United States several years after the ratification of the treaty. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo has not lived up to the peace negotiation that it was signed for. If there was good that was achieved through the treaty it would be that of for the United States’ expansion of territory. As stated in the first article of the treaty, â€Å"There shall be firm and universal peace between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic†¦Ã¢â‚¬  However, like any other war, the Mexican-American war was violent. And the aftermath of the war was as much suffering for the part of the Mexicans. The war was about territory; nonetheless, it was a war about racism, wealth, and labor as well. At this point, the war had not ended with the signing of the treaty. The gunfire and the military violence my have ended, but the sociological, economic, and political issues continued to affect the Mexicans. The aftermath was another war that confronted the ethnic Mexicans. The root of the conflicts in the aftermath of the war was attributed not to the essence of the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Value Creation through Mergers and Acquisitions in the Banking Thesis - 1

Value Creation through Mergers and Acquisitions in the Banking Industry-A Case Study of Five Mergers & Acquisitions in Banking Industry-- JP Morgan Merger with - Thesis Example The definitions of the aforesaid variables are given in the research methodology. In each case of these mergers the individual companies became integrated to form a mega giant company. Though we mention these as the examples of merger actually those are the examples of acquisition. But the fact is that none of these five is a case of hostile acquisition rather all of these can be termed as friendly acquisition. While merger took place the existing shareholder of the merging companies retain their own position regarding the share they hold and the position to which they belong. Regarding the positions of the shareholders of both of the companies in the pre contract and the post contract situation here the acquisition becomes synonymous to merger. Generally the merger and acquisition takes place for various reasons: some of the reasons are beneficial for the shareholders. In these cases the major objective of the merger of each partnership was to capture the market as much as possible. If the mergers become successful enough to generate profit the shareholders prem ium would raise and hence the price of share and equity would rise consequently. There are two major benefits that a shareholder may enjoy. I. if the amount of dividends rise then the shareholder is benefited as he gets higher return on the same amount of money. If the premium on the share rises then the shareholder is better off. II. If the price of the share rises due to the merger then the shareholder would enjoy a capital gain. That is also a benefit that is brought about by merger. But if we consider an increase in the part of undistributed profit due to merger then we can say that the merger is not beneficial for the shareholders. . For example when a profitable company merges with a loss making company, it use the loss as a tax writes off to offset the

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

DQ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

DQ - Essay Example These rights are further established by the first founding which hails the right of free speech as a democratic constitutional principle (American Government 4:9). Keeping this view in hindsight, the stance of the media in portraying her as a Muslin extremist merely on the grounds of her vocal protestations are indeed unfounded. Having said that, it should also be noted that the Sedition Acts of 1798 prohibit any malice towards the government, or the Congress (American Government 4:11), including the expressions of dissent with the said authorities. Some states still strongly condone this acts, at least in their workings, and together with the state policies of Maintown prohibiting the desecration of the U.S. flag, Miss Nader's arrest is justified as she went against the set laws of the city in which she was operating. America has always been a nation of liberty and freedom, and free speech is the cornerstone of this liberty. It's Constitution states that.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Biodiversity of the Pacific Islands Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biodiversity of the Pacific Islands - Essay Example The wildlife trade is one factor in this decline, particularly an improvement in transport facilities has made it possible to ship animals and plants and products derived from them anywhere in the world. Wildlife trade is a highly profitable business and involves a wide variety of species with millions of animals and plants traded each year to supply the demand for pets, ornamental plants, furs, skins, leather and timber, and articles manufactured from these materials. Incredibly, the wildlife trade is second, in monetary terms, only to the drug trade, and perhaps the arms trade. The annual average trade in wildlife products is estimated at around five billion US dollars.   The Impact of Deforestation   The effects of deforestation are quite evident all across the Pacific islands and indeed across all world cultures. However, perhaps the area which is most devastated is the island of Papua New Guinea. Current estimates of forest destruction are hard to come by but in the late 1980's the forest was being lost at a rate of 21,000 - 22,000 ha per year (Hurst, 1990; Mullins, 1994). Forest product production has increased from 300,000 cubic meters in 1969 to over 1.7 million cubic meters in 1989. Most of these exports are in the form of logs, so Papua New Guinea misses out on any "value added" component that would result if timber were milled locally. Foreign investors, mainly Japanese, Malaysian, Korean, and Chinese, dominate the timber industry. In the late 1980's local timber companies only had rights to one-fifth of the available logging concessions (Barry, 2000).   The Pacific forests are rich in wildlife. Placental mammals, marsupials, birds, and reptiles abound. Doubtless, there are a lot of species that have not yet come to scientific attention. There are 650 species of birds, 500 of which are confined to the forests (Hurst, 1990).

