Families

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Joy in South Sudan, as schools reopen after 14-month COVID lockdown

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Africa/South Sudan/07-05-2021/Author and Source: news.un.org

The countrywide reopening of schools in South Sudan is a welcome step on the road to “normalcy” for youngsters, two in three of whom need humanitarian assistance, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

Describing the “joy” felt by children and aid workers as classrooms reopened on Monday after more than 14 months of COVID-19 restrictions, Mads Oyen, UNICEF’s chief of field operations, explained that going back to school was about more than just learning.

“Especially in a country like South Sudan, where we’re also faced with humanitarian emergencies in many parts of the country”, he explained. “Schools are places for children to be safe and to be protected and also to access basic services, school feeding and so on.”

Despite the welcome development, the UNICEF official noted that many children had not been able to return to class, their future development held up by a chronic humanitarian emergency, fuelled by ongoing violence and climate shocks.

Malaria one threat among many

The warning comes ahead of the upcoming rainy season, which brings with it a higher risk of cholera, malaria and respiratory infections.

There has already been a near-doubling of outpatient admissions in the last weeks, likely from malaria infections or reinfections, Mr Oyens said.

“(It’s) about controlling malaria, it’s about controlling any measles outbreaks, it’s about providing clean water to kids”, he explained, before highlighting the “multiple risks” that children face.

These include “violence, exploitation and abuse (and) recruitment by armed groups, still going on, psychosocial distress and family separation”.

Fewer that one in 10 children has access to child protection services, the veteran UNICEF worker said, noting that between January and March this year, the agency scaled up treatment to more than 50,000 children who were suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

The recovery rate was more than 95 per cent “in some of the most difficult-to-operate areas of the world”, he added.

Health threat to 800,000

In a related development, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned on Tuesday that life-saving healthcare for more than 800,000 South Sudanese, may have to be cut if funding is not found urgently.

“Internally displaced persons, returnees and conflict-affected populations already living in dire conditions may soon face even greater danger to their lives and health due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of the rainy season and floods”, the UN agency said.

Come June, primary healthcare services may no longer be available for women and children, the elderly and those living with disabilities.

These services range from maternal and child health, including the screening of under-fives to detect malnutrition, sexual and reproductive health services and testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

‘A right and necessity’

“Health is not a luxury, it’s a right and a necessity. We must mobilize to ensure no one is left behind,” said Jacqueline Weekers, Director of Migration Health for IOM.

“In the past year, we have learned the hard way that when some people don’t have access to health services, everyone can be at risk.”

Before COVID-19, South Sudan’s health system was already heavily dependent on humanitarian actors who now face worrying funding shortfalls, IOM said, in an appeal for $744,175 per month to continue providing life-saving care.

Essential health services are provided in former UN Protection of Civilian sites, host communities as well as remote and hard-to-reach locations serviced by the IOM’s mobile rapid response teams.

Source and Image: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/05/1091262

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Kenya: National exams to be held with strict adherence to Covid-19 protocol

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Africa/Kenya/19-03-2021/Author: Haniel Mengistu/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

It’s all systems go for the nationwide Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations next week.

The countrywide school exams were cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has disrupted the whole academic year.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education Professor George Magoha noted that the national exams will be held with strict adherence to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) protocols approved by the Ministry of Health.

Speaking in Mombasa Prof. Magoha announced that special arrangements are in place to ensure the safety and security of candidates, supervisors, invigilators and security personnel during the examinations scheduled to kick off on Monday next week.

Prof. Magoha allayed fears during the school exams saying the government is going ahead with the examinations amid the Covid-19 pandemic as it has put watertight Covid-19 special arrangements in place.

“The national exams will be held with strict adherence to Covid-19 guidelines” he said.

The CS cautioned the candidates to avoid exam malpractices which can destroy their bright future.

He said that cheating in the examinations was an unhealthy trend that candidates should shun and strive to excel by ‘doing genuine work’.

Prof. Magoha said cases of examination cheating, leakages and impersonations and other forms of irregularities would not be entertained and urged candidates not to look for ‘shortcuts in their academic endeavor’.

The CS cautioned the candidates to avoid exam malpractices which can destroy their bright future.

