Back to school after lockdown. Campaign with preschool children. Don't miss it! Webisode 24

Kids, school, and COVID-19

More than 1 billion children are at risk of falling behind due to school closures aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19.

Although schools in Angola reopened in early October, the Angolan government postponed the resumption of lessons in primary education (1st to 5th grade), the largest chunk of the education system. The postponement in the Primary Education owed to the increase in Covid-19 positive cases in the country.

Today we are taking to beautiful kids who are being left behind due to Covid-19 pandemic. They will share with us their experiences during school closures.

Interview with Tina

Hello, my name is Tina, I'm 12 years old and I'm Angolan.

The school has already reopened but I did not go back to study because the government did not create safe conditions against the pandemic for those in the 5th grade to study.

When the school reopens for us, I would like the government to provide Biosafety materials like gloves, masks, visors and alcohol gel.

I really want to go back to school, because as a student I have many things  to learn.

Tina was with us in the second part of Africa Educates Her Campaign. Do you remember her? Click here to see her first interview:https://she-leads.blogspot.com/2020/09/africa-educates-her-campaign-angola-day_19.html?m=1

Interview with Jenito

1. Introduction

Hello, my name is jenito, I am 5 years old, I am a 1st grader and I am Angolan.

2. Why did you stop attending school?

I stopped going to school because the coronavirus affected me and students.

3. Do you want to go back to school?

Yes, I want to study.

4. What are the necessary conditions that you want in order to return to study safely?

I want soap and water to wash my hands, plus alcohol gel, gloves and mask. Thanks!

Interview with Ivanilson

1. Introduction

Hi! My name is Evanilson, I am 9 years old, studying in the 4th class and I am Angolan.

2. As a student how did coronavirus affect you?

I don't go to school anymore, I miss my colleagues and teachers, I miss my friends. 

3. What are the conditions you would like the government to create to ensure your safety at school?

I want them to cement the school because when it rains my school becomes a beach. I also want the government to distribute masks, alcohol gel, gloves and other bio-safety materials.

4. Why do you want to continue going to school? 

Because I want to continue learning and not be illiterate.

To keep the world’s children learning, countries must implement remote education programmes. Yet many of the world’s children – particularly those in poorer households – do not have internet access, personal computers, TVs or even radio at home, amplifying the effects of existing learning inequalities.

Since July 2020, we have been conducting daily interviews with students, kids and teachers across Angola in order to make sure that all the students will return to school after lockdown. 

Link to signup form and pledge: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hGOHt-E0TDUBT_oNswL1I34ynB1FtLZLsq_m3HjEnDY/edit

Don't miss this opportunity to bring girls back to school. Join us!

Share your experiences learning / teaching during the school closures & the projects or initiatives you've launched to get girls back to school post # COVID19 in your local communities.

Visit my new channel to see all the activities https://she-leads.blogspot.com/

ANGOLAN PRESIDENT UNVEILS DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY

 Luanda – The Angolan President, João Lourenço, inaugurated, this Thursday, the Diplomatic Academy "Venâncio de Moura", with the capacity to train 1,800 specialists in diplomacy and international relations annually.

Located in the Kilamba satellite city, in Luanda, the academic institution, fully equipped  with  29 classrooms and its construction budgeted at US $ 16 million, is a donation from the government of the People's Republic of China, under the cooperation between the two countries.

The academy, whose construction was carried out in 19 months, includes nine buildings built in an area of ​​four hectares, comprising computer labs (with 28 computers each) and language labs (for 25 students each) and consular and protocol and ceremonial practice rooms .

It also has a library, dormitories for lecturers (with 23 suites) and for students (with 78 suites), designed to accommodate up to 234 trainees.

The complex has a field for the practice of indoor sports, a tennis court, a gym, auditorium and administrative and service buildings.

It also houses a medical post, a cafeteria with a capacity for 290 people, two protocol rooms, an industrial kitchen and two parking areas for 128 cars.

The facilities will be monetized by offering specialization courses at different levels, namely scientific production and consultancy services, as well as professional and specialty courses for public and private employees.

Transformed into a higher education institution in 2017, it was renamed the Higher Institute of International Relations “Venâncio de Moura”, offering undergraduate, graduate, training and retraining courses at various institutions.

The Diplomatic Academy “Venâncio de Moura” appears within the scope of the ongoing reform in the Higher Education subsystem, maintaining the curricular matrix centered on diplomacy and international relations.