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Personal Exercise Plan - Rounders Essay Example for Free

Personal Exercise Plan Rounders Essay Rounders is played by boys and girls, men and women in every county, at different levels, from friendly games to International matches. It is a striking and fielding team game, which involves hitting a small hard leather cased ball with a round wooden or metal bat and then running around 4 bases or posts in order to score a rounder. Bowlers can bowl at over 60mph and batters can hit the ball at more than that. Rounders is supported by many Local Authority Leisure Services Departments and has media support to various degrees from local newspapers and radio stations and has featured on TV in local news items. Rounders is accepted by Sport England who give annual grant aid to the NRA for certain aspects of their work and the Foundation for Sport and the Arts has funded the setting up of the Awards Scheme. The rules are revised where necessary every 3 years, the last review was in 2002. The last major change was in 1999 when it was decided to award 1/2 rounder for reaching second base after hitting the ball The game of rounders has been played in England since Tudor Times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in A Little Pretty Pocketbook where it is called baseball. This explains why the two games are similar, and in fact many students of baseball accept that their sport is derived from Rounders. This is the name used by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. The Boys Own Book of 1828 devoted a chapter to Rounders and in 1889 the Liverpool and Scottish Rounders Association was formed. The first official rules did away with the practice of putting a running batter out by hitting them with a thrown ball. Aims Of My Personal Excersise Programme Fitness Component 1 : Muscular Endurance Definition Muscular endurance is the ability of the muscle to continue to perform without fatigue. To improve your muscle endurance, try cardiorespiratory activities such as walking, jogging, bicycling, or dancing. Link to rounders Muscles need to be able to perform for a long period of time during rounders. As well as running round the posts, a player will also have to run to the ball in fielding, and use arm muscles, in throwing, bowling, and batting the ball. Fitness Component 2 : Cardiovascular Endurance Definition Improving the ability of your heart and lungs to supply adequate oxygen to working muscles during prolonged activity. Link to rounders For a player to be able to keep going for the whole game, they will need good cardiovascular endurance, so their body can keep going, and oxygen will be supplied to the lungs and muscles. I am going to improve Cardiovascular and Muscular endurance by different types of circuit training. I will also use interval training. I will see how much longer I can go on for at the end compared to the beginning of the programme. I will test my Cardiovascular and Muscular endurance at the beginning and end of the programme and measure the difference. To measure intensity, I will record my heart rate at 5-minute intervals to ensure I am working in my aerobic training zone. Each session I will record how long it takes my heart rate to return to its resting state. This will indicate improvement in fitness.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Old Testement Summaries Essay Example for Free

Old Testement Summaries Essay Isaiah The book of Isaiah is of the Prophetic genre. The basic theme of this book is found in Isaiah’s name: â€Å"Salvation Is of the Lord,† Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets of the Bible. Isaiah Prophesized that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem by a virgin. Isaiah was called the â€Å"evangelical prophet† because of his clear and detailed messianic prophecies. Isaiah spoke condemnation on the men in Judah because of their sins. In Isaiah God granted Hezekiah a fifteen-year extension of his life. Isaiah prophesized that Babylon would be judged and destroyed and God’s people would be released from captivity. The last chapters of Isaiah speak on peace, prosperity, and how justice would prevail. It also speaks on how God will make all things new. Proverbs The genre of Proverbs is wisdom. Proverbs describes the importance of living wisely and in the fear of the lord as opposed to following the seduction path of evil. Proverbs basically is a book of knowledge and understanding of life. The purpose of Proverbs is for gaining wisdom and directions, for receiving instructions on doing what’s right and just and fair. Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It also tells us to trust in the lord with all our hearts, and lean not on our own understanding; in all our ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct our path. Exodus The genre of Exodus is law. The theme of this book is that God reveals himself to his people and delivers them from slavery in Egypt to establish a covenant with them in the desert. This was done through Moses by the power of God through plagues. In Exodus reveals his name, his attributes, is redemption, his law and how he is to be worshiped. God departed the red sea allowing Israel to cross. The Egyptians followed and was destroyed in the red sea after God closed the sea. Judges The book of Judges is a narrative genre. The theme is in danger of losing the Promised Land; the Israelites are delivered again and again by God through leaders known as â€Å"judges.† The Israelites failed due to a lack of faith in God and a lack of obedience to him. In Judges God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, and promised to deliver the Israelites from enslavement. Sampson was destroyed due to his disobedience and due to his revealing his secret to Delilah. Daniel The genre of this book is Prophecy. The theme of Daniel is that God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth. Daniel was one of the Prophets that found favor with God because of his faith, obedience and is belief in God. Daniel being a man of God was able to interpret the King’s dreams and visions. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego refused to serve Nebuchadnezzar’s Gods and were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. but because of their faith in the Most High God was protected from the burning fiery furnish. Daniel was thrown into the Lion’s Den because he was worshipping God three times a day but because of his Faith in God, God closed the Lion’s mouth and Daniel used them as pillows.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Macro Environment of Nestle

