body-container-line-1
25.10.2014 Africa

Current News On Students And Education In Africa Dubbed “Aasu Weekly”

By All Africa Students Union (AASU)
Current News On Students And Education In Africa  Dubbed Aasu Weekly
25.10.2014 LISTEN

Dear reader,
AASU WEEKLY is a weekly online compilation of Major Student and education news making rounds on the African continent. This initiative is part of the efforts of the Secretariat of AASU to disseminate information on student and education matters in Africa. We hope you will find it useful and be willing to contribute to its success by formulating constructive criticisms and providing information.

AWAAH FRED- Secretary General

FIRST EDITION/18TH -24TH OCTOBER 2014
1. BOTSWANA: Botswana Students Network:
Greetings from African Leadership Academy (ALA)!
ALA is looking for the most outstanding young leaders from across Africa to enroll. The Academy is thrilled to announce that the admissions application window for 2014-15 is officially open. The Academy is a world-class, pan-African secondary institution that aims to educate and develop outstanding students into principled and ethical leaders for Africa.

African Leadership Academy- Developing the next generation of African leaders!

Source: www.africanleadershipacademy.org
2. EGYPT: Egyptian students behind bars as classes resume.

Hundreds of Egyptian students are in prison, some of whom were arrested while participating in demonstrations on campus, while as many as a third of detainees were randomly rounded up, according to student groups and human rights organizations who spoke to Al-Monitor.

Ahmed Shams, a student of physical education at Al-Azhar University, was randomly arrested on Dec. 28, 2013, and is held in Abu Za'abal prison.

His mother told Al-Monitor her son was arrested in front of Al-Azhar student residences while he was on his way to attend his exam.

Source: Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/egypt-students-imprisoned-muslim-brotherhood.html

3. GHANA: NUGS swears in new executive
The newly elected national executive of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has been sworn in at the 48th NUGS hand-over ceremony in Accra. The nine-member executive, with Mr Prosper Dzitse as President, will serve a one-year term for the 2014/2015 academic year.

SOURCE: http://www.google.com.gh/url
4. KENYA
A British former teacher and charity boss “preyed” on Kenyan street children as young as six years old, picking them up in his car and sexually abusing them at home, a jury has been told. Simon Harris, of Puddle stone, near Leominster in Herefordshire, is accused of 22 offences ranging from rape and sexual assault of boys under 13 to indecent assault and attempted rape.

SOURCE: http://www.google.com.gh/url?
5. Lesotho: The Minister of Education and Training, Mrs. Makabelo Mosothoane, officiated Limkokwing University's ground breaking ceremony for lavatory facilities construction project for an underprivileged school in Lesotho. The ceremony was held at Molibetsane Primary School. The school is located in the outskirts of Leribe District in a small village where a majority of residents live in poverty. It has about 200 students enrolled, with no proper lavatory facilities, which is a health hazard to the students. Limkokwing University took the initiative to build the facilities for the School following a request for assistance by the Ministry of Education. The University's Faculty of Architecture and Built and Environment (FABE) developed the architectural structure, and the University will be spending up to M100, 000 for the construction of the facilities.

Source: http://www.limkokwing.net/lesotho/news/article/limkokwing_university_undertakes_facilities_construction_project_lesotho

6. LIBERIA: No Education Plan for 1.4 Million school aged children

Public and private schools were shut down in July, and no additional plan was provided on how children would continue their education. Nearly three months later, the doors of the 4,413 schools remain closed with no indication of when they will reopen for 1.4 million school-aged children currently without access to education.

Liberian children read a leaflet with guidelines to protect the community from the Ebola virus, in Monrovia, Liberia. Ebola's deadly grip on Liberia has forced education to fall by the wayside.

Read more on this at http://www.google.com.gh/url?
7. MOROCCO:
a) The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Lahcen Daoudi, declared that there is no alternative but to teach science in English in Moroccan universities. Lahcen Daoudi was a guest speaker at the opening ceremony of the first national conference under the theme "what language should health sciences be taught?" organized recently by the Moroccan Association for Health Communication.

Source: http://www.google.com.gh/url
b) The Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), scheduled to take place on November 19-21, 2014 in Marrakech, is set to organize a competition of Moroccan Student Innovation Challenge.

The competition aims to motivate Moroccan students' innovation and ideas, as well as encourage entrepreneurship.

The competition requires sending descriptive outlines of practical creative projects. Approximately 200 students will be chosen and given free access to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

Source:http://www.google.com.gh/url?
8. NAMIBIA
The Namibia Students Education Movement's (NASEM) Secretary General, German Jaezuruka is urging learners and students across the country to work hard and to pass with flying colours in their year-end examinations.

“I urge student across, specifically those in Grade 10 and 12 to work hard to prove to government that it is worth introducing free education at secondary level,” he said at the press conference on Thursday. This year the government introduced free education at primary level in all public schools across the country. It has further announced that it was considering introducing free education in all secondary school in 2016.

Jaezuruka is further urging parents to get on board in support learners especially during the examination period. “There are no more excuses of not having money. All you need to do now is to support the [learners and] students during examinations,” he says. Examination time is the hardest time for students. “Please make sure that students are well prepared” he pleaded and advised students not take free education for granted but to use it as a stepping stone in turning their lives around.

