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Kenya Public Universities Crack Whip on Striking Lecturers

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África/Kenya/ 21.05.2018/ From: allafrica.

Public universities have started cracking the whip on striking lecturers and other staff as the industrial action enters its third month on Tuesday.

The University of Nairobi (UoN) has suspended 35 lecturers after they declined to return to work following Labour Court’s ruling that declared the strike illegal and unprotected last month.

Technical University of Kenya (TUK) on Friday started a head count of lecturers who are teaching, and has threatened to sack those who will not report to work.

The government is set to launch an inter-ministerial Task Force to discuss the stand-off that has led to a biting strike by lecturers in public universities.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed, whom lecturers have accused of not playing ball, will launch the task force at Jogoo House Thursday morning.

The bone of contention between lecturers and the government is a Collective Bargaining Agreement signed with the Universities Academic Staff Union.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/201804300034.html

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United Nations to help Africa harmonize education standards

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África/ From: www.xinhuanet.com.

Resumen:  Las Naciones Unidas se comprometieron el lunes a ayudar a los estados africanos a armonizar sus estándares educativos. La falta de reconocimiento mutuo de las calificaciones académicas en África está obstaculizando la movilidad laboral, dijo Abdul Rahman Lamin, especialista del programa en la oficina de Nairobi de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO) en un foro de jóvenes en la capital de Kenia. «Por lo tanto, estamos ayudando a los estados miembros de la Unión Africana (UA) a armonizar sus estándares educativos en el nivel terciario para promover la integración continental», dijo Lamin durante la Conferencia de Diálogo Juvenil sobre Educación Inclusiva y Sensible al Género. La conferencia, que tiene como objetivo proporcionar una plataforma para que los jóvenes de África compartan sus experiencias sobre la educación en diferentes contextos nacionales, fue organizada por Plan International y organizaciones asociadas. En 2014, los miembros de la UA acordaron firmar una convención sobre el reconocimiento de las calificaciones académicas en los estados africanos en la ciudad capital de Etiopía, Addis Abeba. La UNESCO está ayudando a los Estados africanos a ratificar la convención. Lamin dijo que la ONU espera crear una plataforma donde los estados africanos puedan intercambiar y discutir el progreso que han logrado hasta ahora en la implementación de la convención de armonización de la educación superior. Un régimen armonizado de estándares de educación beneficiará al continente porque promoverá la movilidad estudiantil y laboral, dijo. Agregó que muchos estados africanos están pasando por conflictos sociales y políticos que han provocado que muchos de sus ciudadanos busquen refugio en países vecinos. «Sin embargo, debido a la falta de estándares educativos armonizados, los refugiados no pueden continuar su educación o encontrar empleo en sus países de acogida», dijo Lamin.»Al final, la nación anfitriona no puede beneficiarse de las habilidades de los refugiados debido a las políticas restrictivas», dijo.

The United Nations on Monday pledged to helping African states to harmonize their education standards.

Lack of mutual recognition of academic qualifications in Africa is hindering labor mobility, Abdul Rahman Lamin, program specialist at the Nairobi office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), told a youth forum in the Kenyan capital.

«We are therefore assisting African Union (AU) member states to harmonize their educational standards at the tertiary level in order to promote continental integration,» Lamin said during the Youth Dialogue on Education Conference on Inclusive and Gender Responsive Education.

The conference, which aims to provide a platform for young people in Africa to share their experiences on education in different national context, was hosted by Plan International and partner organizations.

In 2014, AU members agreed to sign a convention on recognition of academic qualifications in African states in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa.

UNESCO is assisting African states to ratify the convention.

Lamin said the UN hopes to create a platform where African states can exchange and discuss the progress they have achieved so far in implementing the convention of harmonization of higher education.

A harmonized education standards regime will benefit the continent because it will promote student and labor mobility, he said.