Macro Environment of Nestle Nestlà © is the worlds largest food company and has held offices in the UK as early as the 1860s. Nestlà © was originally made up of three major companies: Nestlà ©, the Anglo- Swiss Condensed Milk Company and Rowntrees of York. In 1905 Nestlà © merged with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company and quickly became known for infant formula, chocolates and tinned milks. In 1939 Nestlà © launched Nescafà © in the UK, which became an immediate success for instant coffee (Nestlà © UK, 2012). In 1988 Nestlà © obtained Rowntrees of York and has since invested over  £200 million into the York site and  £100 million in their Tutbury factory. Between the years of 2006 2011, Nestlà © invested  £224 million in their UK sites (Nestlà © UK, 2012). With 6,500 employees across 20 different locations in the UK and exporting as much as  £300 million worth of products each year to 50 different countries, Nestlà © is not only a major employer in the UK, but also one of the UKs food industrys major exporters (Nestlà © UK, 2012). In 2002, Nestlà © UK acquired Ski Yoghurt from Nestlà © Australia and six years later in 2008, Ski Yoghurt was re-launched with only natural ingredients combining real fruit with thick, creamy tasting yoghurt and no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives (Nestlà © AU, 2012). 1.2 Previous Positioning of Ski Ski yogurt is currently positioned as a naturally delicious product and its positioning strategy focuses mainly on its fruit heritage and its value to the consumer. After the last re-launch of 2008, the new re-designed packaging tries to connect ski back to nature and puts forward an all natural ingredients story by featuring plenty of fruits in their natural environment for every flavour (Appendices 9.1). 2. Situational Analysis 2.1 Macro environmental analysis In the analysing of the macro environment of the product category, PEEST analysis is used to identifiy five main forces which affect marketing decision-making. The five forces analysed are political-legal factors, ecological-physical factors, economic factors, social-cultural factors and technological factors. (P)olitical Legal factors: EFSA bro-biotic dossiers companies that have vested interest in functional health adopt a more cautious approach or focus on benefits that have secured EFSA approval (Mintel, 2012). Trade negotiations under WTO. Bilateral trade deals (Doha, 2011). Compliance with legislation is becoming more costly April 2012 Dairy UK intention to sign up to the Department of Healths calorie reduction pledge which aims to support and enable consumers to eat and drink fewer calories on daily bases. (E)cological Physical factors: Environmentally friendly, reduced packaging is being promoted by the government (recycling good for corporate social responsibility image) Climate change adaptations Water management is an emerging priority (E)conomic factors: Unemployment rates on the rise, reaching 8.4% during January 2012 (Trading Economics, 2012) Economic growth of the market UK yoghurt market grows in a slow but steady pace over the last year at a rate of approximately 2.5% (Mintel, 2012) (S)ocial Cultural factors: Good intentions, such as not snacking between meals and eating more fiber, have become less of a priority in the recent years. Preoccupation with trying to loose weight Adults within a family are expected to remain the largest population segment Strong growth expected in the number of children between 5 and 9 years old Projected increase of one-person households (contribute less to volume sales of yoghurt). (T)echnological factors: The use of the internet through online grocery retailing directly influenced the supply chain, operations and processes of grocery and food retailers Online retail shopping has gained considerable popularity due to the increased accessed to broadband internet in the UK; 70% of overall market are broadband users (Keynote, 2010) Lack of applied RD and knowledge exchange as Government reduces funding 2.2 Micro Environmental Analysis In order to analyse the companys both internal and external environment, the SWOT analysis is used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation as well as the opportunities and threats from within its market environment. SWOT Analysis: Strengths Ski is apart of a global established brand Nestlà © Nestlà © stands for product Innovation Strong promotional activities e.g. Exclusive gifts as a part of their promotional offers Product availability and distribution to all major stores Perceived as a quality brand Strong historical background One of the first in the yogurt market Strong ability to recover from market share loss in the short term (2008) Weaknesses Frequent re-launches over the years lacks consistency Weak TV advertisements Very weak presence on social media platforms less interactive and informational, lacking updates Current positioning is not consistent with the current image of Ski, therefore its losing its roots Frequent re-launches over the years lacks consistency Opportunities Over three quarters of yogurt users view Ski as a healthy alternative to other treats (Mintel, 2012) Use of social media is growing extremely fast Backing of Nestle known as a established brand Spoonable yogurt represents over four fifths of the yogurt market (87%) (Mintel, 2012) Consumer engagement Capitalize on organic/historic brand positioning Increase of online advertising Increase of use of internet Increase of nutritional awareness Threats Decrease in popularity Higher competition from competitors Competitors stealing market share Due to the Economic downturn consumers switch to store-brands (Mintel, 2012) Customers choosing healthier or non dairy yoghurt options Brand loyalty Customers not making the switch from their usual brand to trying Ski Only gaining an older demographic because of history and recognition Nestle boycotts within the UK 2.3 Market Trends Overall since 2007, there has been a 0.9% increase in the eating of yoghurt, with an increase 7.1% in heavy users, and decreases of 1.9% and 5.2% in medium and light users respectively. The yoghurt market in the UK is saturated, making it hard to add new users. Yoghurt is considered a healthy option, with low fat varieties making up 56% of purchases. The growth of low-fat yoghurts, at 1.9%, has been faster than that of standard yoghurt, at 0.6%. Those in families are more likely to eat yoghurt compared with those not. The group that buys the most yoghurt is that of women and households with children aged 1-9. An increase in the number of 5-9 year olds of 11% is expected between 2012 and 2017, meaning the number of people in the above group will expand, giving potential for more growth. More affluent families are also more likely to be consumers of yoghurt, and are likely to consumer more of it (Mintel, 2012). 