President Ramaphosa announced a “massive reading campaign” in 2019. It never got off the ground. The National Reading Plan was supposed to help provincial education departments improve literacy between 2019/20 and 2023/24. In 2022 the education department’s Director General triumphantly told Parliament that the plan had been implemented by all nine provinces. But we have […]
Tag: Children and Youth
It was a great relief to many, including students, parents and lovers of education generally when on June 12, 2023 President Bola Tinubu signed the Students Loan (Access to Higher) Bill into law. Those who have been following my weekly write-ups do know the premium I put on education. Education is the catalyst to all […]
Kigali, Rwanda — Somalia’s youth are facing a crisis. The country has been facing challenges in addressing youth unemployment, this means that millions of young people are unable to find work and are therefore unable to support themselves or their families. The country is one of the poorest in Sub-Saharan Africa, with most of the population […]
According to UNICEF, TaRL employs Words Formation (WoF) and Oral Additional Charts (OAC) for the children to write sentences, addition, and multiplication of numbers in various classes. Despite efforts by the government and other development partners, like the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), many more children in Bauchi State are dropping out of school. According […]
It has been reported in Liberia, especially in Monrovia, youth in communities such as ghettos and shanty structures, usually come out during night to hijack and sometimes burglarized homes. Most Monrovians called these youth, ‘Zogos, because they are so many like the caterpillars.’ (https://frontpageafricaonline.com/news/2016news/new-breed-of-criminals-liberia-s-pickpockets-known-as-zogos/) It has been reported that even President Weah has expressed concerns […]
Four Congolese minors were locked up together with adult inmates at Chikurubi Maximum Prison after their mother, an illegal immigrant was arrested in 2021 for not having proper documentation to stay in Zimbabwe. The details emerged after the children aged 11, 5, and 2 approached the High Court suing Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Commissioner […]
Like a wild fire, the latest outbreak of Diphtheria in Nigeria has spread to 105 Local Government Areas across the country, killing 453 children as of 24th of September, 2023. Diphtheria, caused by a toxin produced by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae, is a vaccine-preventable disease covered by one of the vaccines provided routinely through Nigeria’s […]
Mr Pate said that the ministry and other stakeholders had come together to aggressively tackle the diphtheria challenge that had persisted for months. The Coordinating Ministry of Health and Social Welfare says 98 per cent of children infected with diphtheria in 19 states were unvaccinated. The Minister, Muhammad Pate, made the disclosure at the Northern […]
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has challenged young people, both in Zimbabwe and abroad, to shoulder the burden of developing their country, emulating their forebears who liberated it and driving the developmental agenda. The President said this yesterday while addressing thousands of young people at Mushagashe Vocational Training Centre in Masvingo to mark the National Youth Day. February […]
“When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.” This African proverb resonates with the values passed on to me by my parents and guides my determination to drive change in the region through the education and empowerment of girls and women. Adolescence is a critical tipping point in the lives of many girls. Decisions […]
The report noted that in 2020, 788 women and children died ‘per thousand’ in India and 540 women and children ‘per thousand’ died in Nigeria. A new report has shown that Nigeria accounts for the second-highest number of maternal and child deaths globally. The report, which was titled: ‘Improving maternal and newborn health and survival […]
Many commentators, especially on social media, accused JAMB of being the judge in its own court, querying where the examination body derived the power to wield such a big stick. When on 2 July the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in a statement accused a candidate who sat its 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination […]
Mbude is now Deputy Director-General for Special Projects including African language education, seen by many as a key to improving child literacy The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study reports that 81% of grade four learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning in their home language. There are stark differences among languages in […]
Manica, Mozambique — Sitting on a bench in the courtyard of Madzicuera Secondary School, teachers Flora Senguaio and Eugénio Francisco discuss how they work with their students to eliminate violence at school and to prevent students dropping out due to child marriage. Globally, women, girls and adolescents are exposed to several forms of violence that […]
Dr Juli Switala from Pretoria has treated children in Nigeria, helped fatally ill patients during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, and has delivered babies at Afghanistan’s Khost Maternity Hospital against a backdrop of upheaval and violence. These were some of her duties as an infectious diseases paediatrician for humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières […]
CCTV good for security, not sure on sexual harassment – Don President assenting to Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill will curb the tide – GMI Some of Nigeria’s higher institutions of learning have recently been enmeshed in accusations and counter accusations of sexual harassment between lecturers and students. This act, which stands condemned, has led to many […]
Elmina, Central Region – Noami Mansah Anim was just six years old when she died. The little girl had battled asthma for years, her tiny body wracked by the struggle to get air into her lungs. On a cold dawn morning in 2019 she finally succumbed. Her mother Abena Anim is still overwhelmed with grief. […]
Every day, a small group of women make their way through the community of Sweetwaters, near the South African city of Pietermaritzburg, with bags of toys and books. They work as home mentors supporting families who signed up for an early childhood development intervention. They swap puzzles and stories and provide resourceful activities for children […]