He added that many African states are undergoing social and political conflicts that have resulted in many of their citizens seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

«However, due to lack of harmonized education standards, the refugees are unable to continue their education or find employment in their host countries,» said Lamin.

«At the end, the host nation is not able to benefit from skills of the refugees due to restrictive policies,» he said.

Fuente: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-04/23/c_137131526.htm

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Kenya Among the Leaders in Using ICT in the Classroom in Africa

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Kenya/14.05.2018/By Margaret Njugunah/ From: allafrica.

Abu Dhabi — East Africa is leading Africa in terms of integration of technology in the education sector.

Warren Fleur, Microsoft’s Regional Manager, Education Industry Sub Saharan Africa, says Kenya is leading the pack, followed by Rwanda. He spoke to Capital Business on the sidelines of the ongoing Bett MEA summit in Abu Dhabi at the United Arabs Emirates.

Describe to us the status of integration of technology in Kenya and the rest of the continent

It is a mixed bag where we are seeing substantial innovations in some parts of the continent while other places are seen to be lagging behind.

In Kenya with the digital literacy learning programme, we are seeing not just technology being used in the classroom, but also more broadly where there are programmes to support and sustain such innovations to make them more meaningful. These include activities such as modernizing the curriculum, teacher-training on the application of the programme or introducing digital content.

There is also Rwanda which is following in the footsteps of Kenya. There are however countries that are really lagging behind on the continent.

How does the continent compare with the rest of the world, for instance, UAE and the larger Middle East?

It is an unfair comparison considering we are a much larger population and have more intractable issues with infrastructure for example, so it is quite unfair. There, however, are similar challenges that include modernizing the curricula and applying new approaches towards teaching. Use of innovation in the classroom will definitely help them overcome these challenges. It will be about using technology in a way that will attract and spark innovation in the students. Teachers need to inspire this in students as it is being seen at the UAE. Africa could learn this from schools in the UAE.

What are Microsoft showcase schools and how many are there in Kenya?

Microsoft showcase schools are spaces where not only are there great teaching practices but also the application of technology to support innovative approaches towards learning. We consider them to be a holistic delivery of change; new teaching practices, new ways of using content, new ways of using virtual technology and new ways of collaborating with schools around the world.

Currently, there are about forty showcase schools around the continent and about seven in Kenya.

Why do parents, schools and society need to accept the new norm of having technology in the education system?

As we approach the third decade of the millennium, we need to prepare the students of the ever-changing world. We cannot begin to imagine what the class of 2030 will be doing in terms of technology or the kind of jobs they will have created. This is why we need to encourage them to integrate technology into their education.

Describe to the modern student

The modern student across Africa is rich, collaborative, thinks differently and has a computation mindset. He also thinks about problem-solving in unique ways. Africa is inherently a problem-solving part of the world and this student is the one looking for a solution where they use technology.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/201804240348.html.

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The Evolution of Ethnicity in East Africa

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África/May 05, 2018/Allafrica

Resumen: La etnicidad continúa moldeando la política del este de África de manera tanto predecible como inesperada, de acuerdo con los expertos africanos presentados en Peacebuilders, una nueva serie de podcasts de Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Ethnicity continues to shape East African politics in ways both predictable and unexpected, according to African experts featured on Peacebuilders, a new podcast series from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

«The question of ethnicity,» George Gathigi, lecturer at the University of Nairobi, says, «always features in every conversation.»

The podcast looks in particular at Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan.  But as elsewhere in Africa, and indeed globally, the ways in which ethnic or group affiliations are understood and experienced differ. Coping with those differences creatively and fairly is key to building peace and stability.

For most of the podcast’s experts, efforts like government devolution in Kenya and ethno-federalism in Ethiopia are attempts to harness the dynamism of ethnic affiliations while preserving the prerogatives of the post-colonial nation-state.

For Ethiopian scholar Solomon Dersso, commissioner of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Ethiopia’s blend of leftist centralism and ethnic federalism is «such a very delicate balance to make. Getting the balance between these two is extremely difficult.»