2.4 Competitors Within the dairy market in the UK, retailers own-label products have significally increased the competition since due to the economic downturns of the last several years, consumers tend to switch towards them. The two bigger players of the market are Danome and Muller which together capture 60% of the spoonable yogurt sales and continue to dominate the market. The direct competitors of the Ski yoghurt are Activia, Muller, Yoplait, Yeo Valley, Onken, Munch Bunch, Weight /watchers and own-label products (Appendices 9.2). 3. Objectives The roles of objectives play an important part of the overall campaign. Both the marketing and communications objectives provide direction, focus, values, and a time frame, while also providing a means by which the success of the campaign can be evaluated (Fill, 2009) 3.1 Marketing objectives Increase market share by 1% by June 2013. Increase volume of sales by 20% by June 2013 3.2 Communication Objectives Increase re-launch brand awareness by 30% by June 2013 Impart nutritional knowledge, brand heritage and Ski yoghurt diet plan to both males and females, ages 25-40 within the first 2 months of the re-launch. Build project the position of a healthy, active, and convenient product image of Ski to both males and females, 25-40 years old within the first 4 months of re-launch. Increase shelf space in supermarkets by 20% by June 2013 Expand saturation on trade grounds by 15% by June 2013 20,000 consumers to sample the product by the end of the campaign-June 2013 4.0 Consumer Strategy 4.1 Segmentation Demographic Trends According to Mintel (2011), The group that buys the most yoghurt is that of women and households with children aged 1-9. The current target market of Nestlà © is working mothers, aged bwtween 35-44 years old with older kids. However, an 11% increase in the number of children aged 5-9 year olds is expected between 2012 and 2017. (REPEAT and needs a Reference). This gives potential of growth and more affluent families being more likely to be yoghurt consumers, and are likely to consumer more of it (Mintel, 2011). In terms of social class, AB, C1 and C2, social class who are professionals, supervisory and skill manual workers, the geographic location of these classes is in United Kingdom. Hence, the yoghurt market should focus on British customers to gain an effective marketing strategy. Behavioural/Psychographic Trends The reason being that British customers are more concerned with their health. More and more, they consider calories consumed and fat content to ensure that they are eating well. Their healthy lifestyle can safeguard them from the widespread obesity epidemic (Key note, 2012). Some customers, who find themselves lack of time having proper food, consume snacks instead of main meals. Yogurt is the choice of healthy food of this target market, containing essential nutrition to make them healthier (Mintel, 2011) 4.2 Target Audience Ski Yogurt is marketing to group of people who prefer natural yogurt products in effective quality and sufficient quantities. This target audience covers; working mothers aged 25-50 with older children. Our target audience would be A, B, C1 and C2 (Appendices 9.3) which primarily concern with health and nutrition. We will expand our target audiences network with family who would like active activities and has busy lifestyle. 4.3 Pen Profile Within the Ski consumer strategy, young families, especially mothers who take a considerable interest in both their appearance and health will be targeted. In addition, young working people that like outdoor activities such as exercising, walking, and socializing. Also, someone who is of a higher social class, and will therefore typically think more about nutrition in trying maintain a more attractive physical appearance. A good approach to reach the target audiences is through advertising messages on television; press media and outdoor media that attract the consumers. Alternatively, a more efficient communication network is through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Accordingly, marketing activity will adapt and respond to changes in customer behavior. 4.4 Positioning The aim of the campaign would be to maintain the current positioning of Ski as a healthy and natural product choice and focus on strengthening the healthy aspect of the product as well as introducing the convenience factor. The ultimate goal of the campaign would be to move Ski yogurt towards a healthier position among the competitors within the perception map (Appendices 9.4). 4.5 Creative strategy Strap line: How do YOU doSKI? From Skis previous re-launch in 2008, it has been positioned as a brand with high nutritional value using only natural ingredients, and no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives (Nestlà ©, 2012). The Ski UK brand is one that naturally composes historical and nutritional value while also being backed by Nestlà ©, one of the biggest food distributors in the UK. Starting in January of 2013, Ski UK will begin their re-launch by focusing on the promotion of new beginnings, and will accordingly play an important role in influencing consumers to aim for a healthier and happier lifestyle in the new-year. By enhancing their current traits, the re-launch and creative strategy of Ski will be positioned as an active brand with high nutritional value and convenience for those with a busy lifestyle. In order to support the re-branding of Ski, the colours will change from its current blue, white and red to a more unique and fresh white, black and green. The new colour of Ski will directly reflect the active and green-friendly image of the brand. Ski yoghurt will be seen as a product that will enhance your overall health, happiness and lifestyle. The logo will also change to differentiate Ski from its competitors and to reflect the new positioning of the overall Ski UK brand. Also, the Nestle logo, currently on the packaging will become smaller to give the consumer the feel of a more organic, and family-owned product (Appendices 9.5). It is shown that the attractiveness of packaging affects the volume of sales and packaging can be essential in affecting the positioning of a product (Fill, 2009). In order to attract the attention of Skis target market, the packaging of Ski will become more durable, sustainable and pleasing to the eye to reflect the new active and green image of the brand. The basis of the re-launch will be based around the new slogan: How do YOU doSKI? In the advertisements, the produced concept will introduce new ways of eating and using Ski yoghurt. People will be shown how they can DoSki. This will be shown through sports activities like football, young professionals with busy lifestyles and health-conscious families. The look and feel of a product will change while still holding on to its natural heritage and nutritional value. The overall goal within the Ski UK re-launch and creative strategy is to enhance the product. 