COVID-19: ANGOLAN ACTIVISTS GO DOOR TO DOOR SENSITIZING CITIZENS

 Twenty activists, trained by the NGO People Development Aid for People (ADPP), will start in the next three months, to sensitize and mobilize communities, in the north-eastern Lunda-Norte Province, on a door-to-door basis, focusing on preventive measures against the new corona-virus (Covid-19).

The head of the non-governmental organization ADPP, Rosa Musonza, made mention that the awareness programme has the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and it is part of a project on risk and community engagement.

This activity, according to him, should also count on the involvement of the traditional authorities.

He added that the staff will be deployed in rural areas, markets, public roads and centres to inform the population about forms of contaminsation and measures to prevent Covid-19.

He informed that the activists will be subdivided into two groups to act in the municipalities of Chitato and Cuango, in a first phase.

The province of Lunda Norte has three positive cases, of which two are active and one is recovered.

 

COVID-19: ANGOLA REGISTERS 137 NEW POSITIVE CASES AND 89 RECOVERIES

 Luanda – The Health Authorities announced, last Wednesday, another 137 new infections due to Covid-19, 89 recovered and 4 deaths on the last 24 hours

According to the secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda, 44 were registered in Luanda, 43 in Cuanza Norte, 27 in Zaire, 16 in Huíla, 6 in Uíge and a Single case in Malanje.

The list of the new patients, in which ages goes around 4 and 74 years, includes 79 males and 58 females.

He went on to inform that regarding the four deaths, 2 were registered in Luanda and the other 2 in the northern province of Uíge, having the age of 16, 57, 60 and 68 respectively.

Angola registers a total of 12, 953 positive cases, with 312 deaths, 6125 recovered and 6516 diseased.

Among the diseased, nine are in critical condition, 12 severe, 170 moderate, 338 with symptoms and 5,987 asymptomatic.

The country's treatment centres provide treatment for 529 patients.

POLICE DENY DEATH IN DEMONSTRATION

 Luanda - The National Police (PN) denied last Wednesday night the occurrence of a death in the demonstration held by civil society activists, which was quashed by the authorities.

During the attempted demonstration, which was not authorized by the Government of Luanda, social media reported the death of a citizen, allegedly by gunshot.

A video showing a demonstrator wounded and sprawled on the ground was shared on different social networks, to support the rumour of the alleged death of a citizen.

Speaking to the press, regarding the protests, the provincial commander of the National Police in Luanda, Eduardo Serqueira, denied the allegations.

According to the official, the citizen who was said to have died is alive and undergoing medical care, in Américo Boavida hospital, in Luanda.

He informed, on the other hand, that the corporation did not use any lethal means to contain the demonstrators, the action was carried out with water jets, tear gas and bombs of moral effect.

The provincial commander of the National Police stated that in sequence of the police action, at least three citizens were detained, including a fugitive from justice who had an arrest warrant.

Two others were arrested for attempted arson at two fuel stations, in the Benfica and Pedro de Castro Van-Dunem Loy Avenue, whose actions were contained.

According to the official, other citizens were taken to areas far from the places of confrontation between the police and the demonstrators, to facilitate dispersion, but were released  afterwards.

Likewise, he confirmed the temporary detention of two journalists, released after due act of identification in a police station, with the authorities promising to return the personal documentation of the said media professionals.

He deplored the fact that the demonstrators tried to force a protest even after the ban by the Government of Luanda, underlining that the security forces will continue to work to maintain public order.

The demonstration was marked by a confrontation between the police and the protesters who set fire on tyres and used containers to block some roads.

The recent Decree on Public Calamity prohibits gatherings on public roads of more than five people, this being one of the grounds used by the authorities to quell the demonstration.

In addition to this reason, according to the Government of Luanda, some legal requirements on the part of the organisers were not observed.

In essence, the protesters tried to demonstrate against the rising cost of living and unemployment in Angola, as well as to require the government to indicate a precise date for the country's first municipal elections.

 

NEW 2,000 KWANZA BANKNOTES AVAILABLE AT ATMS

 Luanda – The National Bank of Angola (BNA) has announced the launch on Wednesday, November 11, of the new AKz 2,000 banknotes from Series 2020.

BNA said that the new 2,000 banknote, launched ahead of the celebration of 45th anniversary of National Independence, starts reaching users via automated teller machines (ATMs) across the country from Thursday.

With the picture of the first President of Angola, Agostinho Neto, the 2,000 kwanza banknote has the predominant green color, paying homage to one of Angola's wonders, Serra da Leba.

The new 2020 Series entered into circulation on July 30 of this year, with the launch of the 200 Kwanza banknote.

 

Biden denied key US intel briefings as Trump delays transition

 As President Donald Trump continues challenging the election results and delaying President-elect Joe Biden’s transition planning, a key part of US intelligence is being kept from the incoming president.

