Category: Literacy

Pope Francis is set travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan at the end of the month – a visit the pontiff had earlier been forced to postpone due to health issues.

Pope Francis will visit the DRC from January 31 to February 3 and then spend two days in South Sudan before returning to the Vatican. When the Holy See announced the trip, which was called off due to the pope’s knee ailments last summer, it said the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland would travel with the pope.

The pope will first travel to Kinshasa, where he will meet with the country’s authorities, victims of the conflict in the eastern part of the country and representatives of charitable organizations. Then he will fly to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on February 3.

Kinshasa, a large and impoverished city of more than 10 million people, is getting a face lift ahead of the papal visit. The apostolic nuncio in the DRC, Ettore Balestrero, said a huge effort is being made to ensure security and public order while the pope is in the country. It is the first time a pope has traveled to the country in 37 years and Balestrero said that for many people Pope Francis’ arrival is “a dream come true.”

In an interview with Vatican News, the archbishop said the main purpose of the DRC visit is “to awaken faith in those who do not have it and to strengthen the joy of those who do.” He added that “throughout the country there is an anticipation of receiving a word of consolation and also of healing of the wounds that are still bleeding, especially in the east.”

On Tuesday Pope Francis sent condolences to victims of the bombing of a Pentecostal church in Kasindi in North Kivu province in eastern Congo. Islamic militants claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least 14 people and injured more than 60. The pope originally planned to visit Goma in North Kivu but as violence continues to ravage parts of the province, that stop was scrapped.

Pope Francis has long desired to travel to predominantly Christian South Sudan but the unstable situation in the country had complicated plans for a visit. A peace deal was signed in the country in 2018, putting an end to a five-year civil war that killed 400,000 people but the nation is still reeling from hunger and violence.

Speaking at the end of Sunday Angelus prayers in Saint Peter’s Square in December, the pope made one more appeal for an end to the violence in South Sudan and asked for prayers for reconciliation.

Pope Francis expressed concern at the news of violent clashes in South Sudan. He prayed for peace and national reconciliation and an end to attacks. He also called for civilians to be respected.

In South Sudan, Pope Francis will meet with internally displaced persons and take part in an ecumenical prayer service at the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba, where he will also celebrate Mass on Sunday before returning to the Vatican.

Source: Voice of America

Following the recommendation of the Secretary-General, after consultation with Member States, the General Assembly confirmed Inger Andersen of Denmark as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for a further four-year term beginning on 15 June 2023 and ending on 14 June 2027. Ms. Andersen is currently serving her initial four-year term.

Before becoming Executive Director in 2019, Ms. Andersen was engaged in international development economics, environmental sustainability and policymaking for over 30 years. She served as Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature from 2015 to 2019. Prior to that, Ms. Andersen was Vice-President of the Middle East and North Africa Region at the World Bank (2011-2015) and Vice-President for Sustainable Development and Head of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research Fund Council (2010-2011), following a long career with the World Bank, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations focusing largely on sustainable development in Africa and the Middle East.

Source: United Nations

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This [coronavirus] one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. (Roy 2020)

This special issue of the Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE) is focused on education during pandemics. While the choice of topic for this issue was prompted by the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, history has been plagued by a long list of pandemics (see Table 1). Studies from around the world have shown the effects a health crisis can have on education. A recent example is the Ebola crisis in West Africa, which resulted in schools being closed for seven to nine months; the impact on school enrollment and dropout rates as the schools reopened was devasting. Recent evidence, including that provided in this special issue, suggests that COVID-19-related school closures have already left their mark.

Not only have they exacerbated preexisting inequalities—for example, students from the poorest and most marginalized communities have had the least access to remote learning technology—but the isolation caused by the closures has resulted in psychological trauma that will likely take years if not decades to overcome. The importance of these effects is reflected in the fact that at least four other journals have published special issues on education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies

PARIS— The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) urged the governments of its member States to increase support for teachers, warning of a deficit of 69 million teachers to provide universal basic education by 2030.

