IOSR-JHSS   Volume-6 ~ Issue-2 ~ Nov-Dec-2012

Paper Type	:	Research Paper
Title	:	Design Compatibility of Classroom Furniture in Urban and Rural Preschools
Country	:	India
Authors	:	Shivarti, U.V. Kiran
	:	10.9790/0837-0620105

Abstract:Classroom furniture design can affect educational activities because it is an important component in any classroom which helps in providing a comfortable and functional classroom environment for the children. Improper furniture design can result in defective posture which could affect children's academic performance. Hence it is essential to facilitate school furniture in accordance to the requirement of school children. To focus on the issue of furniture design the present study is conducted with an objective to identify the mismatch between the individual body dimensions of children and existing furniture in preschools. To carry out the objective, urban and rural preschools were selected randomly from the selected urban and rural areas of Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh, India. The evaluation of the study was made by using the self made questionnaire standardized along with anthropometric checklist. The results of the study revealed mismatch between existing furniture (seat height, seat depth, and desk height) with children's body dimensions which may result in various health problems in later life.
Keywords: "Classroom furniture', 'Design compatibility', 'Urban and rural preschools'

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Abstract:This paper addresses the arguments for and against fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria as a political discourse in the Nigerian media. We examine the political discourse from the theoretical and methodological perspectives of discourse structure, linguistic function, and ideological bearing to determine how the groups on both sides of the divide exploit their social power to control the public discourse and by extension control the mind and actions of one another. The results of the analysis tend to show that the more powerful group represented by the Federal Government struggles to redefine the discursive structure of those properties of the social situation that are relevant for the production and comprehension of the fuel subsidy discourse to change the personal/social cognition and mental representations of fuel subsidy by Nigerians as one sure way of achieving the ultimate aim of reproducing dominance (power abuse) and hegemony. The less powerful group led by the organized labour combats this mind control onslaught by enlisting discursive strategies that provide information from which derive alternative knowledge and beliefs needed by the Nigerian masses to challenge the discourses and information about fuel subsidy, which they are exposed to by the Federal Government.
Keywords: CDA, fuel subsidy, mind control, Nigeria, power.

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Abstract:This paper examines the linguistic messages of the placards, which were displayed during the fuel subsidy removal protests in Nigeria. In this regard, we rely on the central notion of 'stratification' deriving from Halliday's Systemic-Functional Grammar. The data elicited from the online edition of Nigerian newspapers is subjected to analysis following the analytical procedure of context stratum. The results of the analysis indicate an emerging pattern of civil protest in Nigeria driven by the nation's brand of 'Arab Spring', or the 'Occupy Movement,' which interrogates a wide range of socioeconomic and political ills plaguing the Nigerian nation. Specifically, the protests transcended the narrow confines of hardships caused by the fuel subsidy removal to pertinent issues of official corruption, debilitating cost of governance, crash in public expectations of a Jonathan presidency, and recourse to people power-induced revolution. The paper concludes that the fuel subsidy removal protests provided a teachable moment, the invaluable lessons of which need not be lost on the PDP-led administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Keywords: context, fuel subsidy, linguistic message, Nigeria, placards, systemic-functional grammar

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Abstract:This paper examines the ingenious ways Nigerians use the English language with less integrity and in so doing, abuse the power of language, and consequently enthrone corruption through deception, manipulation, judgmental accusations, and lying. The grave implications, which this practised state art of what can be described as "verbal carpentry" portend for good governance in Nigeria and Africa by extension call for a radical departure from this depraved communication system. To give the power of the English language its rightful place in Nigeria, the political leaders should strive to use and appreciate the power of language with integrity, teach the power of articulate speech that captures the intensity of our feelings, without using it as a weapon of mass deception, and abhor the abuse of this power that violates and insults the sensibilities of the people.
Keywords: corruption, Nigeria, language, verbal carpentry

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