OSISA - Education

Education Programme

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 02:28:08 -0500

Vision

A region in which everyone has access to education to learn the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed for life, where people are able to use what they have learnt to improve the quality of their life and make a positive contribution to their society; a region with an education that promotes values, institutions and practices of an open, civil and democratic society, a society based on the recognition that people have different views and interests, where people live together in harmony.

Education funding guidelines

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 05:02:47 -0500

Criteria for Assessing Projects [see also General guidelines] OSISA support can happen at any level of basic education within the areas of emphasis stipulated. OSISA also recognizes that needs and priorities in basic education may differ among the nine countries and therefore will take into consideration country priorities in basic education. OSISA places a particularly high priority on activist initiatives that:

Increase democratic participation in educational improvement and promote constructive dialogue and debate between people and their governments;

No peace at Moeding College

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:54:20 -0500

Botswana: No Peace At Moeding College
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
The visibly emotional headmaster of Moeding College, Marcos Maedza, yesterday told parents amid reports of ill-treatment of students by their peers, that the school had no peace in 2008. Devastated parents, many of whom got information that their children had been forced to sleep in nearby bushes that provided overnight refuge from marauding Form Five colleagues who tortured male and female 'new

Police attack PTUZ teachers' union

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:17:21 -0500

Teachers union leaders hospitalised after police assault
Nehanda Radio 20/2/2008
HARARE – Nine Zimbabwe teachers’ union leaders were on Tuesday hospitalised after they were severely assaulted and tortured by militant supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party. The ZANU PF supporters abducted Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary general Raymond Majongwe and his colleagues as they distributed flyers on the streets of Harare denouncing the collapsed state of education ... They were taken to the party’s Harare provincial headquarters on the east of the capital’s central business district where they were severely assaulted, incurring serious injuries, according to their lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe ... “All the nine are hospitalised in Avenues Clinic (a private hospital in Harare) under police guard,” Mugabe said. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was unaware of the incident and unable to comment. The beating and torture of the union leaders comes as political pressure group, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC), warned on Tuesday that a repressive environment marked by intimidation and organised violence had effectively reduced next month’s elections to an exercise to simply validate Mugabe’s controversial rule ...

South Angolan school snack programme

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:59:43 -0500

Angola: School Snack Programme Covers 70000 Children
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
About 70000 children will this year benefit from the school snack programme in the south Bié province, informed Friday in Kuito city the provincial governor, José Amaro Tati. The governor was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2008 academic year, which happened at Kalussinga commune, Andulo district, 205 kilometres to the North of the provincial capital (Kuito).

Namibian school fees: caution urged

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:42:21 -0500

Namibia: Principal Warns on Abolishing School Fees
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
"The suggestion that school fees in Namibia be abolished can only become a reality if the Government increases the per capita funding of learners in all the regions in the country." This was the response to a proposal contained last week in a UNICEF report, by the Teachers Union of Namibia (TUN). "By now it is common knowledge that education is

Call to abolish school fees in Namibia

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:07:40 -0500

Namibia: Abolish School Fees - UNICEF
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA

UNICEF has proposed that the Government abolishes the School Development Fund (SDF) (school fees) to ensure that children access and remain in school. The UN agency said the elimination of fees should go hand in hand with adjustments to the operational budget of schools and the Education Development Fund (EDF) to focus on other costs relating to hostel fees and transport. The EDF was established in 2006 to ensure access to education for OVC (orphans and vulnerable children). It compensates schools for waiving payment of SDF fees ... At the moment, Namibia is only seven percent away from achieving the Millennium Development Goal 2 of achieving universal access to primary education by 2015. While this goal is nearly achieved, due to poverty, orphans and children made vulnerable because of HIV/Aids are finding it increasingly difficult to pay SDF. This information is contained in the Education Policy Paper titled "Stemming the Tide: Can Namibia pre-empt the reversal in Primary Education achievements?" which is authored by UNICEF Representative, Khin-Sandi Lwin ... Statistics indicate that the number of orphans under the care of grandmothers has increased from 44 percent in 1992 to 61 percent in 2000 ... Education Minister, Nangolo Mbumba, said given funding, the Ministry would subsidise certain schools in rural areas to ensure that no child is prevented from attending school ...

PSUN slams Namibian education standards

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:04:47 -0500

Namibia: PSUN Slams Declining Education Standards
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
The latest Grade 10 and 12 results "regrettably tell the same old sad story of gloom and doom", the Public Service Union of Namibia said yesterday. In a hard-hitting statement, PSUN Secretary General Victor Kazonyati said that Namibia's educational standards had shown a "steady and consistent decline" over the last 18 years - not just at school level

Namibia releases Grade 12 results

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:01:25 -0500

Namibia: Few Grade 12s Qualify for University Entry
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
Considered to be a historic event, the first Grade 12 Namibia Senior Certificate Ordinary Level examination results were yesterday released by the Ministry of Education.Of the 31243 candidates who sat for the examinations, 16791 (53.7 percent) were full-time candidates and 14452 (46.3 percent) were part-time entries. Only 3256 full-time candidates gained university admission. In

Education and abuse in Botswana

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:32:26 -0500

Botswana: Stop Teacher-Student Sex!
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA

The pervasiveness of teacher-student sexual affairs is alarming. In the late eighties and early nineties, such cases were prevalent but the authorities moved in and instituted drastic measures to arrest the situation. However, lately, there are increasing reports of teacher-student "love" affairs. Surely, love does not form the basis of such a union ... Just last week, we reported complaints by some University of Botswana students who accused some lecturers of demanding sexual favours in exchange for good grades. We are just wondering whether what is traditionally known as a "cooperation fee" in some West African tertiary institutions, is also becoming institutionalised in Botswana. The behaviour of these teachers and lecturers are not only psychologically destructive to our children but also expose them to infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS ... Botswana Secondary School Teachers' Union (BOSETU) president, Eric Ditau, reportedly said they "can only take action if the members violate the union constitution". But a constitution can be amended to make it bite. The least that unions can do right now is to take the approach as explained by Botswana Teachers' Union president, Japhta Radibe. The union embarks on own investigations and should the concerned members be found to have erred, then the union offers them no protection. But we still believe the unions should also compile a register of convicted teachers and ban them from getting close to students ever again. We cannot agree more with UB Professor Richard Tabulawa's wish that the "nation could come up with a law to restrain elders, not just teachers, from engaging in sexual relationships with students ...

Combatting illiteracy in Kuando Kubango

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:20:46 -0500

Angola: Kuando Kubango - Commitment to Combat Illiteracy Defended
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA

Menongue The governor of the south-eastern Kuando Kubango province, João Baptista Tchindandi Friday said that the combat to illiteracy is a process in which all citizens, both residing in the country and as abroad, should be engaged in for a multifaceted development of Angola. The governor, who was presiding over the opening of the 2008 Academic Year in Menongue city, underlined that this combat should be shared by all citizens, as you cannot speak about the country's reconstruction, economic growth and consequent development and improvement of population's living conditions, without involving the human factor. Financial and material resources, for example, enabled the construction and expansion of the "04 de Fevereiro" school, inaugurated this Friday, with the capacity for 360 pupils, are important but the training of human resources is more essential, noted the governor. According to statistics data, 34 percent of the financial resources from the Public Investments Programme (PIP) were earmarked for education and 24 % for the health sector ...

Zimbabwe teachers strike over pay

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:46:57 -0500

Zimbabwe teachers strike over pay: union
AFP -

HARARE (AFP) — Teachers in Zimbabwe's state-run schools have begun an indefinite strike to press for better salaries and more funding for equipment, a union official said Sunday in an official statement. Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) Secretary General Raymond Majongwe said teachers stopped work after the government ignored their demands for a salary review ... The union acted after the government "unilaterally" awarded teachers a basic monthly salary of 141 million Zimbabwe dollars, he added. That figure comes to 4,689 US dollars at the official rate -- but just 28 US dollars at the widely used black market rate. Teachers want a basic monthly salary of 1.7 billion Zimbabwe dollars, nearly 600 million Zimbabwe dollars towards housing and transport costs and government funding for teaching materials. Zimbabwean teachers have been migrating to neighbouring Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa, some of them taking up menial jobs to earn a living and send money to their families at home.In a separate statement issued to parents and students, the PTUZ appealed to them to support the strike ... While official figures put annual inflation at nearly 8,000 percent, economists say it could be nearer 50,000 percent ...

Zimbabwe: the high cost of education

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:21:19 -0500

EDUCATION-ZIMBABWE: Getting Harder To Keep Children In School
IPS - Italy
By Tonderai Kwidini HARARE, Jan 26 (IPS) - Alois Mufundisi, a media professional, earns 200 million Zimbabwean dollars, about 50 US dollars on the thriving parallel market. On paper this amount appears huge, but in real terms it is just enough to buy essential foodstuffs for half a month. He is barely able to keep his three children in school. Seven years ago he could manage without any problem. Now he has to do private jobs to supplement his income. "Sometimes I can’t sleep thinking about where I can get my next dollar. It really pains me to think that I may not be able to pay for basic things such as my children’s education," said Mufundisi. With hyperinflation at 8000 percent according to the Central Statistical Office (CSO), keeping children in school has become difficult in Zimbabwe. Educational standards have been on a free fall since the beginning of an unprecedented economic collapse that started in 2000 ... Once Africa’s best, Zimbabwe’s educational system is now in crisis. Tens of thousands of teachers in state schools are constantly on a ‘go-slow’ action demanding a wage hike. There is an exodus of teachers to better paying jobs outside the country. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) -- one of two teachers’ representative bodies -- estimates that more than 15,000 teachers left the teaching profession in 2006. Those who stay behind spend most of the time moonlighting ... A teacher at a rural Zimbabwe school who spoke to IPS on condition of anonymity said, "I am quitting and going to South Africa. I have sold so many text books from my department library to supplement my meagre salary, I have to make a move before I am caught." ... Higher education is also in crisis. The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) -- a representative body -- released a report this week stating that the country has the world’s highest college dropout rate outside a war zone. The report further states that more than 31.5 percent of students were forced out of school due to the exorbitant fees ...

Malawi failing on higher education

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:54:13 -0500

‘Malawi failing on higher education’
Malawi's Daily Times - Malawi
BY FRANCIS TAYANJAH-PHIRI Vice-Chancellor of Mzuzu University Peter Mwanza has said Malawi’s development is slow because government has not been proactive in addressing challenges facing higher education. Speaking in Mzuzu on Tuesday during a discussion on how to make higher education responsive to the country’s needs, the discussion also

Namibia: concerns about education

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:36:00 -0500

Namibia: Prospects and Challenges
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
Much has been said about the poor performances of learners in Grade 10 and Grade 12 for the past 17 years, with smaller numbers of learners being promoted to Grade 11 and tertiary institutions than those registered in Grade 10 and Grade 12 every year. The government, parents, learners and individuals have raised concern about where Namibia is leading to with the high rate of school dropouts