“Migori and Kisii counties are the headquarters of exam cheating and I can assure you that we have put the two regions on our radar” he said accompanied by his Chief Administrative Secretary Hassan Noor Hassan and Principal Secretary in charge of Vocational and Technical Training Dr. Margret Mwakima.

He said the ministry of education has received intelligence reports that unscrupulous candidates were planning to write on their facemasks and directed that all facemasks will be subjected to thorough security before one accesses the examination halls.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/national-exams-to-be-held-with-strict-adherence-to-covid-19-protocol/

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World: Over 168 million children miss nearly a year of schooling, UNICEF says

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World/03-05-2021/Author and Source: news.un.org

More than 168 million schoolchildren globally missed out on learning in class, as schools in some 14 countries remained largely shut for almost an entire year due to coronavirus-related lockdowns, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Wednesday.

“As we approach the one-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are again reminded of the catastrophic education emergency worldwide lockdowns have created”, Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, said in a news release, announcing the agency’s findings.

“With every day that goes by, children unable to access in-person schooling fall further and further behind, with the most marginalized paying the heaviest price”, she added.

According to UNICEF, nine of the 14 countries, where schools remained mostly closed between March 2020 to February 2021, are in the Latin American and Caribbean region, affecting nearly 100 million students. Of these countries, Panama kept schools closed for the most days, followed by El Salvador, Bangladesh, and Bolivia.

In addition, around 214 million children – one in seven pupils globally – missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning, while over 888 million continue to face disruptions to their education due to full and partial school closures, according to UN data.

Prioritize schools in reopening plans

School closures have devastating consequences for children’s learning and wellbeing. The most vulnerable children and those unable to access remote learning are hit even harder, as they are at an increased risk of never returning to the classroom, sometimes forced into child labour and even child marriage, according to UNICEF.

Schoolchildren globally also rely on their schools as a place to interact with peers, seek support, access health and immunization services and a nutritious meal. The longer schools remain closed, the longer children are cut off from these critical elements of childhood, the agency added.

Executive Director Fore called on all nations to keep schools open, or prioritize them in reopening plans where they are closed.

“We cannot afford to move into year two of limited or even no in-school learning for these children. No effort should be spared to keep schools open, or prioritize them in reopening plans”, she highlighted.

UNICEF also urged governments to focus on the unique needs of every student, with comprehensive services covering remedial learning, health and nutrition, and mental health and protection measures in schools to nurture children and adolescents’ development and wellbeing.

‘Pandemic Classroom’

Also on Wednesday, UNICEF unveiled ‘Pandemic Classroom’, a model classroom made up of 168 empty desks, each desk representing one million of the children living in countries where schools have been almost entirely closed, as a “solemn reminder of the classrooms in every corner of the world that remain empty”, said the agency.

Behind each empty chair hangs an empty backpack – a placeholder for a child’s deferred potential.

After walking through the installation, set up at UN Headquarters in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the staggering number of children missing out on valuable education “a tragedy”.

“We have millions of children out of school and that is a tragedy. A tragedy for them, a tragedy for their countries, a tragedy for the future of humankind”, he said.

Source and Image: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086232

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Time to re-open schools in Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF

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Africa/27-09-2020/Author: Beth Nyaga/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

UNICEF has called on governments, parents and teachers across Eastern and Southern Africa to urgently and safely re-open schools, as the costs of continued school closures escalate across Eastern and Southern Africa.

While there are encouraging reports that 13 out of 21 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa have returned children to classrooms, with an additional four having set return dates, countries such as Kenya – with a huge student population – are still to decide on whether they will reopen schools this year, compounding the threats which out-of-school children face.

UNICEF’s call to safely re-open schools follows scientific evidence which shows children are not super-spreaders of COVID-19, and are the least affected by COVID-19 in the region, with a mere 2.5 per cent of COVID-19 cases attributed to children of school-going age (5-18 years, WHO).

“Much effort was spent at the start of this pandemic reminding all of the dangers of COVID-19 and necessary precautions,” said Mohamed Malick Fall, Regional Director for UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa. “Things have evolved – we now know greater dangers for children lie by being outside the classroom. That message needs to be heard.”

Across this region, of the nearly 65 million children remaining out of school, around one in two are not reached by any form of learning.

Meanwhile, violence has spiked. Across the region, millions of children continue to miss what was their one nutritious meal of the day.

