Yearning for Learning: 7 Lessons from Western and Central Africa
Washington, January 20, 2023 – Success for young girls in West and Central Africa like in the story of Ama starts in primary school where good teachers and good conditions can help them focus on learning. Providing training and resources for teachers, having regular learning assessments, but also good roads to facilitate school transport, clean water and toilets at school, and school feeding programs are proven interventions to help improve learning outcomes.
As the World celebrates International Education Day, investing in young people and making education a priority matter more than ever. Here are seven key lessons from Western and Central African countries from the regional education strategy to help girls and boys get ready to learn, acquire real knowledge, and enter the job market with the right skills to become productive and fulfilled citizens:
1 – Recognize previous gains
Average net primary school enrollment in Western and Central Africa is close to universal, rising from 50% in the 1990s to nearly 90% today. Secondary enrollment in the last decade more than doubled to a current average of 55%.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the education crisis in the region and millions of children could not go to school or access distance learning, significant efforts have been made in educating young African girls and boys over the last decades. But there is more to do to further advance education reforms.
“With close to universal access in the primary cycle, the progress made is dazzling. However, we should not lose sight of the fact that this success is relative, as it is more quantitative than qualitative. There still is a long way to go,” says World Bank Regional Vice-President for Western and Central Africa Ousmane Diagana.
2 – Transforming Education = Addressing Learning Poverty
Despite progress, 8 out of 10 children in Western and Central Africa are unable to read and understand a simple text by the age of 10, and more than 32 million children remain out of school – the largest share of all regions worldwide. Weak foundations in childhood continue into adulthood: heavy school drop-out, limited social advancement, and a low-qualified workforce are the consequences of learning poverty. Transforming education means the government taking action to end learning poverty
3 – Leadership for impact: Countries learn from their own experiences
Tackling the learning crisis requires strong leadership, better implementation, and more investments in high-impact interventions, including a whole-of-society and government approach. Governments can learn from such interventions, expand, and adapt them to local contexts.
In Chad, a mobile payment system for the remuneration of community teachers improved their attendance record, while enhancing their commitment. In Mauritania, the establishment of school management committees increased parent involvement. Mali increased secondary school enrollment 2.5 times since 2000 thanks to a dynamic public-private partnership model. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sierra Leone offered free lessons through radio, television, phones, and online. In Senegal, the Improving Quality and Equity of Basic Education project has helped Koranic schools, or daaras, provide foundational skills to pupils. In addition, the Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence project is training post-graduate students and scaling up research capacity and regional collaboration in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, to address the widespread skills shortages.
These examples show that countries can take action and turn this learning crisis into an opportunity for building a better future.
4 – For the Sahel region, education offers a path to shared prosperity and peace.
Education is a key driver of stability, social cohesion, and peace. In the face of growing uncertainty, young people live in areas where climate shocks prevent them from farming as they did before, and many turn to the call of the terrorists. Empowering the youth with the right skills and giving them job opportunities is essential to realize their full potential and ensure social justice for all. The Sahel countries and partners, such as the Sahel Alliance, are taking important steps to roll out an education roadmap as a game-changer over the next 10 years.
In the 2021 Nouakchott declaration, the G5 leaders committed to developing innovative policies to improve quality education by boosting support to teachers and increasing education expenditure beyond the 3 percent of GDP currently allocated to this area.
5 – Harness the power of technology
Technology can play a crucial role in providing new and innovative forms of support to teachers, students, and the broader learning process while also enhancing the equity, quality, resiliency, and efficiency of education systems.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, millions of students were affected by school closures. In Nigeria, Edo state saw an opportunity to further the development of its digital education drive and used WhatsApp, among other platforms, to organize e-classes. Through its EdoBEST initiative, more than 11,000 teachers received rigorous training and 7,000 virtual classrooms were created, in a whole system reform to leverage modern digital technologies backed by science to improve teaching and learning processes.
6 – Putting young people first
“Putting our young people first is at the heart of our work. Even before the pandemic, the world was already experiencing a learning crisis. The future of any society lies in its ability to provide its children and youth with the tools and opportunities to flourish, and to contribute to the development of the country,” said Ousmane Diagana.
The #YouthActOnEDU Spoken Word Competition mobilized youths on the Education matter and showcased the importance of education and access to quality learning. Meet, watch, and listen to the winners from across the AFW region.
