Category: Education
Can teaching in Ghana carry on virtually as the pandemic rages?
On 15 March 2020, Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo ordered the immediate closure of all educational institutions in Ghana in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. In the same speech, he tasked the country’s education and communication ministries to roll out distance learning to salvage the academic year. Virtual means are […]
Literature in a time of pandemic: The view from an international PhD student
I was born and raised in Ghana, Accra, where my belly button remains buried and the place I still call home. For the last four years, I have been residing in the United States, specifically in Massachusetts, where I am enrolled as a PhD student in Science Education at Boston College. This spring, I had […]
Kenyan youth innovate their way out of poverty by recycling e-waste
In 2015, 27-year old Kenyan Shabaya Beche and his friends were wondering how to dispose of some old electronic equipment. Between them, they had old computers, video games, cell phones, even a refrigerator. “None of us had a better idea, then, besides throwing them into the bin,” says Beche, who at the time was a […]
When A is not for Apple
We learn to read by connecting letters and words with sounds and ideas we already know—so why do we teach African children using texts about marshmallows and ponies, asks Connie Nshemereirwe? In the village surrounding the university where I used to work in rural Uganda, I regularly met neatly dressed boys and girls walking home […]
Let’s teach our children science in their own languages
African governments and scientists should agree to a two-generation plan to move away from European-language science teaching on the continent, writes Rafiou Agoro. I remember the day I learnt about cell biology at my school in Kougnohou, the tiny Togolese village where I grew up. I was 15 years old, and it was my first […]
Five ways to help young researchers succeed in Africa
A practical guide for research directors on how to improve institutional ecosystems for the benefit of the next generation of scientists. Herry Mapesi is a young physician researcher based in Ifakara, some 450km from the Tanzanian economic capital of Dar es Salaam. He has the loudest laughter in town, and apart from being occasionally perceived […]
Educating children displaced by Boko Haram is vital for Nigeria’s future
‘People dumps’ that house children displaced by Boko Haram could become breeding grounds for extremism unless the educational provision in them improves drastically, writes David Mba. Perhaps Nobel-prize winning author Wole Soyinka put it best when he wrote: “One’s own self-worth is tied to the worth of the community to which one belongs.” It’s a useful […]
How young Tunisians revitalised science in their homeland
Tunisia has increased its investment in education and science, but many professionals leave the country, representing a loss on that investment. Now, a global network of young Tunisian scientists is feeding diaspora expertise back into the country. Since gaining independence from France in 1956, Tunisia has made a lot of investments in education and science. […]
The Birdman of Ibadan: ‘Small actions can yield big results’
Adewale Awoyemi is a Nigerian ornithologist who coordinates the Ibadan Bird Club and manages the city’s International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Forest Center. Here he writes about his passion for conservation and how he earned the nickname ‘father of birds’. ————– Ibadan is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest cities by surface area. Anthropogenic activities in […]
Look to Africa to advance artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing society as profoundly as the steam engine and electricity have done. But unlike past technological revolutions, the AI revolution offers a unique chance to improve lives without opening up and exacerbating global inequalities. That will require widening of the locations where AI is done. The vast majority of experts are […]