“Seven months into the pandemic, we must be very clear about the gravity of this crisis: we are at risk of losing a generation,” said Fall. “We see lost learning, rising violence, rising child labour, forced child marriages, teen pregnancies and diminished nutrition. A generation of children is at risk, and at the most critical time in our continent’s history.

“We are at a time of unprecedented population growth,” continued Fall. “If this expanded workforce can receive quality learning at school, the potential for increased production could sustain an economic boom to drastically reduce poverty in Africa – where currently 70 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa’s people live on less than US$ 2/day.”

It can be done. Safely re-opening schools by the beginning of October this year will give scholars a full term and vastly reduce learning losses.

A third term for learners presents the last chance to recoup learning losses for 2020 and avert the dangers of permanent school drop-outs.

Re-opening will also reduce losses incurred by both parents and governments.

Critically, there is growing regional and global practice showing that safe school re-opening can be done with political will and community commitment.

Most countries in Eastern and Southern Africa have seen the rationale of a phased return to schools, starting with exam classes in countries such as Botswana, Eritrea, Eswatini, Madagascar, Somalia, Zambia, and recently Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Bigger countries with larger COVID-19 caseloads and higher student populations – such as South Africa – have reopened schools for all grades since the end of August.

“UNICEF is here to support countries, and share working practices on safely re-opening schools; examples that can be applied to our context,” said Fall.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/time-to-re-open-schools-in-eastern-and-southern-africa-unicef/
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Kenya: Magoha directs schools to refund second and third term fees

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Africa/Kenya/12-05-2020/Author: James Rono/Fuente: www.kbc.co.ke

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha has directed primary and secondary schools to refund second and third term fees to parents who had paid.

Addressing the press Wednesday, CS Magoha, however said the parents and the institutions can also come to an alternative agreement to let the fee cover for when schools reopen next year.

This comes after Prof. Magoha on Tuesday announced that the 2020 academic year will be considered lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic hence all primary and secondary schools will reopen in January, 2021.

The Education CS, in a press address at KICD said the decision was arrived at following consultations with all industry stakeholders and putting into consideration COVID-19 mitigation measures.

According to the CS, the stakeholders resolved to shelve the initial plan to begin phased reopening in September this year after parents expressed reservations about sending their children to school occasioned by the spike in coronavirus cases.

Prof. Magoha said the 2020 Standard 8 and Form 4 candidates will now sit their KCPE and KCSE examinations respectively later in the year of 2021.

Also all students and pupils will have no choice but to repeat their current classes.

“All learners in grade 1-4 Standard 5 to 7 and Form 1 to 3 to remain in the current classes in 2021” added the CS.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) will however resume this year respectively, but under strict guidelines.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/magoha-directs-schools-to-refund-second-and-third-term-fees/

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Kenya: Alarm as 4000 school girls get pregnant in Machakos since March

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Africa/Kenya/21-06-2020/Author and Source: www.kbc.co.ke

Over 4000 school girls in Machakos County have been impregnated in last three months. Among these, 200 are under 14 years of age.

This is according to the County Children’s Officer Salome Muthama speaking on Tuesday during the celebrations to mark the Day of the African Child at Machakos Rescue Center in Katoloni, Machakos town.

Ms Muthama described the situation as worrying. She assured that legal action would be taken against those responsible for the beastly action. The Children’s officer blamed the long school holiday occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic for the upsurge and implored parents to take more responsibility over their children.

“As we celebrate this day here today, just within this Covid-19 period alone, some 4000 girls have been impregnated in our county!” Ms Muthama declared as she blamed parents for not taking keen interest in bringing up their children thus exposing them to the trickeries of wayward adults and bad peer influence.

“This is a very big number and I am calling upon parents to involve themselves fully in taking care of their children especially the girl child,” the officer added.

She noted that following the partial lockdown of major towns like Nairobi and Mombasa due to Covid-19 pandemic, most parents had sent their children to the rural areas where they are being taken care of by aged grandparents who are unable to take keen care of the youths.

“These helpless grandmothers are not able to closely watch over the youths, and as a result the young ones are introduced to bad habits or even molested by peers and other unscrupulous people thus leading to such calamities such as these pregnancies,” she observed.

