Teacher-perceived conflict predicts lower interest and pre-academic skills in maths and literacy among kindergarteners, another investigation from Finland shows.

Kindergarten represents a crucial context where youngsters develop school-related skills and examples of commitment that form the reason for the development of later competencies important for academic success. Kindergarten achievement has been found to be highly predictive of later academic skills. Given the durable impacts that kindergarten experiences have on later schooling, it is important to understand the factors related with kids’ learning and inspiration during this time.

The quality of teacher-student interaction has been found to be important in terms of many different academic and socio-emotional outcomes. However, much of the previous work in the field has focused on children in later grades in elementary school and has been conducted in the United States. Fewer studies have been conducted in other educational contexts and in kindergarten specifically.

Researchers from the University of Jyvaskyla, the University of Eastern Finland, and New York University of Abu Dhabi investigated bidirectional links between the quality of teacher-child relationships and children’s interest and pre-academic skills in literacy and math in Finland.

Participants were 461 Finnish kindergarteners (6-year-olds) and their teachers (48). The study is part of the Teacher Stress Study, led by Professor Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen and Associate Professor Eija Pakarinen at the University of Jyvaskyla.

The results indicated that teacher-perceived conflict predicted lower interest and pre-academic skills in both literacy and maths. It is possible that when children experience conflict with teachers, the negative emotions attached to these conflicts are harmful for children’s engagement in learning and diminish their interest in academic tasks.

It is also possible that children experiencing conflicts are missing out on time on learning literacy and maths, either because they are disengaged from instructional activities or because teachers have to spend more instructional time on behavioural management.

The findings highlight the importance of kindergarten teachers being aware of how their relationships with children can influence children’s later schooling. It would be important to develop pre-service and in-service programmes and interventions to assist teachers in building supportive, low conflict relationships with children.

Teacher education programmes may also benefit from educating teachers not only about academic content and pedagogical practices but also in strategies that build supportive relationships with children.
“Compared to daycare, kindergarten introduces children to a more structured learning environment. The experiences children gain in this environment may have long-term consequences on the development of their academic motivation and competencies,” Professor Jaana Viljaranta from the University of Eastern Finland said.

“Therefore, it is essential that our teachers are aware of the power their interaction with children may have, and that they are supported in finding optimal ways to interact with each child, while taking individual strengths and needs into consideration,” Viljaranta added.

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The 14th edition of the I-League will commence on January 9 2021 from now in Kolkata.

Eleven teams should enter the bio-secure bubble 14 days prior to their first match as per the timetable, which will be reported instantly. Inferable from the COVID-19 pandemic circumstance, the past release of the I-League made to end unexpectedly before the football activity continued indeed in India through I-League Qualifier 2020 in October this year.

The government of the West Bengal and the Indian Football Association (IFA) joined hands with the All India Football Federation to organise the qualifiers successfully.

“We can’t thank Government of West Bengal and IFA enough for their unconditional support to hosting the Hero I-League Qualifier this year. Without their support, we couldn’t even think of hosting the tournament smoothly,” AIFF quoted Sunando Dhar, CEO, Leagues as saying.

“Hero I-League Qualifier was a stage rehearsal for the next edition of Hero I-League as it’ll be a longer and more challenging tournament from every single aspect. We’ll work with them hand in hand to make it a grand success and we’re confident to pull it off successfully,” he added.

All 11 teams will face each other once in the first leg of the league before they are divided into two different groups. The top six teams, according to the points table, will face each other once again to decide the winner whereas the other five teams will play against each other in a one-leg league format.

The team with maximum points (cumulative points collected from all 15 matches) will be the winner of Hero I-League 2020-21. The entire tournament will be hosted adhering to the COVID-19 SOPs released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and no spectator will be allowed inside a stadium during a match.

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One injured civilian also succumbs at a Srinagar hospital

Srinagar, J&K —

Two ‘foreign’ militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed while a local militant surrendered after being injured in a gunfight with a joint team of government forces in Meej area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Friday.

The gunfight had started on Thursday evening when the militants were tracked down in Lalpora Chatlam area of Meej Pampore by the joint team of forces, including J&K Police, Army’s 50 Rastriya Rifles and CRPF’s 110 battalion, a police spokesperson was quoted by a local news agency.

