Education

As the 10th edition of UNICEF’s Progress for Children shows, this report card is mixed. For while we have made significant progress for millions of children over the last decades À“ reducing child mortality, increasing the number of children enrolled in primary school, expanding access to health care services À“ our efforts have left behind far too many adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19.

This media highlight analyses a feature story published by Malawi’s Nation newspaper regarding the adult literacy programme in Malawi. The article – published a day before International Literacy Day – highlights that lack of funding is a major factor halting the programme in the country. This media highlight critiques the article from a gender perspective.

While laws and policies were in place to ensure women’s success in various fields, South Africa’s academic landscape remains male-dominated with just three females serving as vice-chancellors of universities. Science and technology Minister Naledi Pandor decried this situation in her address to the Higher Education Resource Service Academy conference held in Cape Town yesterday.

Apesar da implementação de polÁ­ticas visando promover e manter a rapariga na educação, o quadro de desistência escolar da rapariga afigura-se ainda sombrio nas provÁ­ncias de Gaza e Inhambane, sendo uma das principais razÁµes apontadas para a manutenção do fenómeno os casamentos prematuros.

As raparigas são retiradas das escolas pelos seus pais e encarregados de educação e forçadas a casar com mineiros em troca de valores monetÁ¡rios, bens e cabeças de gado bovino para o pagamento de lobolo. Dados das direcçÁµes provinciais de educação e cultura de Gaza e Inhambane mostram que o fenómeno acontece com frequência nos distritos localizados no interior das duas provÁ­ncias

Mozambique, August 2012

Nearly 700 Mukaro High School pupils sneaked out of their dormitories early yesterday morning and walked to the district education office to protest against water problems and poor food at the school. Authorities at the Catholic-run girls’ boarding school were stunned when they woke up to find the dormitories deserted. All the pupils from Form One to Form Six walked 20km to Mpandawana Growth Point in Gutu in protest over food and water woes. They braved the chilly weather and marched from the school at 2am and arrived at the district education office at Mpandawana around 6am. When news filtered that the pupils had besieged the education offices, a school bus was rushed to ferry them back to school. The bus reportedly made several trips to and from Mpandawana.

Windhoek. La dernière tendance au sein des institutions universitaires ces jours-ci est que les étudiants et les chargés de cours s’échangent plus que des connaissances et de l’information. Des étudiants allèguent que certains chargés de cours sollicitent des faveurs sexuelles des étudiants en échange de meilleures notes par rapport Á  leurs cours. Qui est responsable de cette tendance qui dans une relation entre médecin et patient, est jugée contraire Á  l’éthique ?

The nine-year-old-girl who was forced to drop out of school and look after her two younger siblings is happily back at school. Nthabiseng Motlogelwa, 9, of Brandvlei in Randfontein, was forced to be a babysitter after her 15-year-old brother who was also expected to look after the youngest children left home

Vilanculo (Inhambane), 16 de Junho de 2012 – o nÁ­vel de educação no paÁ­s não é dos melhores, e para menores no distrito de Vilanculo, em Inhambane, a situação só pode piorar devido aos elementos do clima.
É que para menores como a Regina, uma rapariga de 13 anos, fazendo sol ou chuva, ir para a escola parece não ser prioritÁ¡rio. Por exemplo, hoje ela não foi a escola porque esteve a chover; a chuva em si não é o problema. O problema reside no facto de a sua escola não possuir cobertura, sendo que, quando chove não se pode estudar.
Mas o facto de a chuva impedir que a Regina não vÁ¡ Á  escola não significa que ela fica em casa. Pelo contrÁ¡rio, ela tem de pegar no bidão de Á¡gua, sair Á  rua e recolher a Á¡gua que se acumula em poços nas bermas da estrada.
Mas também nos dias em que não chove, ela atrasa ou acaba faltando porque tem de percorrer longas distâncias Á  procura de Á¡gua.

The latest “trendÀ from institutions of higher learning is that students and lecturers are exchanging a lot more than knowledge and information. It is ‘alleged’ by some students that lecturers are soliciting sexual favours from students in exchange for better academic pass marks in their respective courses. Who is responsible for this trend, which in a doctor-patient relationship is deemed unethical?

Sex-for-marks, often dubbed “Sexually Transmitted MarksÀ (STM) is a well-known phenomenon. The University of Namibia and Walter Sisulu University (Mthatha campus, South Africa) made the news in 2011 with the sex-for-marks scandal. Cases have also been reported in Malawi and Zimbabwe.