She said it was not enough for the parents to send food and money from the towns for the children they had dumped at their own grandparents’ homes noting that it behooves them to stay with their children and mentor them.

“Parents should stay with their children so that they watch over them closely and provide appropriate guidance instead of dumping them at their grandparents’ homes claiming that they are protecting them from the Corona pandemic,” she noted.

At the same time Muthama urged those charged with the dispensation of justice to children to make deliberate efforts to eradicate delays in the process. She particularly called on the police to fast track cases involving children so that justice is dispensed with promptly and the children allowed to go on with building their lives.

She told those attending the celebrations whose theme was “Access to a child-friendly justice system in Africa” that delays in dispensation of justice to children amounted to denial of their rights.

“Cases involving children should take at most six months to resolve but here in Machakos some take up to two years or more,” she lamented.

Noting that delay of children’s cases amounted to a denial of their rights, she added, “Children attend court either as offenders, victims or witnesses, and every time a case drags, the children are being denied opportunity to either attend school or other matters that affect their future lives,” she noted.

The children’s officer similarly appealed to members of the society who are witnesses in cases involving children not to shy away from attending court, but come out and participate fully so that the cases are solved promptly.

And reacting to the shocking news, Machakos Women Representative Joyce Kasimbi condemned the wave of pregnancy among children and said local grassroots leaders should explain how it happened.

She said parliament would pass a law that will ensure that anybody who impregnates a child will be held responsible.

Similar sentiments were expressed by two DCI officers who warned of dire consequences.

Speaking when they joined children of at  Mwisoo Children’s home in Kyawango, Maau-eli in Mwala, to celebrate the Day, Machakos Sub County DCI boss Rhoda Kanyi and her Mwala counterpart Catherine Kinoti said the law will be brought to bear on those found molesting minors.

“Men who sleep with minors must be warned that the law will definitely catch up with you,” they warned.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/alarm-as-4000-school-girls-get-pregnant-in-machakos-since-march/

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Kenya: MKU reduces school fees by 30pc to ease burden on guardians

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Africa/Kenya/24-05-2020/Author: Hunja Macharia/Fuente: www.kbc.co.ke

Mount Kenya University has slashed school fees by 30% in a bid to cushion parents and guardians from the effects of Covid-19 pandemic.

MKU Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration, Dr. Evans Mwiti said it would be unfair for the University to charge full fees yet students have not been attending face to face classes.

He said most parents have suffered due to the effects of the pandemic and would be hard pressed to raise fees.

Mwiti said the University in partnership with Telkom and Safaricom introduced online teaching in their May/August Semester to ensure that students complete their studies on time.

He said staff and student will get subsidized bundles to enable them access online learning information and materials.

Dr. Mwiti however said that students who will be unable to access online services will be accorded an opportunity to complete their studies once learning resumes.

The University board of directors Chairman Prof. Simon Gicharu has already established a six member team to implement online learning classes.

The team spearheaded by School of Education Dean Benson Njoroge will also explore the possibility of conducting online examination.

Meanwhile the University has extended the contracts of staff and lecturers that had lapsed or were due for expiry until the institution re-opens.

The Government in March ordered schools and universities to close as a precautionary measure against the spread of coronavirus.

Mount Kenya University reckons that the closure derailed contracts talks and in the process blocking the release of salaries of those whose employment terms had expired.

“Covid-19 has affected normal operations where internal processes are followed to validate the renewals and there is a standing policy that inhibits the directorate of finance from processing salaries for the affected staff whose contracts have expired.” Said a memo signed by MKU chairman and Founder Prof. Simon Gicharu.

“We direct the council to extend all contracts for all staff in and outside Kenya month by month until the university re-opens to enable the affected staff to renegotiate their contracts in the normal manner.” He said.

The pay directive will benefit affected workers at MKU’s eight campuses in Kenya, four open learning centres in Kisii, Kakamega, Kitale and Meru, MKU Rwanda, country offices in Uganda, Somalialand, Puntland, Burundi and Uganda.

In March, MKU and Japan-based Osaka City University jointly won a Ksh 450 million grant from Japan International Cooperation Agency for malaria research.

The funds will be deployed for research on malaria prevalence in Homa Bay.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/mku-reduces-school-fees-by-30pc-to-ease-burden-on-guardians/

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