5.0 Communication mix 5.1. Media Planning The media plan of the campaign will take place within a six month time period, which is broke down into 24 weeks for precision. The brand can take advantage of the spirit after the New Year by initiating an image of a new start, new beginning and changed behaviors. Thus, the repackaging, and the pre and post-testing of the new design will take place three weeks before New Year. Advertising among business clients will take place in the third week of the repackaging and in the first week of the communication campaign delivered by B2B print media. The developed company website and a new Facebook page will start at the same time but remain active throughout the whole period of the campaign. In order to attract the consumers attention, the first week of the media activities plan will start with TV advertisements. During January, February and the first week of March, the tools used will help create awareness among non-users and regular or inconsistent users. Apart from TV commercials, these tools include online and outdoor media. From week 10 (second week of March) to week 13, print, online, outdoor and TV media will be used to inform people about the competition-taking place in weeks 14 and 15 (middle of April), which is intended to provoke interest among customers. During the competition, online media will remain active as well as sampling, which would create desire among people. Sales promotion will start in the second week of the competition (week 15) and will be used again throughout the whole month of March. Meanwhile, online media will be used after the end of the competition to the end of the campaign in June to inform people about its results. In addition, print and outdoor media is implemented in the end of June in order to prompt customers about the competition and its beneficial outcomes. Successfully, at the end of the campaign a complete AIDA model would be applied. Appendix 9.6 shows a detailed media plan including time frame and Appendix 9.7 shows the budget of the campaign. 5.2.1 Advertising Most marketing communications campaigns rely on advertising as it is an important communication mix tool and is best used for awareness as it is has the potential to reach a large number of target audiences with simple and understandable message content. Hence Ski has given emphasizes to their advertising campaigns with their amounting to  £72,6277; the highest amongst other communication mixes. This includes the production cost of advertisements in the communication mix. Advertising would give Ski an excellent platform to control the message, content, show-case creativity, and give it a competitive advantage to their competition. This would enable the increase of brand / product awareness, associations and encourage the change in consumer perceptions including their involvement with the advertisement. Their prime communication objective is awareness. The emphasis on the strategy for Ski is to introduce better understanding of the yoghurts features. Broadcast Television This broadcast medium has a huge influence over mass coverage and it makes a good platform for skis target segment. Skis budget allocated to the TV commercials would cost  £420,121. The commercials would air during the time slots, 11.00 to 21.30 between weeks 1 to week 13. The chosen channels would be ITV 1(This morning, Early evening news and Movie / drama) and ITV 2 (all-day campaign). Through this time slot allocation, Ski would be able to target mothers during the morning slots and during news and drama slots the message can be sent to families with younger children. ITV would air the commercials to increase awareness of the product between weeks 1 to week 5 at various time slots. In week 12 and 13, the media would air commercials promoting an upcoming sports event for schools. Print media Ski will use print media as a part of their awareness strategy as it has a huge impact on mass audience because of its easy access and availability to mass audiences. The target audience of The Sun would be parents, both working parents and stay-home mothers. The Sun is one of the leading daily newspapers in the UK with a readership of more than 2 million per day (Insight, 2011a). The advertisement in The Sun will appear in 6 issues in week 10 and 11 and the results of the event will feature in 2 issues during the last 2 weeks of the campaign. The Grocer will focus on business to business advertisements to attract the interests of potential clients to promote Skis products in the stores. These advertisements would feature in the magazine during the pre-launch weeks and the first week of the campaign. Additionally, before the Ski holiday competition, retailers will be targeted again through the magazine in order to raise interest in supporting the event and giving it a space in their stores. The approximate cost of advertising in print media would cost Ski  £14,616. Digital media (online) This new form of communication is high in frequency and offers a direct route of advertising to a wider audience; it is faster, easily accessible, flexible and can get instant responses, hence Ski will focus on improving on their web/social media presence. Through websites such as Yahoo!, the advertisements will be start from week 3 to week 17 and on the Good Food (targeting online shoppers who spend time with families and enjoy nutritious food) from week 10 to week 20 (BRAD Insight, 2011d). An online group page for Ski would be created on Facebook as well as advertisements on the site. The group page would focus on the upcoming sporting event and follow all the stages of the event, as well as interacting with existing ski consumers, sharing recipes, comments and feedback. The Facebook adverts will run from week 2 to week 22 and the online group page would commence in week 3 of the pre-launch period until the end of the campaign. The approximate cost of online advertising is  £ 30, 700. ( appendix ). Yahoo! reaches 22 million people in the UK per month; it offers corporate partnerships and provides a unique search and display engine. There are a high number of users using this search engine and it is likely that our target market will come across our adverts, hence the decision to choose Yahoo! for advertising. (BRAD