EDUCATION - The African Mirror

Nov

18

2025

Hilary Savi pushes climate literacy into Africa’s classrooms “before it’s too late”

EDUCATION

HILARY SAVI has been shuttling from one meeting room to the next at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, her notebook filling quickly with ideas gleaned from panels on gender, education, youth, and climate adaptation. When she finally pauses beside a colleague from Argentina to catch her breath, the talk quickly turns to what unites them: teaching the next generation how to live with a changing planet. For Savi, a soft-spoken climate educator from Benin, the fight against climate change doesn’t begin in government halls or conference rooms. It begins in classrooms and churches, with children who still see the world as…

Nov

06

2025

By THULANI ANDREW CHAUKE

Social work is a serious profession – why not youth work? What South Africa needs to get right

EDUCATION

ABOUT 3.5 million South Africans aged 15-24 are disengaged from the formal economy and education system. In the first quarter of 2025, 37.1% of young people were not in employment, education, or training. These alarming figures highlight an urgent need for youth development. Interventions such as skills and entrepreneurship development are needed to expertly guide young people towards participating in the mainstream economy. Designing and running those interventions requires professional youth workers. Youth work is an emerging profession within the social services sector. It aims to promote positive youth development through young people’s voluntary participation. The expertise needed in this…

Oct

15

2025

By ANNIE ZULU, BIRD STORY AGENCY

How Zambia tackles school absenteeism

EDUCATION, MULTIMEDIA

AT 5:30 a.m. in Lusaka’s Matero township, 13-year-old Christine Zimba was already awake, putting on her school uniform in the dim morning light. Her mother, Judith Sichone, quietly swept around their home. There was no breakfast that morning, just a cup of warm water to fill the belly. At 6:00 a.m., Christine slung her school bag over her shoulder, waved goodbye to her mother, and stepped into the streets of Matero. She walked for thirty minutes to Mambilima Primary School. When she arrived on campus, she was a bit tired and hungry, but she was happy. The smell of porridge…

Oct

11

2025

By ISMAILA SANUSI

What do Nigerian children think about computers? Our study found out

EDUCATION

DIGITAL literacy is the ability to use digital tools and technologies effectively, safely and responsibly. This includes the use of smartphones and devices, navigating the internet and exploring coding basics. In an era where digital literacy is more important than ever, it’s essential to understand how young children perceive computing concepts. As a computer science education researcher, I led a team of researchers to study young children’s ideas about computing in an African setting. Our recent study sheds light on how children aged five to eight in Nigeria think about computing, including computers, the internet, coding and artificial intelligence (AI).…

Oct

07

2025

By ANITIA LUBBE

Universities can turn AI from a threat to an opportunity by teaching critical thinking

EDUCATION

ACROSS universities worldwide, a quiet revolution is underway. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, DeepSeek and Gemini are being used to produce essays, summarise readings, and even conduct complex assignments. Generative artificial intelligence is a kind of AI that can handle a variety of creative tasks in diverse domains, such as arts, music and education. For many university teachers, this raises alarm bells about plagiarism and integrity. While some institutions have rushed to restrict or support AI use, others are still unsure how to respond. But focusing only on policing misses a bigger issue: whether students are…

Oct

03

2025

By MAASAGO M. SEPADI and MARTHA CHADYIWA

South African students still don’t feel safe on campus: how protection can be stepped up

EDUCATION

STUDENTS at South African universities have to deal with a disturbing reality. They face the threat of violent crime, in particular gender-based violence. They also battle with substandard infrastructure – some of it life-threatening. And institutions aren’t ready to respond. We are academics in environmental health and public health. Our work examines occupational health and safety in educational environments. We recently completed a review of health and safety challenges in South African universities. We looked at public records, police reports, campus press statements, and national media coverage of violent incidents. We also noted infrastructure hazards reported at South African universities…

Oct

01

2025

By SIOUX MCKENNA

University ranking systems are being rejected. African institutions should take note

EDUCATION

THE Sorbonne University, founded in Paris in 1253 and known globally as a symbol of education, science and culture, has just announced that, starting in 2026, it will stop submitting data to Times Higher Education (THE) rankings. It is joining a growing movement of universities questioning the value and methodology of these controversial league tables. Ranking companies add together various indices that purport to measure quality. The indices include research outputs, the results of reputation surveys, the amount of money they receive in research grants and donations, and how many Nobel prize winners they have ever employed. Nathalie Drach-Temam, president…

Sep

26

2025

By ANDREA JUAN and ADAM COOPER

Graduated, now what? Survey of young Africans shows degrees don’t always land them a job

EDUCATION

STUDY hard, get your degree, and then step confidently into a stable, well-paid job. That’s long been the assumption about how to secure a livelihood: in neat, predictable stages. But it is increasingly out of touch with reality. Secure jobs are no longer guaranteed after obtaining a tertiary qualification. Up-to-date and reliable data on graduate unemployment in Africa is hard to come by. A 2014 British Council study estimated that nearly one in four Nigerian graduates (23.1%) were unemployed. In Kenya, the study said, it took graduates an average of five years to secure their first job. In South Africa,…

Sep

16

2025

By LIZÉLLE PRETORIUS

Chalk and talk vs. active learning: what’s holding South African teachers back from using proven methods?

EDUCATION

AS a full-time teacher completing a PhD part-time, I made a decision early on: do research that speaks to the daily realities of teachers and teaching. And so, the idea came from a lived experience – the day I asked one of my grade 11 learners (an A student) about the interpretation of a poem. His response? Ma’am, please just write the answer on the board so we can study it for the exam. I am sure that many teachers can relate to that request, which is typical of education framed by a “chalk and talk” approach. “Chalk and talk”…

Sep

12

2025

By MICHELE VAN ECK

South Africa’s student debt trap: two options that could help resolve the problem

EDUCATION

EDUCATION is widely regarded as the road to a better life. Yet the rising cost of tertiary education means many students can only go to university if they get financial aid, bursaries or loans. South Africa’s National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) offers students bursaries or loans which provide allowances for tuition and registration fees, books, travel and accommodation. But this type of funding applies only under specific and limited conditions. Many students fall outside its scope. Students who are not enrolled for a qualification that the Department of Higher Education approves, or who wish to study for a second…