News & Analysis: Education
“Effective Monday, January 18, all nursery, primary and secondary schools will be closed in the City of Kigali, the Ministry of Education has announced. The decision, which follows the upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the capital, has been taken to further contain the spread of Covid-19. Kigali has over the past days been the hot spot for the pandemic.”
“Millions of Kenyan pupils returned to school on Monday for the first time since classes were dismissed 10 months earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic. Mask-wearing students had their temperatures checked before entering school to repeat their lost academic year, in what was both a relief and a concern to their parents.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed economies and societies around the world, and in Africa the crisis risks reversing the governance and development successes of the last few decades.”
“Ibrahim warned that 2020 has brought not only the COVID-19 crisis to Africa, but also worrying signs about the state of governance on the continent. He reported that his foundation’s latest Ibrahim Index of African Governance report showed a decline in its measures of good governance for the first time in a decade, even alongside optimism about places such as Sudan that are undergoing democratic revivals.”
“When Kenya’s school closed, many children were left more vulnerable. Some local volunteers took it upon themselves to step in. Workshops have become central to the development of community-driven safe spaces where young girls can convene daily.”
“The principal of Heathfield High School in Cape Town, Wesley Neumann, faces a disciplinary hearing from today. He is charged by the Western Cape education department with misconduct after he refused to open the school during the COVID-19 infection peak.”
“For years, Ugandan have been reluctant to embrace e-learning, majorly due to big difference in students’ wellbeing and computer/data affordability, but this pandemic has fast-tracked the education system along the digital tracks.”
“I personally see children being turned back from school because they have no masks on a daily basis. This is a big stumbling block to their education.”
“The World Bank approved an additional financing from the International Development Association in the amount of $45 million to the Education Reform Support Project to support Cameroon’s efforts in promoting learning for all. This IDA credit will be complemented by a Global Partnership for Education grant in the total amount of $ 52.45 million.”
“Poorer countries face challenges similar to those of advanced economies, but more acutely because of greater inequality, large informal sectors and difficulties with sanitation and social distancing in cramped informal settlements. That goes along with fragile health systems which have, once again, revealed structural weaknesses during the crisis.”
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