SOURCE: http://www.google.com.gh/url?
9. SOUTH AFRICA
The Science and Technology Minister, Naledi Pandor, says the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has illustrated how there is an urgent need to accelerate focused investment in research in Africa. West Africa is struggling to contain the virus that is devastating west Africa, with a death toll of more than 4,000 people, most of whom are from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Speaking in New York at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research's (CERN) celebration of 60 years of peaceful development Pandor said science has been a significant contributor to social development in many parts of the world, citing breakthroughs to eradicate diseases such as polio and smallpox as a result of drugs and vaccines.

SOURCE:http://www.google.com.gh/url
10. SUDAN: Female students from Darfur arrested and beaten in Sudan, says HRW (SUDAN)

The detention of young Darfur women studying in Khartoum has sparked outrage among activists who point to systematic discrimination.

Sixteen female students are being held without charge in Sudan amid fears that they could face the death penalty after the government accused them of supporting Darfur rebel groups.

The students, all from Darfur, were arrested in a police raid on their dormitory earlier this month.

SOURCE: http://www.google.com.gh/url?
11. SOMALI: Iraqi government granted scholarships for under and post graduate Somali students

The Somali Ministry for Culture and Higher Education examines on Monday three hundred and sixteen students for Iraqi scholarships concerning under and post graduate studies in Iraqi universities.

Duale Adan Mohamed, Somali Minister of Culture and Higher Education accompanied by his deputy, the Director General of the Ministry, Ismael Yusuf Osman, members of social affairs commission of Somali parliament visited the examination center in Mahamud Mire secondary school at Waberi district in Mogadishu.

The students who participated in the examination came from many parts of the country.

Source: http://english.alshahid.net/archives
12. SENEGAL: Founder of Project Bright for Senegal Ousmane Tounkara emphasized the need for innovative tactics.

Addressing donors at a fundraising event, founder of Project Bright for Senegal Ousmane Tounkara emphasized the need for innovative tactics that would improve education in Senegal. Despite government and international efforts, students continue to perform poorly on many standardized tests. Across Senegal, approximately 690 second-grade students were examined for proficiency in literacy. Twenty percent of students failed to read a single word correctly, averaging only twenty-two words a minute. Only five students were able to read and answer comprehension questions about the test material. Many educators believe that a severe deficiency of education in African homes has contributed to lower literacy levels in children.

Source: http://www.google.com.gh/url?
13. United Kingdom: landlords refuse to house student from Sierra Leone over Ebola fears.

A radio presenter from Sierra Leone who had been broadcasting a myth-busting show about Ebola in his home country was refused accommodation when he arrived to study at the University of East Anglia this month because landlords feared he may have brought the killer virus with him.

Amara Bangura, 35, from the capital Freetown, has told the BBC he was refused lodgings by two separate landlords who had been happy to rent him accommodation in Norwich until they saw his passport and found out he was from one of the worst-hit Ebola hotspots.

The broadcaster, who had used his weekly radio show in Sierra Leone to dispel myths about the disease, said he was devastated to be turned down.

SOURCE: http://www.google.com.gh/url?
14. SWAZILAND
As the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) hosted its 34th Graduation Ceremony yesterday with an impressive 18 percent increase in graduates, it was revealed that the country's highest learning institution is in a bad financial situation.

This has resulted in the university failing to attract high quality lecturers; it also cannot afford to buy learning materials and students are having difficulty paying tuition fees.

Further, the institution is unable to send its academic staff to attend international and regional conferences, workshops and seminars due to the financial challenges.

Those that are fortunate enough to attend have to pay from their own coffers.

These problems were reported to UNISWA Chancellor His Majesty King Mswati III by Vice Chancellor Cisco Magagula.

He attributed the challenges to the reduced money that government gives to the university as well as to the reduction of scholarships that government awards to Swazi students.

Source: http://www.google.com.gh/url
15. TANZANIA
BANK M in Tanzania has donated 80m in support of the Hassan Maajar Trust (HMT) second phase of its desk to every child campaign. Speaking to reporters in Dares Salaam, HMT Chairperson, Ms Mwanaidi Maajar, said in Dar es Salaam that a fund raising dinner is scheduled to be held on October 31 at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in the city.

She said during the annual event expected to be graced by President Jakaya Kikwete about, 500m is projected to be raised for buying 6,000 desks to be distributed to 20,000 public primary schools in eight regions.

Source: http://www.google.com.gh/url
16. ZAMBIA
The Youth and Sports Minister, Chishimba Kambwili, has maintained that government will not pay for the over 4,000 University of Zambia first year students because they only budgeted for 2,000 students.

Kambwili said there are many other things that government needs to do apart from education and wondered where people want the government to get money from.

“Government only budgeted for 2,000 students so where do you want money to come from,” Kambwili asked.

But United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema's adviser Douglas Siakalima said government only budgeted for one by-election in 2013 and two in 2014 yet several by-elections have taken place.

Siakalima urged the government to get a supplementary budget and pay for all the students.

And Siakalima said Kambwili was lacking deductive and inductive reasoning because he has not been to the University of Zambia where logic is taught.

Source: https://www.google.com.gh/url

AASU-Secretariat hopes that you will find it as a worthy reading material.

From AASU-SECRETARIAT

body-container-line