On World Teachers’ Day, celebrated every Oct 5 since 1994, UNESCO’s Director-General Audrey Azoulay called attention to a phenomenon that hits hardest in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Lack of training, unattractive working conditions, and inadequate funding are the factors that undermine the profession and aggravate the global learning crisis,” the official warned.

According to Azoulay, UNESCO has always placed teachers at the center of the struggle for the right to inclusive and quality education to contribute to the present and future generations.

She stressed that acknowledging teachers, on whom our children’s future depends to a great extent, is urgent.

According to the UN agency, more than 24 million teachers are needed for primary education and more than 44 million for secondary education to reach universal basic education by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal four.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Adenekan Ayomide had been attending the University of Abuja for two years when the lecturers went on strike in February. The 27-year-old undergraduate student hoped he would return to school quickly but immediately took a job as a taxi driver to pay bills.

Unfortunately for him, the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities has now clocked six months and Ayomide’s hopes of returning to classes anytime soon grow thin.

“Nobody is talking about school again,” said Ayomide, who said he is working more than one job and the budget he had for getting through university now looks unrealistic.

University strikes are common in Nigeria, which has more than 100 public universities and an estimated 2.5 million students, according to Nigeria’s National Universities Commission. The universities here have recorded at least 15 strikes covering a cumulative period of four years since 2000.

The latest strike, however, is biting harder on an education sector that is struggling to recover from a COVID-19 lockdown and an earlier strike that lasted for most of 2020.

No alternative means of learning is provided for students because “more than 90%” of lecturers in Nigerian universities are members of the academic staff union, according to Haruna Lawal Ajo, director of public affairs at Nigeria’s universities commission.

The striking lecturers are demanding a review of their conditions of service including the platform the government uses to pay their earnings, improved funding for the universities and the payment of their salaries withheld since the strike started.

Talks between the lecturers and the government ended in deadlock this month, dashing hopes of a compromise agreement.

Lecturers have faulted the government’s position, arguing that the government has still not provided higher pay for lecturers and more funds for the education sector which it agreed to in 2009.

If the government has not fulfilled a promise made in 2009 by 2022, how can it be trusted? asked Femi Atteh, a lecturer at the University of Ilorin in northcentral Kwara state who now works with his wife to run a food retail business.

“I just see ASUU (the union) trying to fight for the rights of its people. … Nigerian lecturers are far behind in terms of welfare when compared to others,” said Atteh.

Atteh said some of his colleagues are moving abroad for better opportunities and improved pay.

“Our situation in this country is just in a sorry state,” said lecturer Sabi Sani at the University of Abuja. After 12 years of teaching, Sani said his monthly salary is “not even enough to pay my children’s school fees.”

He said that when “more lecturers realize they can migrate, we will be left with unqualified lecturers to teach our children (because) all the qualified ones will run away.”

It is not just lecturers who are eyeing relocation for better opportunities.

Amidat Ahmed, a 22-year-old economics student at the University of Abuja said the strike has prevented her from getting clearance that would see her wrap up her undergraduate studies in the school because lectures are not available. She is now considering going abroad for a fresh undergraduate degree program.

“My life is stagnant,” said Ahmed who said she is working two jobs including one as a shoemaker where she is learning the skill to set up a business later in life.

It is a case of using the lemons to make lemonade, she said.

“Apart from this (learning the shoe-making trade), I don’t think I have done anything with my life all this while and it has been six months.”

Across Nigeria, students are looking for work to survive. Rent and other bills have accumulated, making things worse for many from poor backgrounds in this nation with a 40% poverty rate, according to the latest government statistics.

Some students’ financial situation is better when school is in session as a small proportion of the students get funding provided by nonprofits and government agencies.

After the latest round of talks to end the strike was unsuccessful, Ayomide remained on the roads as a taxi driver.

“I don’t have 5 naira ($0.012) in my account and I cannot go home because there is no money,” said Ayomide. His only option is to work long hours, he said. “Sometimes, I sleep at the airport or inside the car.”

“We just have to double our hustle and hope for the best,” he said. “This is the country where we are, so we have no choice.”

Source: Voice of America