Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap six students, three teachers in southwest

Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap six students, three teachers in southwest

GUNMEN in Nigeria kidnapped six students and three teachers from a school in southwestern Ekiti state on Monday night, the state government said, in the country's first reported abduction involving school children this year. Armed gangs have been abducting villagers, road travellers and students in return for ransom, as Africa's most populous nation grapples with widespread insecurity, which also includes a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast. The Ekiti state government said in a statement the latest abduction took place when the students and teachers were returning from a local trip on Monday night. The school bus driver was also…
Read More
Solar backpack transforming school children’s lives in Eswatini

Solar backpack transforming school children’s lives in Eswatini

14-YEAR-OLD Xolile Masango from Macetjeni in eastern Lubombo in the kingdom of Eswatini wants to be a doctor when she grows up to treat her sickly father. She also wants to be able to provide healthcare to her community. Born into a family of three children, her parents make a living from ploughing and weeding the local fields, but their combined wages aren't enough to put food on the table, let alone buy electricity. Masango is one of many Swati girls who can't study after dusk and are therefore less likely to graduate and get jobs that can help pull…
Read More
This edtech startup is helping rural schools overcome tech integration barriers in classrooms

This edtech startup is helping rural schools overcome tech integration barriers in classrooms

AT a chief's camp in Lokichogio, North West Kenya, various school children have gathered to observe microorganisms with pocket-size foldable microscopes. This is the first time these children are seeing and using microscopes. Barely 30 km from the South Sudan border, this semi-arid area inhabited by pastoral communities usually has limited access to learning innovations. "Since access to microscopes in this region is difficult, we introduced these foldable microscopes which can fit in pockets. The children can go to the fields with them," explained Patrick Njoroge, co-founder of Edutab. Edutab Africa is an edtech startup founded in 2018 to provide…
Read More
Pushed out of school, into domestic work

Pushed out of school, into domestic work

JORDAN MAYENIKINI EVERY Sunday, Rachel is allowed a few hours off work to go to church - her only moment of respite in a week she spends cooking, sweeping and washing clothes and dishes for a family of seven in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital. But when the 16-year-old's employer failed to pay her salary, she sacrificed one morning's prayers to learn about her rights at a training organised by Together For the Rule of Law, a local charity that supports domestic workers. "I have learned ... that it is not good for us minors to work," Rachel,…
Read More
Kids with a desk and a quiet place to study do better in school, data shows

Kids with a desk and a quiet place to study do better in school, data shows

ASK what students need to learn at home, and the answer often involves access to Wi-Fi or a digital device. For example, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 sets aside US$7.1 billion to support access to high-speed internet for schools and libraries. DAVID RUTKOWSKI, Associate Professor of Education Policy, Indiana University DIRK HASTEDT, Executive Director IEA, Indiana University What often gets overlooked is whether kids have a desk at home or a quiet place to study. As researchers who focus on education policy and how students perform on standardized tests, we decided to take a closer look – on…
Read More
Spurred by COVID-19, African schools innovate to close learning gap

Spurred by COVID-19, African schools innovate to close learning gap

NELLIE PEYTON and KIM HARRISBERG IN rural Sierra Leone, teenagers tuned into solar-powered radios for their lessons, while Kenyan students texted a code to receive free learning guides on their phones. As COVID-19 shut Africa's schools, governments and charities rushed to make learning accessible to millions of pupils without internet or even electricity, sparking innovations that could keep children learning long after the pandemic has passed. "The situation... pushed all the governments and education ministries to think in a different way," said Elena Locatelli, an advisor on education in emergencies at the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. In a matter of…
Read More