7 – A strong political commitment
Leaders from across Western and Central Africaendorsed the Accra Urgent Call for Action on Education in June 2022 to meet ambitious targets with a focus on :
helping 30 million children to read by 2030;
ensuring that 12.5 million more adolescent girls are in school by 2030;
training 3.7 million more young adults in foundational skills by 2025;
ensuring that 1 million more youth acquire digital skills by 2025, of whom 60% are expected to obtain better jobs.
Source: World Bank
Call for reinforced participation in teaching-learning process
Ambassador Abdellas Musa, Governor of Anseba Region, called for reinforced participation and contribution of the community in the development of teaching-learning process.
At the occasion organized on 16 January to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Fireselam School in Mihlab, Ambassador Musa said that strengthening participation in the development of teaching-learning process attests to the growing awareness of the public on the importance of education.
Mr. Kiflai Andemicael, head of the Ministry of Education branch in the region, on his part congratulating for the semi-centennial anniversary of the school called for reinforced effort for better outcome.
Fireselam School that was established in 1972 has been promoted to junior school in 2001/2002 academic year and to High school in 2022/2023 academic year and is providing educational service to 1 thousand 382 students.
At the occasion exhibition depicting the history and journey of the school was staged and the former students and teachers of the school presented their memory during their stay in the school.
Mihlab, Geleb sub-zone, is located about 48 km east of Keren city.
Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea
A million years old three Species of Pigs from the Site of Buia (Eritrea)
According to modern studies, the origin of the family of pigs is known to be from Asia, and later they appeared in Africa around 21Ma, and around 16.5Ma arrived in Europe and China. Some species are also believed to be evolved in the Indian Subcontinent and dispersed around 13.8Ma to Eurasia. To date, the oldest evidence of the subfamily is known from Early Miocene, and the youngest in the early Late Miocene age, documenting a range from about 20 to 9M.
Pigs are intelligent and adaptable animals. They occupy a unique role in several ecosystems, being large and mostly omnivorous mammals.
They are known since the late Eocene in Asia and they are present in the wild across the Old World. They have been important to human populations as a source of food, became domesticated early during the Neolithic and since then have been introduced worldwide. Diseases and parasites carried by wild pigs are also an important focus of socioeconomic and public health studies. In addition, some wild pigs are also critically endangered and a focus of biodiversity conservation studies.
The late part of the evolutionary history of the pigs is relatively well known owing to a relatively rich fossil record, notably in the Neogene (a geologic period starting 23.03 million years ago to 2.58 million years ago) of Eurasia. This record includes some of the best-known and most remarkable evolutionary trends among mammals. Several studies documented rapid morphological changes of dentition through time that is, increases in length, height, and complexity of the third molars and reduction of the premolars and incisors; in several lineages of African Neogene pigs. These include: Nyanzachoerus- Notochoerus, Metridiochoerus, and Kolpochoerus (extant Phacochoerus and Hylochoerus) are phylogenetically nested within the two latter genera, respectively. These lineages comprise overall about 25 species that are often abundantly represented in different Plio-Pleistocene African sites.
Those rapid morphological changes, notably used in biostratigraphic studies, can potentially be correlated to known environmental changes and are thought to illustrate the transition from omnivorous diets to more herbivorous ones through adaptation by natural selection.
They have been found to be a powerful tool for biochronological correlation because of their progressive craniodental morphology that indicates a rapid process of speciation and evolution
Shreds of evidence of three species of fossil pigs have been documented from the Buia Basin dating to about 1.0 million years.
The fossil specimens of extinct pigs were collected during the last two decades of field survey at the late Early Pleistocene sites of the Buia Basin, directed by the Eritreo-Italian research team. Specimens were collected from the surface and are currently housed at the paleontological laboratory of the National Museum of Eritrea (NME), in Asmara. These species are scientifically classified as: Kolpochoerus olduvaiensis, Kolpochoerus majus, and Metridiochoerus modestus. They are morphologically evolved and are found in association with a diverse large fossil vertebrate faunal assemblage, including our genus Homo and a rich accumulation of acheulean lithic tools.
The anatomic, biometric, morphometric, and dental microwear analyses among the species, show significant data on dietary traits, habitat, and evolutionary changes.
Our microwear study involves the analysis of teeth of the three fossil pig species from the Buia Basin in order to answer questions concerning their life and diet. Teeth play a fundamental role during an animal’s life and come in many shapes and sizes for chewing food. A typical mammal tooth includes two parts: a crown and one or more roots. The crown is covered by a layer of dentine, overlain by enamel, while the root is coated with cementum.