“On a specific input regarding presence of (militants), a joint cordon and search operation was launched yesterday (Thursday) evening by Police, Army and CRPF in the area,” the spokesman said, adding, “During the search operation, the hiding (militants) fired indiscriminately, resulting in injuries to two civilians and managed to escape from the hiding spot.”

In the first instance, the spokesman said, both the injured civilians were immediately rescued and shifted to hospital for the treatment. However, one of them identified as Abid Ahmad Mir (22) son of Abdul Hamid Mir, resident of Meej Pampore succumbed to his injuries, while as the condition of other injured is stated to be stable.

“The joint team again tracked the (militants) and as their presence got ascertained, they were given opportunity to surrender. However, they again fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated, leading to an encounter,” the police spokesman said.

However due to darkness, the spokesperson said the operation was suspended and whole area was put under strict cordon. He added, “In the wee hours, operation resumed and in the ensuing encounter one of the trapped (militants) was killed. However, the opportunity to surrender was yet again offered to the other trapped (militants), as a result of which one of them laid down his arms and ammunition and surrendered in an injured condition during the live encounter and was subsequently shifted to hospital.”

“The bodies of both the killed militants were retrieved from the site of encounter, who as per reliable sources are Pakistani nationals,” a police spokesman said.

The surrendered militant has been identified as Khawar Sultan Mir son of Mohammad Sultan Mir of Drangbal Pampore. “All the three were affiliated with outfit LeT,” as per J&K Police.

IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar ‘congratulated’ the joint team for showing “utmost patience and exhibiting professionalism, which resulted in saving the life of a local misguided youth.”

The top police officer said that nine militants have surrendered during live encounters this year.

“We will continue to offer local militants’ the option to surrender during live encounters,” he said.

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(This news article is not for reproduction.)

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Is this startup the answer to India’s COVID-induced financial crisis?

Ever since COVID-19 hit, life has been hard for many. Financial difficulties are on the rise as the number of businesses shutting down and going into loss is at an all-time high. Simultaneously, people are losing their jobs and it is causing a lot of stress and anxiety among us.

Market Mantra Academy is one of the startups that is fighting hard to keep India afloat during this crisis. They are providing a 50% discount on their Stock trading training and analysis programs to help people with a legit and dependable stream of income from the Stock Market.

Market Mantra has become a household name in the Indian stock trading community within a year of its inception, thanks to the extremely unique strategies they developed which is helping 1000s of traders in the market to overcome emotional trading.

When asked about the reason behind starting Market Mantra, it’s founder and CEO Jashan Mohamed said, “Stock Market is the most powerful tool in this world to create wealth, Trading the market is a skill-set that can serve you perpetually if mastered well. In today’s scenario, more and more people are trying to find ways to build a legit form of consistent income so that they do not have to solely depend on their 9-5s. Trading and investing in the market is the ultimate way to serve this lifestyle.”

He adds, “Market Mantra is not a company with a get-rich-quick scheme, we are here to teach you a way to make money without sacrificing your whole day to do that, and still have plenty of time left to spend on working on your health, passion, relationships and hobbies. We are here to give you your time and freedom back.”

With such strong and confident words from the young CEO, it is evident why Market Mantra is standing a step above the rest in giving value and results to their clients.

At Market Mantra, mentorship is taken to a completely different level. Not only do they teach unique strategies created from live market trading experience, they are also known to provide lifetime access to their clients/students into their analysis center, where views and analysis about the market are provided daily.

When asked about the need for the life-time access, that too without any monthly payments and renewals, the CEO had this to say, “Trading is an ever-evolving skillset. What works today may not work tomorrow, so it is our duty to make sure our students are up-to-date with the current market conditions. This is why we give life-time access to our members in the analysis centre so that they can learn and upgrade their skills with the ever-changing market.”

About stock trading education, Jashan Mohamed says, “As long as you are with us, it will be a continuous learning and guiding process. Market Mantra is not just a firm that teaches you the basics and then pushes you into the harsh reality of trading. We are there for our clients every step of the way because going into the market with only theoretical knowledge is essentially the easiest way to blow up all your capital. We want to make sure that it does not happen to anyone associated with us, that is our mission. And the reason we are not charging any monthly payments for the analysis centre is that we are not here to exploit anyone, we are here to teach and guide”.