Like Ethiopia, Kenya has been devolving power away from the capital and into local governments. The policy was adopted in part to reduce ethnic competition for power in the capital, which was convulsed by violence around the 2007 presidential elections.

«I think devolution in the Kenyan context, but also in Ethiopia,» Rashid Abdi of International Crisis Group says, «if it works well, it has the potential of actually putting all these countries onto a very solid path to what is stabilization.» And yet, Abdi continues, «In many ways Africa is regressing back to a very old principle of organizing politics, which is around ethnicity.»

Ethnicity can seem like a constant, but in South Sudan, Jok Madut Jok of the Sudd Institute argues, «I think the tribe has become stronger»: as the central state in Juba continues to fail to protect its citizens – sometime, quite the opposite – political collapse has «actually strengthened the affinity between members of the ethnic group as opposed to others, so in a sense it has fragmented the country further along ethnic lines.
A similar ethnicization can be found in Somalia, although as Somali lawyer Sagal Abshir points out, Somalis have now managed to exist for 30 years without much central government: «that whole Westphalian concept of ‘you have to have a state to have certain things», I mean, Somalia has disproved it. It exists.»

The relative unimportance of the central state is emphasized also by the Kenyan public intellectual Nanjala Nyabola. On «the ethnic question in Kenya,» Nyabola says, «one political decision we can make is to put it in its rightful place and not to overstate its importance.»

She points out that about 40% of Kenyans do not belong to any of the dominant ethnic groups, and that women often marry outside their ethnic group. Both factors add complexity and nuance to simplistic notions of ethnic politics.

Peacebuilders features nine episodes from East Africa. The second, on international interventions, and the remaining episodes – on everything from the future of the African Union to immigration to media and elections in Kenya – will then be broadcast weekly on Tuesday mornings.

The interviewers are Aaron Stanley, a program assistant with the Carnegie Corporation’s international security program, and Scott Malcomson, an author, journalist, and former government official and NGO executive.

Malcomson was a Carnegie Corporation media fellow in 2015-18, and is currently a fellow in international security at the New American Foundation and director of special projects at Strategic Insight Group.

Fuente: http://allafrica.com/stories/201805010329.html

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Kenya Public Universities Crack Whip on Striking Lecturers

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Kenya/May 01, 2018/By Ouma Wanzala/ Source: http://allafrica.com

The University of Nairobi has taken the lead by suspending 35 lecturers after they declined to return to work following the Labour Court’s ruling that declared the pay strike illegal and unprotected in March. The industrial action enters its third month on May 1.

Public universities have started cracking the whip on striking lecturers and other staff as the industrial action enters its third month on Tuesday.

The University of Nairobi (UoN) has suspended 35 lecturers after they declined to return to work following Labour Court’s ruling that declared the strike illegal and unprotected last month.

Technical University of Kenya (TUK) on Friday started a head count of lecturers who are teaching, and has threatened to sack those who will not report to work.

At UoN, acting Deputy Vice Chancellor Finance and Administration Isaac Mbeche said the suspension is a warning to those who are still on strike.

«We are now dealing with individuals since they have different contracts with the university. If you do not come to work without permission, there are consequences,» Prof Mbeche warned.

SALARIES

He said the institution wrote to staff asking them to resume work, and that those who abided have not been punished.

«Some wrote back agreeing to resume work while others insisted they were still on strike,» Prof Mbeche said, adding that learning had resumed at the institution.

Last month, the university denied more than 1,200 staff their salaries for boycotting work.

At TUK, all staff are now required to sign commitment forms as the institution moves to ensure that operations are normalised.

«The directors of schools and heads of administrative units are hereby requested to ensure compliance with this directive by submitting completed commitment forms to the management,» a circular by Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Administration and Planning, Joseph Kiplangat, reads.