In order to understand the paleoecology and dietary habits of the extinct pigs, we used an innovative technique known as Dental Microware Analysis.
The technique allows us to examine the abundance, distribution, orientation, size, and shape of micro-features on the chewing surface of enamel, which directly reflects the properties of food consumed. Enamel is the hardest and most mineralized tissue in the body and it is known, from studies on living mammals, that enamel micro-features relating to food consumption renew every few weeks in life. Thus, at the point of death, the teeth will illustrate the final weeks of the diet of the animal.
The result of our study, on these three pig species, shows the dental anatomic distinction between the three pig species. Conversely, the microwear patterns recorded on the dental surfaces show overlapping of ecological niches among the species.
Their opportunistic feeding and rapid reproduction process might have sustained their survival within the mosaic environments of the Buia Basin in competition with other faunas (other ungulates, carnivores, and monkeys) and our genus Homo. The moderate-sized hypsodont Kolpochoerus majus was contemporaneous with the advanced Kolpochoerus olduvaiensis. Thus it may have been adapted to the open grasslands of the Buia Basin together with the small Metridiochoerus modestus. These species might have consumed dry leaves, grasses, wood bark, and importantly, might have relied on a rooting diet. The results are that browser characteristics for Kolpochoerus olduvaiensis, mixed feeding for Kolpochoerus majus, and for the high-crowned Metridiochoerus modestus, have important consequences for adaptation, habitat preference, and diet.
Their presence alongside our genus Homo in highest number and diversity in the fossil record is a testimony to their adaptive strategies to different environments. They show better potential of presence in the fossil record than any ungulates in several regions of Africa and the Levant. Buia pigs varied dietary habits were the result of their general food requirement advantages and this can be easily noticed from their varied cranio-dental convergent morphology.
These advantages allowed the two genera from the Buia Basin to evolve, adapt and/or disperse far and wide, through appropriate and successful response to the pressures of climate change, compared with other groups of mammals.
They were competitive for dietary resources with other large mammals including carnivores and herbivores. Reflecting on their specialized craniodental anatomy, and high reproductive success they had successful and diverse dietary habits as a response to the dietary challenges profoundly occurred during the trajectory of their evolution. The last representatives of these species are found in the Middle Pleistocene, albeit descendants of a number of these species have survived until the present day.
A Column prepared in collaboration with Eritrea’s Culture and Sports Commission
Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea
Vision becomes reality with willpower and knowledge
Our guest today, Tsgerieda Gebrehiwet, is a passionate painter and pharmacist. As a student, in addition to her education, she spent a lot of her time helping out in her family’s business.
• Would you please introduce yourself to our readers?
I was born and raised in Dongolo Lae’lay, had my primary school education there, and attended junior and secondary school in Gindae, which is around 4 km from Dongolo Lae’lay. I went to Sawa as a member of the 23rd round and then joined the College of Health Sciences in Asmara and studied pharmacology. Now, I am working as a pharmacist at Halibet Referral Hospital.
• What inspired you to be a pharmacist?
Since my childhood, I have had the desire to study health. When I joined the College of Health Sciences, I became very eager to study medicine and was attracted to pharmacology. I started thinking about the possibility of opening my own drug store and giving clinical service to my clients, and I figured out that to fulfill this dream I needed to join the Department of Pharmacy. And when I joined the department I loved it.
• Tell us about your academic background.
I was an excellent student, if I may so so. My parents understood very well the importance of education and always told us to focus on education. I was paying attention to my studies while at the same time helping my family at their store and cafe in Dongolo. My elder brother used to look after the shop but after he left Dongolo I took full responsibility for running the business. Since then I’ve been more responsible in managing my time. I was very busy in the daytime and, so, had to reschedule my study time to night time. And that made me a very responsible person.
• You are also an artist…
That’s right. Art is also something that has always been inside me. From my childhood, I’ve always wanted to be an artist and I started off by drawing with a pencil. I always drew my own and my classmates’ drawing assignments in my academy class starting from elementary school. And as I got older that passion for art grew inside me. When I went to college, I started to take art classes at Satreb Art Institute on top of my studies in pharmacy. However, I couldn’t cope with the intensity of my college studies and schedule, so I dropped out of the art class for a while and waited until I completed my college studies. In 2016, I started taking classes in art again and attended for two and half years and graduated with a diploma.