Insight, 2011c). Ski will give importance on building their new interactive website. This would cost  £ 10,600 including half yearly maintenance. The website will include 10 pages and those will include recipes, news / events about ski, a feedback page, image gallery, links to social networking sites, promotional offers and tracking of the entire football event and family Ski holiday competition. Outdoor media In terms of Skis marketing strategy, this form of of media will be a support tool to other mediums such as broadcast and print. It is an effective technique of grabbing the attention of a large audience. Ski will use the 3 main formats of out-door media in order to achieve this. Billboards: To be placed at various central locations. Amounting to  £68,640 in cost. Bus Stops: Posters will be placed in bus stops. Amounting to  £36,000 in cost. Transit: Ads will be placed on buses. Amounting to  £67,600 in cost. The out-door media will run for a period of 8 weeks (from week 5 to week 12). The first 5 weeks will focus on brand and product awareness while the remaining 3 weeks will include details about the sporting event competition. The event result adverts will commence from week 22 to the end of the marketing campaign. Cinema The cinema adverts will run between week 7 and week 10. The cost for 100 screens at 12 cinemas would be  £ 40,000. The advertisements will be mostly run during the screening of movies for children especially when families spend time together. This will focus on the awareness of the football event and the family Ski holiday competition. Packaging Skis new design and packaging (industrial designer charges) will cost approximately  £15,000. The new packaging and design will be completed during the pre launch week before the media plan is implemented. 5.2.2 Sponsorship Sponsorship will be an integral part of Skis marketing communications mix. Through sponsorships new business opportunities emerge such as media coverage, increase of goodwill, increased consumer base and interaction between Ski and the consumer. Skis sponsorship cost is  £6,10,000. Ski will organize a sporting event for schools across England, where in the schools will participate in a football tournament. The winner of the competition will receive sporting equipment sponsored by Ski. The main aim behind holding this event is to promote the health and fitness lifestyle that Ski and Nestlà © stand for. 5.3 Sales promotion Through sales promotions Ski seeks to influence consumer behavior with their interactive promotional strategies. These strategies are especially designed to facilitate consumer interest, interaction and to promote fitness and nutrition. The total cost of Skis sales promotion would amount to approximately  £ 131,055. Vouchers Part of the promotions would include vouchers in Good Housekeeping magazine. The circulation of the magazine is over 400,000 per month (BRAD Insight, 2012). This is a monthly lifestyle issue focused on home and family; hence the rate of vouchers being received by potential consumers is relatively higher since the target market for this is also for mothers. During the sports event, vouchers would be distributed to students and their families to encourage the sales of the product. The vouchers would offer a 20p reduction on the price of any Ski Yoghurt. The total cost of these vouchers would amount to  £ 99,255. Good Housekeeping magazine voucher cost and magazine space amounts to  £ 99,105, whereas school promotional vouchers amount to  £ 150. Sampling Skis sales promotions will include sampling during the school competitions and in supermarkets. The overall cost of the sales promotional activities amounts to  £ 31,800. The sampling event will introduce consumers to a new package design and will focus on building awareness of the yoghurt. 5.4 Public relations A variety of promotional activities will be conducted during the sampling phase in supermarkets and during the sporting event. The main activity would include a life -size cutout with an image of a person skiing and holding a pot of Ski yoghurt and it will be displayed in both school competition finals and supermarkets. A professional photographer will take pictures of people. People need to be creative and imaginative and they can show different ways of using the yoghurt for a snack. Images with captions will then be uploaded on Facebook. Three families of four with the most Likes on their images will win a Ski trip to the French Alps. The Ski holiday will cost approximate  £2,000 each (Adapted from Thompsons, 2012). Twitter will be kept up-to date during the entire campaign. The school football competition videos will be uploaded to You Tube after the event. Post the ski holiday, Videos / images of the families that won the holidays to the Alps will be uploaded to YouTube / Faceb ook. The total cost of a Web administrator will cost  £16,000 per year, which would include maintaining and updating social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (Adapted from PayScale, 2012c). 5.5 Budgeting The media used in the new campaign for Ski includes television, print media, online and outdoor advertising, and improvement of Skis website. Also, sport competition among primary schools, ski holiday competition, sampling during the finals of the competitions and in supermarkets, sales promotion in the form of coupons and repackaging are part of the marketing activities. Furthermore, the costs of pre-testing are calculated on the basis that Ski will need 1 focus group for the testing of the packaging; one focus group testing perceptions; and one focus group testing advertisements. The pre-testing of the awareness will be held by ambassadors in front of 50 central stores in London and Cardiff. The post-testing of the awareness will be the same in the end of the campaign and the post-testing of the perceptions will require one focus group. Additionally, the production cost of the advertisements is estimated as  £30,000 as 5% of the total advertising tools used. The budget of the campaign is estimated at about 5% of the intended market objective to increase sales to  £32 million in six months. During that time the budget should not exceed  £1.6 million. The total amount of the assessed costs is  £  £1,565,467 inclusive of  £50,000 for unexpected costs, especially having in mind that a competition among children can bring many unplanned activities involving extra costs. (Appendices 9.7). 