EDUCATION - The African Mirror

Oct

2023

The very long journey of Dalab Zimba, headteacher

WHEN the COVID-19 pandemic struck his rural community, Dalab Zimba, the headmaster of a local private school knew that if his students did not pass the year, his school would fail financially. So he came up with a novel, if extreme, measure to keep his students up to date. Lacking the infrastructure needed to apply remote learning via the Internet, he simply used himself as the network. Masked and remaining outdoors, Zimba would visit the school's students one by one, walking vast distances across the countryside in northeastern Zambia to distribute teaching materials and ensure that they were able to…

Oct

2023

By The African Mirror

History teaching in South Africa could be vastly improved – if language skills were added to the mix

EDUCATION

IN recent years there’s been growing recognition among education experts that integrating content and language learning is key to promoting comprehensive academic achievement. This is particularly relevant in multilingual education systems where English serves as the primary medium of instruction. NHLANHLA MPOFU, Chair- Curriculum Studies, Stellenbosch University So, in 2013, South Africa’s Department of Basic Education, which is responsible for primary and secondary education, set out to enhance academic performance through a strategy called English Across the Curriculum. This approach involves integrating language skills in content subjects such as history. Language skills include listening and speaking; reading and viewing; writing…

Sep

2023

By The African Mirror

Akan folklore contains ancient wisdom that could benefit Ghana’s western-style education system

EDUCATION

PHILOSOPHIES of education serve as frameworks for producing lifelong learners and a knowledgeable and skilled human workforce who develop their societies. Ghana’s education system currently favours a western educational philosophy, relegating its indigenous philosophies to the back burner. SAMUEL AMPONSAH, Associate Professor, Open Distance Learning, University of Ghana I am an academic in the field of curriculum studies. In a recent paper, I argue that education in Ghana needs to incorporate more elements based on an authentic Ghanaian framework. Based on the view that education, culture and development should be connected, I highlight the educational strengths of African folklore. I…

Sep

2023

By The African Mirror

How well you do at school depends on how much your teachers know: insights from 14 French-speaking countries in Africa

EDUCATION

COUNTRIES in sub-Saharan Africa have made remarkable progress towards reaching universal school enrolment in the past 25 years. Across the region, 8 in 10 children of primary school age are now enrolled in school, and in countries such as Benin and Madagascar, this figure stands at almost 10 in 10 children. JAN BIETENBECK, Associate Professor of Economics, Lund University However, it is becoming increasingly clear that many children in the region are learning very little in school. This “learning crisis” means that it will be difficult to reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of quality education for all by…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Sign language is set to become official in South Africa – how this will help education in schools for the Deaf

EDUCATION

SOUTH African Sign Language is set to become the country’s 12th official language. Parliament approved a constitutional amendment in a bid to “promote the rights of persons who are deaf (sic) and hard of hearing”. CLAUDINE STORBECK, Professor and Founder of the Wits Centre for Deaf Studies, University of the Witwatersrand Claudine Storbeck, founder and director of the Wits Centre for Deaf Studies at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, explains what the move could – and should – mean for Deaf education in the country. What is the educational environment today for Deaf learners in South Africa? There are…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Tanzanian students who struggle with English feel bullied – a major barrier to learning

EDUCATION

IN many postcolonial contexts, early learning is conducted, and assessed, in a language that is unfamiliar to learners. About 40% of the world’s population cannot access schooling in a language that they understand and that is regularly used in their communities. This figure may be as high as 80% in sub-Saharan Africa. Language policies in some countries preserve a role for the mother tongue or other familiar local languages in the first years of schooling. This is the case for example in Kenya, Botswana and Ethiopia. In Tanzania, the national language – Kiswahili – is the language of instruction in…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Kenya’s budget doesn’t allocate funds for new education initiatives – this will stall innovation in the country

EDUCATION

PRESIDENT William Ruto’s first budget for Kenya sets no education priorities. The Finance Bill 2023 doesn’t make it clear what Kenya is trying to achieve – stronger foundational learning, technical and vocational skills, or innovation. Author MOSES NGWARE, Senior Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center This is despite the importance placed on deepening technical capacity to drive economic growth, and education reforms spelt out in the official policy. This also comes against the backdrop of a political campaign promise to “bridge current teacher shortage gap of 116,000 within two financial years”. The allocation to education in the 2023/24…

May

2023

By BIRD STORY AGENCY

Closing the Divide: Virtual universities transforming higher education in Africa

EDUCATION

WEST Midlands Open University (WMOU) is Nigeria's first private virtual institution to "go live", part of a wave of openings that is sweeping the continent. The country's National University Commission granted Lagos-based WMOU the green light to offer degree programs virtually. According to Adebayo Akande, the institution's founder, "WMOU will catalyse national development and global competitiveness by utilising sustainable technologies and high-quality programs to provide training and education." On a continent where smartphone adoption and affordable internet access is changing lives, education startups and institutions are capitalising on these advancements in communications to bring tertiary education to both urban and…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

It’s important to rethink the purpose of university education – a philosopher of education explains why

EDUCATION

MOST philosophers of education or philosophically inclined scholars of education in the past century and a half would agree with the claim that, ideally, education should be the practice of freedom. That is, it ought to cultivate the ability to intelligently decide how we want to shape our lives. The aim of education should be to foster human autonomy. Author PEDRO TABENSKY, Director, Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics, Rhodes University I’m thinking here of a diverse array of scholars. Among them are some of the most influential philosophers of education and educational theorists of the 20th century: the American…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Remote teaching in Nigeria and South Africa got a COVID wake-up call – how to capitalise on it

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITIES had to deal with many anxieties and uncertainties during the early days of the COVID pandemic. One of these was how to move all of their teaching online. For some, the process was fairly simple as they had already been offering blended online and in-person lessons. Authors MPHO-ENTLE PULENG MODISE, Lecturer, University of South Africa GEESJE VAN DEN BERG, Commonwealth of Learning Chair in ODL for Teacher Education and Full Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies, University of South Africa But many were caught on the wrong foot. We wanted to know how the pandemic had affected training…