• How do you manage to do two jobs?
My first career choice is pharmacy; so, it is given priority. In the evening, I work as a part-timer at a drugstore. So I have to spend all the rest of my time in my painting studio at home. And I manage my time by dividing it into all of these tasks.
• Tell us more about your paintings.
Most of the time I use pencil drawing, and I like drawing people’s portraits. I like to remake old and damaged images that are difficult to scan, and I do this according to the requests of my clients. It’s super-realism type. I also use acrylic painting and watercolor, and my paintings reflect Eritrean history, culture, and tradition. In some of my works, I try to create a fusion of modern and Eritrean cultures. In addition, I also paint signboards and billboards of companies and spiritual paintings at churches.
• Who is your model?
For sure it’s my elder brother, Dawit, an aeronautical engineer. Like me, he went through the same experience, and he was an excellent student. He took care of his studies and handled the additional task of our family’s business. I grew up looking at his dedication, and that inspired me to believe that I could do the same. When he went to college I was fond of him and from then on, I started having a clear vision of going to college. My parents are also very supportive. They believe in me and gave me painting tools because they sensed my childhood passion for painting.
• Challenges…
As a matter of fact, I don’t remember any significant challenge, and I think that’s because of my family’s endless support. I don’t have sufficient time to do my paintings, and the paint and some painting tools are expensive. But my family is always there to help me with the challenges. I thank them for their unlimited support.
• Any message you would like to give to women?
We are part of the society and we need the society. In order to be useful to the society we have to be educated and determined to make our vision a reality. And if you work hard success is inevitable. Families also have to identify their kids’ talents and support them to develop their talents.
Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea
Plane Carrying Rocket Takes Off for First UK Satellite Launch
A modified jumbo jet carrying a Virgin Orbit rocket took off from southwestern England Monday, marking the first attempt to launch satellites into orbit from Western Europe.
Hundreds gathered for the launch cheered as the repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft, named “Cosmic Girl,” took off from Cornwall late Monday. Around an hour into the flight, the plane will release the rocket at 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters) over the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland.
The rocket will then take nine small satellites for mixed civil and defense use into orbit, while the plane, piloted by a Royal Air Force pilot, returns to Cornwall.
If successful, the mission will mark the first international launch for Virgin Orbit, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson. The company, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, has already completed four similar launches from California.
In the past, satellites produced in the U.K. had to be sent to spaceports in other countries to make their journey into space.
Some of the satellites are meant for U.K. defense monitoring, while others are for businesses such as those working in navigational technology. One Welsh company is looking to manufacture materials such as electronic components in space.
“This is the start of a new era for the U.K. in terms of launch capabilities,” said Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the U.K. Space Agency. There was strong market demand for small satellite launches, he said, and the U.K. has ambitions to be “the hub of European launches.”
Annett said it was too early to say whether more missions are planned in coming months.
The mission is a collaboration between the U.K. Space Agency, the Royal Air Force, Virgin Orbit and Cornwall Council.
The launch was originally planned for late last year, but it was postponed because of technical and regulatory issues.
Source: Voice of America
Hole in Ozone Layer Healing, UN-Led Study Shows
A U.N.-led study released Monday shows a hole in the protective layer of ozone over Antarctica is on track to fully recover in about four decades, thanks to the global phasing out of nearly 99% of banned ozone-depleting substances.
The report, published every four years, was presented Monday at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Denver.
The report indicates that if current policies remain in place, the ozone layer is expected to recover to 1980 values — before the appearance of the ozone hole — by around 2066 over the Antarctic, by 2045 over the Arctic and by 2040 for the rest of the world. It shows the Antarctic ozone hole has been slowly improving in area and depth since the year 2000.
The scientific assessment monitors the progress of the Montreal Protocol, a global agreement reached in 1987 and put into place in 1989, intended to protect the Earth’s ozone layer by phasing out the chemicals that deplete it, often used as propellants in household products or in air conditioning.
In a statement, U.N. Environmental Program Ozone Secretariat Meg Seki said the ozone recovery data in this latest study is “fantastic news.”
“The impact the Montreal Protocol has had on climate change mitigation cannot be overstressed,” she said, calling the treaty “a true champion for the environment.”
The latest assessment has been made based on extensive studies, research and data compiled by experts from the U.N. World Meteorological Organization; the U.N. Environment Program; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the U.S. space agency, NASA; and the European Commission.
Source: Voice of America