6.0 Evaluation 6.1 Pre-testing To assess how well the new campaign will be received, tests will be carried out upon the prospective advertisements, guiding developers towards advertisements that are conducive to fulfilling the objectives. Five focus groups will used as they can accurately determine the reception of the advert, and therefore inform the creative process. To avoid bias brought in by participants interpretation of their own views, projective techniques will be used. Specifically completion will be used; where partially formed sentences are given to participants, helping to reduce bias and to structure responses in a way that gives responses that are easy to analysed. These should be carried out for all advertisement media developed for the campaign. 6.2 Post-testing Examination of the sales figures before and after the campaign will indicate whether the marketing objectives have been achieved. An examination of data showing any fluctuations in shelf space will of course show whether the desired increase in space has been achieved. Similarly, if all samples of the yoghurt are given out, the target number of people trying a sample will be met with room to spare. Awareness will be measured before and after the campaign to show whether the increase in awareness sought has been achieved. Measurement of this will be carried out with surveys. They will be carried out using opportunity samples outside supermarkets in two city centres within the UK. The locations of central London and Cardiff city centre have been selected as they are within the areas of highest and lowest consumption of yoghurt respectively, giving a more representative sample (Mintel, 2012). Focus groups will be used, separately to those used in pretesting, to show changes brought about in the perceptions of ski. Two groups will be run before the campaign, and two after. Monitoring the campaign and Public Relations Activities Considering the commencement of Skis social media presence in the UK, analysis of feedback from consumers and press will be carried out continuously during the campaign. Thus making it possible to refine and adapt. Using a number of different evaluation methodologies is key giving a holistic insight into the effect the campaign generally (Fill, 2009); and a variety is utilised here, giving a rounded picture whilst showing how the objectives were fulfilled.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

UKs Economy in Europe Essay -- Economics Economy England United Essay

UK's Economy in Europe When one talks about a strong economy, a few key economic indicators will get mentioned; inflation, unemployment and economic growth. These are considered the three main macroeconomic indicators of any economy. To define a strong economy in the simplest form you must have a low rate of inflation, low unemployment and steady economic growth. During this essay there will be comparisons between other European countries (e.g. France, Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, Spain, Italy) and these economic indictors mentioned as well as others. We will start to look at inflation rates. "The British economy has slowed over the past 12 months, but remains among the strongest in the developed world, a report has said" (BBC News Online). Last month the Underlying rate of inflation in the UK remained unchanged at 2.3%, which is below the governments target rate of 2.5%, this is good for the economy. The headline rate of inflation, which includes mortgage interest payments, fell last month by 0.4% to 1.7%. These figures show the rate at which prices are increasing. When we compare the UK's annual inflation figure of 1.2% to that of Germany and France (-0.6% in October), which is around the 2% mark, it seems that our rate is quite low and therefore good for our economy. The Eurozone inflation is expected to be 2.1%; this is measured by the Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices (MUICP). By looking at this we can see that this figure is very close to the UK's inflation rate. On the whole inflation in the UK is at a lower rate than that of its European neighbours, which is an indicator of a strong economy. When we look at unemployment in the UK we can see that it is around 900,000 or 2.3%. This is the lowest it has been since the 1970's and is at a lower percentage rate than Japan and the USA. Germany who has recently announced that they have just entered a recession has a very high rate of unemployment at around 8.0% and France, Finland and Spain even higher. The UK, Netherlands and Luxemburg are amongst the lowest unemployment rates in Europe. "Unemployment is up again in France and Germany, in a sign that the eurozone's two biggest economies are still in the grip of a downturn" (BBC News Online). France and Germany have the largest economies in Europe and recent figures show that unemployment increased by 15,000 a... ...ong performance is reflected by such indicators as solid growth and forecasts for next year predicting an annual growth of 2.75% - 3.75%. Inflation currently at 2.3% is lower than forecasted which is a strong indicator for a strong economy. Our unemployment is at the lowest it has been since the 1970's and lower than that of the two biggest economies in the world at present at 2.3% or around 900,000. Interest rates are remaining unchanged at 4%, which is low, and the reason for the British economy having a firm housing market. The UK's main economic problem is the manufacturing output. It could be argued that this sector of the economy is in recession after figures of negative growth in the last two quarters. As a result of this the UK is suffering from an all time high trade deficit, which is also due to the high value of the pound. But overall the UK economy is in a good state taking into advantage the global economic slowdown which is going on around it. References: www.bbc.co.uk Sources:  · www.bbc.co.uk  · www.bized.ac.uk  · www.europa.eu.int  · www.ukonline.gov.uk  · The Daily Mail Newspaper  · The Business Environment - Brooks/Weatherston

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Character of Antigone Essay -- Antigone Plays Essays

The Character of Antigone Antigone, the character for which the play was named, is a very complex character. She seems to change directions all throughout the play and there is never one point in which you know exactly what she will do because she is just that unpredictable. This unpredictability also makes her seem very hypocritical because she will say something and then turn on a dime and say the complete opposite. Antigone’s character is very intriguing strictly due to the fact that she keeps you guessing. The following will show the many variations that her character shows throughout the play. There are several points in the play that Antigone seems very heroic, especially when she is speaking to Creon about her reasoning for attempting to bury her brother. She reflec...