Staff at the university who are still on strike are set to start receiving their suspension letters today.

ACADEMIC CALENDAR

At Moi University, Vice-Chancellor Isaac Kosgey has warned that the striking staff will not get their salaries.

«Other disciplinary measures will be taken as the university council advises.

«Staff who are ready to resume work can do so by registering with the respective heads of departments on a daily basis with immediate effect,» Prof Kosgey said.

At Kenyatta University, lecturers are now required to sign forms indicating their willingness to teach, and which must be submitted to deputy VC in charge of administration and planning.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University has since adjusted its academic calendar for all students due to the strike.

STUDENTS

Students in most universities have gone home as they wait for a solution to the crisis that has affected learning for the last one year.

The strike, which started on March 1, has paralysed learning in all 31 public universities. Lecturers are demanding Sh38 billion for the 2017-2021 CBA.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed last week set up a team to table a counter-offer.

«The impact of these perennial strikes has, to say the least, been disastrous.

«The image of our university education worldwide is taking a severe beating.

«Our students are taking more than double the period required to complete academic programmes and employers are losing faith in the capacity of our graduates,» Ms Mohamed said.

SRC

Ms Mohamed said with the enactment of the Constitution and the subsequent creation of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, all salaries in the public sector must now be based on advice from the commission.

However, Universities Academic Staff Union Secretary General Constantine Wasonga said lecturers will only call off their strike after receiving an offer.

«We are used to threats, and we will now be forced back to work,» Dr Wasonga said.

Read the original article on Nation.

 
 Source:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201804300034.html
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Países de África se reúnen en Kenia para analizar el estado de la educación

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Kenia/28 de Abril de 2018/La Vanguardia

Representantes gubernamentales de más de 40 países de África comenzaron hoy en Kenia una reunión de alto nivel para analizar el estado de la educación en el continente y trabajar en soluciones que permitan conseguir el cuarto Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), dedicado a esa materia.

La Conferencia de Alto Nivel Panafricana (PACE, en inglés), organizada por la Unesco y el Gobierno de Kenia con la colaboración de la Unión Africana (UA), pretende abordar en tres días de reuniones y sesiones de trabajo en Nairobi los grandes retos del sector educativo en el continente y buscar soluciones y ejemplos.

En el centro del debate está el cuarto ODS (las 17 metas fijadas por la ONU en la Agenda 2030 sobre el Desarrollo Sostenible): «Garantizar una educación inclusiva, equitativa y de calidad y promover oportunidades de aprendizaje durante toda la vida para todos».

«La idea es ver el estatus del sector educativo y ver cómo podemos armonizar lo que tenemos en el continente con las expectativas internacionales», explicó la ministra keniana de Educación, Amina Mohamed, a la prensa tras la apertura de la reunión.

Mohamed incidió en que «la educación va a marcar la diferencia entre el progreso y el desastre en el continente».

El subdirector general para África de la Organización de la ONU para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (Unesco), Firmin Edouard Matoko, enfatizó que la reunión es una oportunidad para buscar colaboraciones y alianzas porque, sin ellas, no será posible conseguir los ODS ni tampoco la agenda de desarrollo de la UA.

«No podemos hablar de salud o de emprendimiento sin hablar de educación», dijo la comisaria para Recursos Humanos, Ciencia y Tecnología de la UA, Sarah Anyang Agbor, quien destacó la importancia de la juventud y la infancia en este tema.

Las recomendaciones y la resolución que se adopten este viernes, cuando finaliza la reunión, se llevarán a cada uno de los ministerios africanos para que se tengan en cuenta para las políticas y decisiones futuras, informó Agbor.

A pesar de los avances mundiales en escolarización primaria, África Subsahariana sigue teniendo una de las tasas más altas de niños que no asisten a la escuela primaria, con el 20,8 % (23,5 % en el caso de las niñas), que suponen más de 34 millones de niños, según datos de 2016 de la Unesco.

