Africa Educates Her Campaign with Sofonie Dala. Today we have singers. Do not miss it! Day 21

 Africa Educates Her Campaign is on going. Nice covid-19 song

 Post-COVID education needs to rely on more sustainable and holistic measures that go beyond just accessing education, but also address the obstacles encountered by girls and young women in accessing quality education and completing the school cycle.

Today we have many guests in our programme. This instrumental group suddenly created a song for covid-19.

Lyrics

The corona will kill us, it will, it will,

let's get prepared  ... let's wash our hands with soap and water,

water and soap, wash your hands and use alcohol gel, just to clean your hands

and wear the mask whenever you leave your house

Let's protect ourselves from covid-19 because it is killing oh my brother!

Covid-19 is killing, oh my brother, run away from it and always protect yourself

Wash your hands with water and soap, wash your hands with water and soap ohh,

wash your hands with water and soap, put the gel just to clean your hands

Always fighting against Covid-19 !!!!!

Interview

We also have Laurinda, she will share with us how covid-19 affected her student life.

Laurinda is 17 years old and she is a student of 11th class, studying electronics and telecommunications. 

She says that the covid-19 pandemic has affected her in a tragic way, an unexpected separation from her colleagues and teachers, suddenly stopped studying and have been paralyzed for a long time.  Although this was a misfortune that happened, she did not stop studying. Laurinda has been reading various school books to keep  high her level of student performance.

Before schools open, the government must prepare comfortable conditions for students. Classrooms with few students, strict control of social distance and free distribution of biosafety materials, such as masks, soap, alcohol-gel etc. Recommended Laurinda.

Guiding principles to keep in mind

Everyone’s goal is to prioritize the reopening of schools as safely and as quickly as possible given the many known and established benefits of in-person learning. In order to enable this and assist schools with their day-to-day operations, it is important to adopt and diligently implement actions to slow the spread of COVID-19 inside the school and out in the community. 

Vigilance to these actions will moderate the risk of in-school transmission regardless of the underlying community burden – with risk being the lowest if community transmission is low and there is fidelity to implementing proven mitigation strategies.

University of Edinburgh Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program 2021/2022 for study in Scotland (Fully Funded)

 Application Deadline: October 30th 2020 

Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/3cQqrmK

The Scholars Program at the University of Edinburgh will provide postgraduate scholarships to students from Africa with great academic and leadership potential but few educational opportunities. 

Scholarships are available for the following postgraduate programs: 

MSc Africa and International Development

MSc Environment and Development

MSc Global Health Policy

MA Design for Change 

MSc Sustainable Energy Systems

MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation

MSc Finance, Technology and Policy 

MSc Food Security 

MSc Design Informatics

Requirements

Applicants must have graduated no later than September 2020

Applicants must be a resident and citizen of a Sub-Saharan African country. Applicants currently residing outside of this region for education reasons only can still apply 

Applicants must demonstrate a track record of leadership and service within their community

Applicants are able to present economic circumstances which show they lack financial means to pursue higher education in their home country or elsewhere 

Applicants must want to study one of the eligible degree programmes at the University of Edinburgh 

Applicants must qualify academically for admission to the degree programme of their choice 

Applicants should not have completed a postgraduate degree previously and should not be enrolled at a separate university while on scholarship 

Benefits

21 scholarships are available for the 2021/22 academic year, which will cover the full tuition fees and expenses for accommodation and maintenance.

Iso Lomso Fellowships 2020 for Early Career African Researchers (Fully Funded)

 Application Deadline: 15 February 2021 

Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/2Si3mjC

Iso Lomso means ‘the eye of tomorrow’ in isiXhosa: seeing towards the future, laying the foundations for tomorrow. The programme is aimed at African scholars who have obtained a doctoral degree within the preceding seven years and who hold an academic position at a university or research institution anywhere in Africa. Candidates should have established a research programme and have completed a post-doctoral fellowship or equivalent post-PhD programme. All disciplines are considered.

The main means of support is STIAS residencies. Residential periods will be agreed mutually between the fellow, his or her home institution and STIAS, and may vary between six weeks and five months per residency. A first period of residency will typically be of longer duration to be taken up during 2022, followed by two further residencies through 2024. While in residence fellows receive regular STIAS fellow support which includes:

an economy return flight;

comfortable accommodation within walking distance from the institute;

individual offices equipped with a PC, telephone and printer;

a monthly stipend for daily living costs;

access to the Stellenbosch University library (including electronic resources) and a high-speed internet connection;

participation in the regular STIAS fellows programme, including daily lunch, weekly fellows’ seminars, STIAS public lectures and social events;

a child care subsidy for fellows accompanied by young children while in residence.

World Bank Group Winter Internship Program 2021 for young Professionals (Paid Internship)

 Application Deadline: October 31st 2020

The World Bank (WB) Internship Program offers highly motivated individuals an opportunity to be exposed to the mission and work of the World Bank. The internship allows individuals to bring new perspectives, innovative ideas and research experience into the Bank's work, while improving skills in a diverse environment. In addition, it is a great way to enhance CVs with practical work experience. Internships are available in both development operations and other business units (such as Human Resources, Communications, Accounting, etc.) however, availability during a given internship term is based on business need. To access the application, please click the apply button, noting that only selected candidates will be contacted.