The Presidential Daily Brief (PDB), the ultra-secret daily briefing of the nation’s most sensitive intelligence, is a key part of keeping the president fully informed and, in recent years, the president-elect fully prepared.

In 2000, when the presidential election was still in legal limbo due to a recount in Florida, outgoing President Bill Clinton decided to let then-Governor George W Bush read the daily brief of the nation’s most sensitive intelligence.

Clinton was a Democrat and his vice president, Al Gore, was running against Republican Bush. Gore had been reading the so-called PDB for eight years; Clinton decided to bring Bush into the fold in case he won — and he did.

President Donald Trump has not followed Clinton’s lead.

Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford said on Wednesday he will intervene if Trump does not loop Biden in soon.

“I’ve already started engaging in this area … And if that’s not occurring by Friday, I will step in and push and say this needs to occur so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task,” Lankford told Tulsa, Oklahoma radio station KRMG.

He said Vice President-elect Kamala Harris also should be getting the briefings, which should not be a problem because she already has security clearances as a member of the Senate intelligence committee.

National security and intelligence experts hope Trump changes his mind, citing the need for an incoming president to be fully prepared to confront any national security issues on day one.

“Our adversaries aren’t waiting for the transition to take place,” says former Michigan Republican Representative Mike Rogers, who was chairman of the House intelligence committee. “Joe Biden should receive the President’s Daily Brief starting today. He needs to know what the latest threats are and begin to plan accordingly. This isn’t about politics; this is about national security.”

US adversaries can take advantage of the country during an American presidential transition and key foreign issues will be bearing down on Biden the moment he steps into the Oval Office.

Among them: Unless Trump extends or negotiates a new nuclear arms accord with Russia before Inauguration Day, Biden will have only 16 days to act before the expiration of the last remaining treaty reining in the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. Perhaps US spies have picked up tidbits about the Russians’ red lines in the negotiations, or about weapons it really wants to keep out of the treaty.

That is the type of information that might be in the PDB, a daily summary of high-level, classified information and analysis on national security issues that has been offered to presidents since 1946. It is coordinated and delivered by the Office of the National Intelligence Director with input from the CIA and other agencies. It is tailored for each president, depending on whether they prefer oral or written briefs or both, short summaries or long reports on paper or electronically.

Having access to the PDB could also help Biden craft a possible response to North Korea, which has a history of firing off missiles or conducting nuclear tests shortly before or after new presidents take office.

Biden has decades of experience in foreign affairs and national security, but he likely has not been privy to the latest details about how Iran is back to enriching uranium, or the active cyberattack operations of Russia, China and Iran. China’s crackdown on Hong Kong is heating up. And the threat from armed groups, although curbed, still remains.

Biden is trying to play down the significance of the delay in getting access to the PDB.

“Obviously the PDB would be useful but it’s not necessary. I’m not the sitting president now,” Biden said on Tuesday.

He was also asked about needing access to classified information as soon as possible if Trump does not concede the race.

“Look, access to classified information is useful. But I’m not in a position to make any decisions on those issues anyway,” Biden said. “As I said, one president at a time. He will be president until January 20. It would be nice to have it, but it’s not critical.”

While the Bush team had access to the intelligence brief in 2000, the election recount delayed the Bush team’s access to government agencies and resources for more than five weeks. Biden is missing out on all counts: More than a week into his transition, Biden does not have access to the PDB, the agencies or government resources to help him get ready to take charge.

“President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team should not suffer a similar delay,” John Podesta, who served as the White House chief of staff under Clinton, and Bush’s chief of staff Andrew Card wrote in a joint op-ed published this week in The Washington Post.

“We have since learned the serious costs of a delayed transition,” they wrote. “Less than eight months after Bush’s inauguration, two planes flew into the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000 Americans.”

The 9/11 Commission Report on September 11, 2001 attacks warns of the danger in slow-walking presidential transition work in general, not just the intelligence piece. The Bush administration did not have its deputy cabinet officers in place until early 2001 and critical subcabinet positions were not confirmed until about that midyear — if then, the report said.

For now, the office of National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe says it cannot begin talking with the Biden transition team until a federal agency starts the process of transition, which the Trump administration is delaying.

The office, which oversees more than a dozen US intelligence agencies, said it must follow the Presidential Transition Act, which requires the General Services Administration to first ascertain the winner of the election, which Trump is contesting. GSA administrator Emily Murphy, who was appointed by Trump, has not yet officially designated Biden as the president-elect.

____

Source: Aljazeera and news agencies