En el resto de regiones en el mundo -exceptuando Norte de África y Oriente Medio- el porcentaje de niños que no asisten a primaria es menor al 8 %.

Las tasas de no asistencia en educación secundaria en África Subsahariana son aún más altas, con el 36,6 % de menores que no asisten a los primeros cursos de secundaria, y el 57,8 % que no acuden a los últimos.

Fuente: http://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20180425/442991721823/paises-de-africa-se-reunen-en-kenia-para-analizar-el-estado-de-la-educacion.html

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Kenya: Pan-African conference on education kicks off in Nairobi

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Kenya/April 24, 2018/By OUMA WANZALA and By FAITH NYAMAI/ Source: https://www.nation.co.ke/

Kenya’s education sector reforms will top discussions by close to 600 scholars and education policy makers in Africa attending a major conference in Nairobi which will officially open on Wednesday.

About 50 Education ministers from African are attending the Pan-African Conference on Education 2018 that ends on Friday.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed is expected to present the progress made in the country’s education reforms, including its attempts to meet the SDGs targets.

Speaking at Safari Park Hotel on Monday ahead of the conference, Ms Mohammed said the meeting will focus on improving the quality of education in African continents.

“The discussions will revolve on challenges, and coming up with monitoring mechanisms that will help all African countries improve their education system,” she said.

The CS said, Kenya has so far made huge strides of progress in the education sector among them the introduction of the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) in primary and secondary schools.

Other steps that Kenya has made is the introduction of the Competency based curriculum that is being piloted nationally since January.

Ms Mohamed said, the main goal is to champion for equitable inclusive quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.

She said it will further provide a forum to assess the strides Africa has made in ensuring inclusive quality education and lifelong learning as enunciated in Sustainable Development Goals, 2030, and Continental Strategy for Education in Africa 2016-2025 (CESA 16-25).

The ministers will also discuss on how they can begin to implement the agenda 2030 and assess the progress so far

Kenya is hosting the conference in collaboration with UNESCO and African Union.

The Nation has learnt that the ministry has prepared a special paper detailing the exact position of the country regarding gender disparities, the enrolment between science and arts courses, and provision of free education.

The Conference, to be held under the auspices of UNESCO and African Union, will also draw participants from the public and private sector.

Under Development Goal 4, Governments are obliged to “ensure equitable inclusive quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

In an effort to support the Continent’s development vision, African Countries, under the auspices of the African Union, endorsed CESA 16-25.

It aims at “Reorienting Africa’s education and training systems to meet the knowledge, competencies, skills, innovation and creativity required to nurture African core values and promote sustainable development at the national, sub-regional and continental levels.”

Ms Mohamed is expected to outline the challenges facing the country’s education sector, which have affected the government’s push to have 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary schools.

Ms Mohamed will also likely report on how the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards will address the perennial problems, including checking teacher absenteeism and inadequate syllabus coverage, among other unprofessional practices.

She will also address the ongoing curriculum reforms, whose Competence-Based Curriculum, format is undergoing a national pilot phase.

“The Ministry is administering a national pilot exercise, which will provide credible data to enable us make critical decisions going forward,” Ms Mohamed said.

Another sector of education reforms is spearheaded by the Kenya National Examinations Council, which has been charged with the responsibility of ensuring that our national examinations are highly credible.

This year, the Government introduced the free day secondary school programme seeking to assure 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary education.

The Government has so far spent Sh29 billion on the free day secondary school programme.

Last week, the government said it had started intensive reforms in Vocational and Technical Training.

Every Kenyan, Ms Mohamed said, must be trained and empowered with the skills to drive a 24-hour economy.

“It is our duty to train for the attainment of this vision. So I ask you all to support us as we roll out programs in these two sectors,” said the CS.

Source:

https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/Pan-African-Conference-on-Education-Nairobi/2643604-4520970-m6k0pw/index.html

 

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