Requirements

To be eligible for an Internship, candidates must have an undergraduate degree and be enrolled in a full-time graduate study program (pursuing a master's degree or PhD with plans to return to school full-time). There is no age limit.

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of languages such as: French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, and Chinese is desirable. Other skills such as computing skills are advantageous.

Benefits

The WB pays an hourly salary to all Interns and, where applicable, provides an allowance toward travel expenses up to USD 3,000 at the discretion of the manager. These travel expenses can only include transport expenses (airfare) to or from the duty station city. 

Interns are responsible for their own accommodations. Driven by business needs, most Intern positions are based in Washington, DC with a few others in the WB country offices. Usually, internship opportunities are for a minimum of four weeks.

Click here to apply:  https://bit.ly/30tStzv

Covid-19: Angola reports 133 recoveries, 97 new infections

 Angolan health authorities announced Friday the registration, in the last 24 hours, of 133 patients recovered from Covid-19, 97 new infections and four deaths.

According to the Secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda, who was speaking at the usual update session, five recovered are from Cabinda province, one from Benguela, the same number from Lunda Sul, 27 from Zaire and 99 from Luanda.

As for the new positive cases, he pointed out that they involve citizens aged around two months and 69 years, 52 males and 45 females.

The Government official said that these were two cases diagnosed in Benguela province, the same number in Kwanza Sul and Huila, and 91 in Luanda.

He said that deaths were registered in the provinces of Luanda, with two, and the same number in Huíla, involving Angolans, one male and three female aged 42, 56, 57 and 80.

Angola has 5,211 positive cases, with 189 deaths, 2,215 recovered and 2,807 active cases.

Of the active people, 15 are in critical condition with invasive mechanical ventilation, 13 severe, 50 moderate, 125 with mild symptoms and 2,604 asymptomatic.

Health authorities follow 480 patients admitted to treatment centres in the country.

Covid-19: Angolans in South Africa cry out for help

 At least hundreds of Angolan citizens stranded in South Africa due to the Coronavirus pandemic Thursday launched a request for their repatriation.

The request was made during a meeting with the Angolan ambassador to South Africa Filomena Delgado.

"We are without solutions. We have children feeding very poorly due to lack of resources," they told the ambassador.

Most of them went to South Africa between February and March for health reasons and saw all their resources depleted and had difficulties in receiving remittances from Angola, six months after they had completed the Emergency and Disaster States decreed by the local authorities.

Among the group is Soraia Moreno, who underwent surgery in Johannesburg.

She considers that the situation is unsustainable because they are living on charity in order to get a shelter.

In this regard, Ambassador Filomena Delgado said that the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health and the Multi-sector Commission for Covid-19 were aware of the situation of Angolans in South Africa.

According to the diplomat, with the reopening of the borders a repatriation schedule solution will be found with the TAAG air carrier.

After the first repatriation of around 500 Angolans in July of this year, Angola's Consular Services in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town registered 900 requests to return to the country, including students, the sick and schoolchildren.

Angola's privately-owned schools authorised to levy 100% fees

 Angola's Public-private and private educational institutions have been authorised to charge 100 percent of monthly tuition fees, as from October 2020.

The move is part of the strategy of gradual return to classes in general education from October 5, after six months of suspension, as stated in Government Decree.

Angolan Government had ordered the suspension of charging the tuition fees in all public, public-private and private education institutions in July.

In April the Executive ordered the collection of up to 60 percent in private education institutions and up to 25 percent in public-private institutions (subsidised).

In a joint Executive Decree, reached ANGOP, the Ministries of Finance, Education and Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation once again authorise the collection and payment of 100 percent of the tuition fee in the referred institutions, during the period of classes defined in the readjusted school calendar.

According to the document, the charge is subject to the reconfirmation of enrollment by parents and guardians.

It determines that compensation should be guaranteed to students who have made advance payments for tuition fees during the period of validity of the State of Emergency.

It also requires that the total number of months paid for the academic year in question does not exceed 10 months for transition classes and 11 months for exam classes.

"It bans fines, interest on arrears and other financial penalties to students and guardians who have not paid the fees corresponding to the period of the State of Emergency up to the date of the face-to-face resumption of classes", states the Decree.

According to the new calendar, classes in the universities and the transition classes of the 1st and 2nd cycles of secondary education (6th, 9th, 12th and 13th classes) resume on October 5.

The students from the 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th grades return and in the 2nd cycle of secondary education are expected back to school on 19 October. Those in primary education and the 1st cycle start on 26th October.

With the classes divided into groups, in primary education and 1st cycle, classes will last for 2 hours and 30,  while in the 2nd cycle of secondary education 3 hours and 30, without taking any break.

Available data indicate that the country has two thousand schools (primary, 1st and 2nd cycle of secondary education), of which 666 are in Luanda. These have a 1.5 million  students enrolled.

Higher education has 57 private and public-private institutions, where around 200, 000 students are enrolled.

In general, the country controls 18,229 schools (with 97,445 classrooms operating in general education), with more than 10 million primary school students enrolled, 1st cycle of secondary education and 2nd cycle of secondary education .

The sector has 200,000 teachers.

The country has a total of 8 public universities, 7 public higher institutes and 57 private and public-private institutions.