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Research Paper on Extraction of Pectin Essay

Sampalok, being of prehistoric introduction, is planted throughout the settled areas of the Philippines and is cultivated for its many uses. The plant is a large tree from 12 to 25 meters in height. The pods are oblong, thickened, and 6 to 15 centimetres by 2 to 3 centimeters, slightly compressed, and provided with a thin, crustaceous epicarp and a pulpy, acid, edible mesocarp. The young leaves flowers, leaves, and young pods are being used by people for seasoning foods like â€Å"sinigang†. The pulp surrounding the seeds, called â€Å"malasebo† is eaten outright either with or without salt (E. Quisumbing, 1951). Sampalok pulp contains Pectin which can be useful in our society and possibly be extracted. Pectin is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. The main use for pectin (vegetable agglutinate) is as a gelling agent, thickening agent and stabilizer in food. On this account, the researcher would like to experiment on tamarind pods, which has Pectin content and to extract it for further use, which can help in the food industry here in our country. Statement of the Problem The study aims to extract Pectin from Sampalok (Tamarindus indica) pods. Specifically to answer, the following questions: * How can Pectin be extracted from Sampalok? * How much Pectin can be extracted from the Tamarind fruit? * What general characteristics did the Pectin from the Tamarind fruit exhibit? Hypotheses * Pectin cannot be extracted from Tamarind. * No amount of Pectin can be extracted from the Tamarind. * The tamarind fruit did not exhibit characteristics of Pectin. Significance of the Study This study will help reduce the country’s importation of pectin from other countries. . Based from Government’s statistical data, our country had imported about 93,150 kilos of pectin in 2008. The cost incurred in importing Pectin is about P27, 000 per kilo. Finding an alternative source of pectin from locally grown plants like tamarind will help reduce the country’s dependence on pectin importation as well as help the local economy. If proven that pectin can be commercially extracted from tamarind then the local populace will be encouraged to cultivate tamarind as extra income. Scope and Limitations In this study, the researcher is only limited to use the tamarind pulp surrounding the seeds, called â€Å"malasebo† Tamarind pulp is the main independent variable in the extraction of pectin except for the materials needed for the extraction process. This project is limited only in extracting pectin from tamarind pulp. Review of Related Literature Pectin is defined as complex mixtures of polysaccharides that make up approximately one third of the cell-wall dry substance of most types of plants (Van Buren, 1991). The function of pectin in plants is to contribute structural integrity to the cell wall and adhesion between cells.   The methods of extraction will vary based on the actual makeup for each particular plant type. For example, protopectins are brought into solution by hot dilute acids. The general makeup of the pectin content varies with ripening of the plant and it is fairly easily brought into solution depending on the plant type (Van Buren, 1991). Commercial pectin extraction is mainly from citrus peel and apple pomace, but several other sources exist such as sugar beets and sunflower heads.   Because it is a natural additive for foods, pectin is being considered for a number of applications beyond the traditional jams and jellies. Pectin is now used as thickeners, water binders, and stabilizers. It is used in yogurts and pastry glazes and as a stabilizer in drinkable yogurts and blends of milk and fruit juices (May, 1990). Pectin is also being used as a texturizing fat replacer to mimic the mouth-feel of lipids in low-calorie foods and shorter chain galacturonic acids have been considered as clarification agents in fruit juices (Braddock, 1999). Pectin is also being used as a texturizing fat replacer to mimic the mouth-feel of lipids in low-calorie foods and shorter chain galacturonic acids have been considered as clarification agents in fruit juices (Braddock, 1999). Pectin has also been investigated for its usefulness in the pharmaceutical industry. Among other uses it has been considered in the class of dietary fibers known to have a positive effect on digestive processes and to help lower cholesterol (Braddock, 1999). It also is utilized to stabilize liquid pharmaceutical emulsions and suspensions. Pectin is capable of forming gels with sugar and acid. Because of this gelling ability one of the well-known uses of pectin is in high sugar jams and confectionery jellies, dating back to at least the 18th century (IPPA, 2001). METHODOLOGY The subsequent materials were used in the study: 1 kg fresh tamarind fruit, 750g water, kettle, a large bowl, cheese cloth, sieve, isopropanol, and drying oven. The fruit pods will then be put in the kettle and boiled for one hour. When boiling, heat to low and stir occasionally to break up pods. Transfer cooked pods with water in the large bowl and strain using a sieve, pressing pulp against it to extract all the juice. Then, strain the extracted juice again using the cheese cloth to produce a clear liquid extract. To remove impurities, use the most common method in which, mix the liquid extract with an organic solvent in which pectin is insoluble. As International Food Standards permit the use of only methanol, ethanol, or isopropanol as an organic solvent, the researcher treated the liquid extract with isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) in the ratio of 1 part liquid extract to 2 parts alcohol. In this process, when the liquid extract is mixed with sufficient alcohol, it solidifies the extract, making it firm enough to be handled. This precipitate (Pectin) is then washed several times to further remove other impurities. Once the pectin is isolated, it is dried in a drying oven overnight at 45 degrees Celsius, then ground to powder. Definition of Terms Pectin – is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. It is used in food as a gelling agent particularly in jams and jellies. It is also used in fillings, medicines, sweets, as a stabilizer in fruit juices and milk drinks, and as a source of dietary fiber. Tamarind – is a long-lived, medium-growth, bushy tree, which attains a maximum crown height of 12.1 to 18.3 metres (40 to 60 feet). The crown has an irregular, vase-shaped outline of dense foliage. The fruit is an indehiscent legume, sometimes called a pod, 12 to 15 cm (3 to 6 inches) in length, with a hard, brown shell. The fruit has a fleshy, juicy, acidulous pulp. It is mature when the flesh is coloured brown or reddish-brown. The tamarinds of Asia have longer pods containing six to 12 seeds, whereas African and West Indian varieties have short pods containing one to six seeds. The seeds are somewhat flattened, and glossy brown. The tamarind is best described as sweet and sour in taste, and is high in acid, sugar, B vitamins and, oddly for a fruit, calcium. Extraction – the process of obtaining something from a mixture or compound using physical or chemical means. BIBLIOGRAPHY Book Sources: * Quisumbing, E. (1951) Philippine Medicinal Plants. Genus TAMARINDUS Linnaeus pp. 434-436, Manila * Srivastava, P. & Malviya, R. (2011) Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources Vol. 2 (1) Sources of pectin, extraction and its applications in pharmaceutical industry. pp. 10-18 * May, C. D. Handbook of Hydrocolloids pp. 169-188 * Huang, J. M. G. Improved method for the extraction of Pectin, PO Box 4200 Highstown, New Jersey 08520