EDUCATION - The African Mirror

Feb

24

2022

Reimagining the Futures of Higher Education 2050

EDUCATION

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER IN preparation for the upcoming third UNESCO World Higher Education Conference, the University of the Futures Network (UFN), in partnership with UNESCO is organising a conference hosted by the University of South Africa (UNISA). The aim is to bring together global higher education experts and stakeholders to rethink and reimagine the higher education of the future. The focus of the conference is on the Futures of Higher Education, which is one of the 10 themes that will contribute to the WHEC 2022 theme on “Reinventing Higher Education for a Sustainable Future”. The organisers said: “WHEC is short…

Feb

22

2022

By The African Mirror

Uganda closed schools for two years – the impact is deep and uneven

EDUCATION

Uganda enforced the longest period of school closures worldwide – 22 months – during the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy was subject to scrutiny by many local and international organisations in view of the multiple challenges the country’s education sector already faced before the pandemic. Authors SIMONE DATZBERGER, Assistant Professor in Education and International Development, UCL AMIYA BHATIA, Assistant Professor in Social Epidemiology and Child Protection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine JENNY PARKES, Professor in Education, Gender and International Development, UCL KAREN DEVRIES, Professor of Social Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Studies of the predicted and…

Feb

15

2022

By The African Mirror

Deeper divide: what Kenya’s pandemic school closures left in their wake

EDUCATION

IN Kenya, the pandemic disrupted learning for 15 million students in primary and secondary institutions. Schools closed on 16 March 2020, were partially reopened on 19 October 2020, and fully reopened on 4 January 2021. Author BENTA A. ABUYA, Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center During the period of closure, the government committed to providing learning opportunities for children locked down at home through a variety of measures. Through the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, for instance, it began to broadcast lessons that could be accessed by households. It also sought to boost access to online learning platforms,…

Feb

08

2022

By The African Mirror

Nigeria needs more social science research: how to boost output

EDUCATION

Authors ABIODUN EGBETOKUN, Assistant Director, Research, National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) ADEDAYO OLOFINYEHUN, Researcher, National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) SUB-SAHARAN Africa faces some of the biggest challenges to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. For instance, Nigeria has at least 87 million people in extreme poverty. The country’s unemployment rate was over 33.3%, the second highest in the world, at the end of 2020. These kinds of challenges are the business of social science — the branch of science concerned with society and human behaviours. Social science research helps in understanding and developing solutions to complex problems including climate…

Feb

08

2022

By The African Mirror

Eswatini: how social pressures and poverty affect the ability of children to navigate school

EDUCATION

THE population of Eswatini (previously called Swaziland) is slightly below 1.2 million people, and about 58.9% of the people live below the nationally defined poverty line – living on less than US$1.9 a day. For years Eswatini has also had the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the world. In 2019, about 27% of the country’s population was HIV positive. Author NCAMSILE MOTSA, Post Doctoral Researcher, School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal One of the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS, coupled with poverty, has been the escalating numbers of vulnerable children in the country. For example, in 2012,…

Feb

02

2022

By The African Mirror

Jaap Durand: a moment to reflect on the chequered history of the University of the Western Cape

EDUCATION

Author JONATHAN JANSEN, Distinguished Professor, Stellenbosch University PROFESSOR Jaap Durand, who passed away on January 24, was appointed the first-ever vice-rector of the University of the Western Cape in 1980. These were turbulent times in South Africa. The momentum against apartheid was growing as workers launched strike action and students took to the streets in protest. The state, for its part, intensified its efforts to crush all opposition. One of the striking images being used on social media following his death shows him walking steadfastly alongside his protesting black comrades, including other leading academics in the anti-apartheid struggle. The suited…

Jun

22

2020

By The African Mirror

How Uganda is failing to help rural children learn languages

EDUCATION

MEDADI SSENTANDA AND ALLEN ASIIMWE THE government of Uganda introduced the mother tongue education programme with hope of improving literacy levels 12 years ago. But the training of teachers at colleges was not modified to match the introduced programme. In a recently published study we conducted in 2018 in three rural schools in Northern Uganda, Gulu District, we found that teachers complained about inadequate training in the mother tongue, Acoli. Teachers said they weren’t taught the local language as subject at college and this made them feel inadequate to teach in the language. This limited training affected the teaching of the learners’…

Jun

19

2020

By AMBER MILNE

Charity seeks to avert teen pregnancy surge with safe sex app in Sierra Leone

EDUCATION

AN international charity has launched an interactive sex education app in Sierra Leone as health experts warn the coronavirus lockdown could cause a surge in unwanted teenage pregnancies. During the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, a nine-month lockdown in Sierra Leone led to a jump in pregnancies among girls and young women as school closures and economic hardship increased sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as consensual sex. Ramatu Jalloh, Save the Children's advocacy and communications director in the country, said the app - which takes the form of an interactive game - aimed to help avert a repeat of that trend.…

Jun

18

2020

By The African Mirror

A big effort to invest in education will pay off in the long term for South Africa

EDUCATION

ROULA INGELSI-LOTZ AND REYER GERLAGH SOUTH Africa’s economy has consistently been a two-speed economy. It has one of the highest inequality rates in the world, characterised by gaps in opportunities for its citizens and by severe poverty lasting from one generation to the next. In the middle of a global pandemic, the debate is about handling COVID-19 while saving the economy, and less about promoting fast growth and future prosperity. Yet this is an unfair dilemma. Countries in good shape can more easily handle the costs of COVID-19. We see the pandemic as just one more factor intensifying the differences.…

Jun

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Lessons from Sierra Leone’s Ebola pandemic on the impact of school closures on girls

EDUCATION

IMRAN RASULProfessor of Economics, International Growth Centre POLICYMAKERS globally have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with tough measures. As a result of the risk and uncertainty caused by the virus, economic activity has contracted, hitting firms and workers whose activities rely on face-to-face contacts the hardest. Low-income countries with lower state capacities, including weaker health infrastructure and less data to inform policy, face an even more difficult balance between public health policy measures and their economic costs. That balance has been discussed a great deal. But an equally important aspect to think through is the potentially longer-lasting impact of…