Market Mantra Academy is an education firm with ethics and value, and most importantly, a clear cut vision as to what they want to provide to their rapidly growing client base. Genuine companies are a rare phenomenon these days, and Market Mantra has definitely got that in spades. They are even providing a 50% discount on their services to help people better during these times of financial crisis. So if you are looking to get into the world of trading do check them out.

For more information, visit marketmantraacademy.com and visit Instagram.

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WHO is also considers nutrition labeling to be a key policy option for promoting healthier diets

November 06, 2020 (Washington): Researchers from Illinois State University, North Carolina State University, University of South Carolina, and University of Maryland published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines the impact of moving nutrition labels, typically placed on the back of product packages, to the front.

The study, to be published in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Competitive Effects of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling Adoption on Nutritional Quality: Evidence from Facts Up Front Style Labels” and is authored by Joon Ho Lim, Rishika Rishika, Ramkumar Janakiraman, and P.K. Kannan.
Can changing food packaging improve product nutrition quality? While this change may be simple, there’s a lot at stake.

Diet-related chronic diseases impose a growing burden on the United States economy by increasing costs of health care and widening diet-related health disparities. Since the 1970s, the American diet has shifted considerably towards foods higher in calories and lower in nutritional quality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, more than one-third of American adults are obese. Childhood and adolescent obesity rates have also skyrocketed in the last 30 years with one in five school-aged children considered obese. To combat this disconcerting trend, public policymakers, food manufacturers, and grocery retailers have made efforts overtime to design nutrition labels that can educate consumers about the nutritional value of the foods they purchase and help consumers make healthier choices. The World Health Organization (WHO) also considers nutrition labelling to be a key policy option for promoting healthier diets.

The packaged food industry has voluntarily taken steps to inform consumers about the nutritional value of food products so that consumers can make better choices. One such initiative undertaken by is the Front-of-Package (FOP) nutrition label. FOP nutrition labels are voluntarily adopted by food manufacturers and provide nutrient information on the front of food packaging in a clear, simple, and easy-to-read format. The FOP labels present the key information listed on the Nutrition Facts Panel (NFP; displayed on the back or side of food packages) more concisely and often include calorie content and the amounts of key nutrients to limit (e.g., saturated fat, sugar, and sodium per serving). In an innovative study, our research team assessed the effect of the introduction of an FOP nutrition label in a product category on the nutritional quality of food products in the category.

The study reports four sets of findings. First, the adoption of FOP nutrition labelling in a product category results in a significant improvement in the nutritional quality of food products in that category. Second, the effect of FOP is stronger for premium (high-priced) brands and brands with a narrower product line breadth. Third, the FOP adoption effect is stronger for unhealthy categories and categories with higher competitive intensity. Fourth, manufacturers increase the nutritional quality of products by reducing the calorie content and limiting nutrients such as sugar, sodium, and saturated fat.

Lim explains that “This implies that policymakers, in partnership with food manufacturers and retailers, should encourage adoption of voluntary, standardized, and transparent labelling programs and consider options for broadening the information presented in FOP labels. We believe that policymakers should also invest in educational campaigns that inform consumers about the value of FOP labels and that would further incentivize food manufacturers to offer nutritionally better products.”

The researchers encourage retailers to invest in measures that help monitor and track sales of products with FOP labels and provide this feedback to their manufacturers regularly to speed up the competitive effect of FOP labels. For consumers, the study finds that the brands that adopted FOP labelling offer nutritionally superior products than those that did not adopt the labelling. This result is particularly helpful for time-starved consumers looking to purchase relatively healthier products.

For food manufacturers, the results suggest that they must devote significant resources to product innovation to stay competitive. Specifically, manufacturers in unhealthy and more competitive categories can be more strategic and invest in innovation so they are ready to provide better products following FOP adoption. Rishika adds that “Food retailers should partner with manufacturers and give them incentives to adopt FOP because this can lead to better-quality products for their consumers and help build a positive brand image. Retailers can also promote products with FOP labels, especially in more competitive and unhealthy product categories, which can spur manufacturers toward more innovation and lead to an increase in the nutritional quality of foods over time.”

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