Angola needs highly qualified staff

Secretary advocates increase in postgraduate staff

Angola needs highly qualified staff in the areas of agriculture and fisheries, health, engineering and technologies linked to civil construction, telecommunications and renewable energy to cope with its technological and scientific development.

That statement came from the secretary of state for higher education, Eugénio Silva, when he was speaking at a seminar on postgraduate studies, held this Thursday at a joint initiative of the Ministry for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, the European Union and Expertise France.

According to him, the postgraduate rate is still low for the needs of the country and such courses are expensive, inhibiting many graduates from opting for such a degree.

In order to address this issue, the supervising ministry provides 1,000 post-graduate scholarships per year to support candidates and increase demand.

This measure aims to increase the supply in the area of science and technology and to increase the access of women, fewer in postgraduate staff, promoting gender equality.

The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation controls 4,000 students, an insufficient number for the country's needs in terms of highly qualified staff.

This seminar aims mainly to present preliminary results of a diagnosis on the situation of postgraduates

Egypt donates biosecurity materials to Angola

 The government of the Arab Republic of Egypt has donated over a ton of biosecurity materials to Angola meant to help fight the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

The move is part of a broader initiative by Egyptian President, Abdul Fattah El-Sisi, intended to assist 30 African countries, as a contribution of the Arab nation fund to the response to the coronavirus launched by the African Union.

The initiative is estimated at more than Usd 4.0 million.

Speaking on behalf of President João Lourenço, the Angolan ambassador to Egypt, Nelson Cosme, thanked the symbolic delivery of the donation from fellow-President Sisi to help fight covid-19 in the country.

Ambassador Nelson Cosme on the occasion said this Egyptian leader’s move responds to the say that “it is in the hard times that true friends are seen.”

To him, President Abdul Fattah El-Sisi has showed once again his high sense of “being, solidarity and sensitiveness” towards the problems of his African brothers.

The materials that left Egypt on Friday will add to the Angolan government’s action and efforts against the coronavirus and show the high level of friendship and historical ties that unite the two peoples and governments, said ambassador Cosme.

The diplomat highlighted that the coronavirus is bringing a new order in the relationship among the States, showing that no country is self-sufficient in all spheres, being solidarity and cooperation a form of combat against the ongoing pandemic.

The consignment was handed over at Cairo International Airport, in the presence of the assistant to the Egyptian minister of Foreign Affairs for Regional and International Affairs, Soha Gentil, and of representatives of the plomatic missions of DRC, Namibia, Central Africa Republic and Gabon who also received a similar amount of biosecurity materials.

For her part, ambassador Soha Gentil, speaking on behalf of the Egyptian authorities, thanked the encouraging words of Nelson Cosme, and said President Sisi’s initiative is the expression of solidarity of the government and people of Egypt in the fight against a common enemy.

The whole lot comprises of face masks, gloves, protection glasses, uniforms, plastic boots, disposable syringes and several other items.

Angola/DRC Joint Defence Commission meets in Luanda

 A meeting of the Joint Commission on Defence and Security between the Republic of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo is due to take place from September 14 to 16 in Luanda, ANGOP learnt Sunday.

A press release from the Foreign Affairs Ministry states that the meeting aimed essentially to strengthen bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries, whose agenda would focus on analysing the security situation along the common border, mainly security measures to mitigate the spread of covid-19 along the border.

The programme includes an approach to measures to prevent and combat terrorism and illegal immigration, the location, rehabilitation and restoration of border crossings, and the analysis and assessment of incidents along the common border.

The meeting will also allow for the signing of several legal instruments, including the cooperation agreement between the interior ministries of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo on security and public order and another agreement on the movement of people and goods along the border.

A DRC delegation of experts will arrive in Luanda on Sunday 13 September, while the ministerial delegation will be in the capital on 15 September.

The meeting of experts, to be held this Monday, will be chaired by the Commander General of the National Police, Commissioner General, Paulo Gaspar de Almeida.

Yet on 16 September 2020, the meeting will have an agenda filled with relevant issues, with emphasis on the opening and closing ceremonies, where the opening and closing speeches will be given by the co-president and president, the Minister of the Interior (of the bilateral meeting), Eugénio César Laborinho.

Angola reports UN on reconciliation

Reconciliation among Angolans will be one of the issues that Angola will present before the 45th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), from 14 September to 6 October, in Geneva, Switzerland.

The presentation will be made by Angola's permanent representative to the UN office and other international organisations in Geneva, Ambassador Margarida Izata.

In this regard, the diplomat will take stock of the work carried out by the Commission for the Implementation of the Plan of Reconciliation in Memory of Victims of Political Conflicts (CIVICOP).

As a member of the HRC at the end of its mandate, Angola should also address issues related to the right to development, the rights of the elderly and women.

The new focus of political tensions, challenges and obstacles to the realisation of human rights in the most varied areas of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights will be topics to be discussed and analysed during the conference.

Special emphasis will be placed on the situation in Belarus, in the light of the dispute between some UN member states, which has been going on for some time.

Angola will participate for the last time as a member of the UN Human Rights Council at the end of its mandate, which began in 2018.

Covid-19: 53 new infections, two deaths and 12 recoveries reported in 24 hours

 Fifty-three new positive cases of covid-19 have been detected in Angola in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 3.388.

Speaking at the daily covid-19 update briefing Sunday evening in Luanda, the secretary of State for Public Health said two deaths and 12 recoveries have been reported in the country in the same period.

According the Franco Mufinda, the new positive cases of the pandemic have been reported in northern Cabinda province with four and 49 in the capital, Luanda.

The official added that the new patients with ages ranging from seven to 76 years include 43 males and 10 females.

The dead are a 45-year old Lebanese national and one 67-year old Angolan, both Luanda residents. The 12 recovered patients are all also resident in the capital.

With the new data, Angola’s covid-19 statistics show 134 deaths, 1.301 recoveries and 1.953 active patients.

Africa Educates Her Campaign with Sofonie Dala. Day 8

AFRICA EDUCATES HER CAMPAIGN IS LIVE IN ANGOLA

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries and all continents.

The risks to education are particularly acute for girls who are already behind and who may not have access to the resources they need to learn from home. A disrupted school year will likely widen achievement gaps between rich students and vulnerable students. Disabled girls and low-income girls are falling the furthest behind and have the highest dropout rates.

''Teachers, parents and caregivers are wondering what they can do to help students continue learning during COVID-19.''

For these reasons we have been interviewing girls and female teachers to help us to find solutions that can bring girls back to school safely. 

Today we invited Meury Dala to join our programe and give her contribution.

Meury is a 16-year-old Angolan girl, she complains that the covid-19 has negatively affected her student life. She has not been to school since March 2020 and her level of competition has dropped a lot.

She is no longer able to go to the media library or library, cannot interact with colleagues and teachers, nor is she able to study online because she does not have a digital phone.  Moreover, the internet in Angola is very expensive.

Despite everything, she signed up for a vocational training center where she attends classes in small groups.

She recommends that government officials and educators and development players should create conditions for biosafety, divide students into small groups, free distribution of masks and school supplies to vulnerable students, in order to ensure that all girls return to school safely.

Angola definitely must create distance and online educational systems. 

The coronavirus, which causes the disease known as Covid-19, has killed thousands of people across the world and upended the lives and work of billions of others still lucky to count themselves alive. 

Never before in the past century has a disease wrought so much human havoc and suffering and precipitated an unprecedented global health pandemic of unimaginable proportions.

So far, Angola’s covid-19 statistics show 134 deaths, 1.301 recoveries and 1.953 active patients.