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Copyright of Journal of Language & Law / Revista de Llengua i Dret is the property of Revista de Llengua i Dret and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, an attempt was made to locate the role of internationalisation in African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is argued that comprehensive international, intercultural, and global dimensions in the affairs of African tertiary institutions provide for a more nuanced and diversified higher education landscape. Through a desk study approach, dwelling mainly on existing literature, the paper examines the issues of internationalisation from the perspectives of diversity and inclusion, as well as the roles of the relevant key players within those institutions to practically deliver internationalisation strategies that will put the institution on a global pedestal while remaining locally and regionally relevant. More importantly, strategies for achieving comprehensive internationalisation are discussed drawing inferences from literature and documentary sources. The interrogation of these sources in relation to the expectations of the current and future HEIs to remain socially relevant and sustainable is carried out. HEIs in Africa must contribute to socio-economic change and engage with their quad-helix and eco-system partners to ensure that high end skills training, knowledge production, entrepreneurship and innovation are accelerated. In so doing, African HEIs must embrace diversity in its fullness including welcoming differences in gender, race, culture, nationality and providing platforms of engagement that allow for inclusion, and breaking silos to allow for a nuanced agenda of internationalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-colonial Africa was neither an educationally nor a technologically unsophisticated continent. While education was an integral part of the culture, issues of language identification and standardisation which are subject to contentious debate today were insignificant. Children learned community knowledge and history by asking questions instead of being taught in a hegemonic alien language. This article argues that education and development should take place in a broader context of human rights, and explores the links between three areas often dealt with separately, namely: language, education and development. The authors of this paper demonstrate that changing the face of the multi-dimensionalities of poverty within societies is possible only when education is constructed in a rights perspective over the favoured colonial languages, which are not an integral part of the culture and resources of a community. The authors make a distinction between the "right to education" and "rights in education," the latter of which are found to be more significant for the challenges Africa faces. It is argued here that the elements of Amartya Sen's "threshold" conditions for inclusion in human rights and self-development in education are essential, and that a more promising architecture of education would include what the authors term meta-narrative frameworks, i.e. interrelated policies. The authors contend that the neoliberal commodification of the knowledge sector has only exacerbated human rights and capabilities deprivation--which encompasses both human and income poverty.

References for the articles published in the December 2010 issue of "African Studies Review," are presented.

Background: Up to 1.45 billion people currently suffer from soil transmitted helminth infection, with the largest burden occurring in Africa and Asia. Safe and cost effective deworming treatment exists, but there is a debate about mass distribution of this treatment in high prevalence settings. While the World Health Organization recommends mass administration of anthelmintic drugs for preschool and school-aged children in high (>20%) prevalence settings, and several long run follow up studies of an influential trial have suggested large benefits that persist over time, recent systematic reviews have called this recommendation into question. Methods and findings: This paper analyzes the long-term impact of a cluster-randomized trial in eastern Uganda that provided mass deworming treatment to preschool aged children from 2000 to 2003 on the numeracy and literacy skills of children and young adults living in those villages in 2010-2015. This study uses numeracy and literacy data collected seven to twelve years after the end of the deworming trial in a randomly selected subset of communities from the original trial, by an education-focused survey that had no relationship to the deworming study. Building on an earlier working paper which used data from 2010 and 2011 survey rounds, this paper uses an additional four years of numeracy and literacy data (2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015). Aggregating data from all survey rounds, the difference between numeracy scores in treatment versus control communities is 0.07 standard deviations (SD) (95% CI -0.10, 0.24, p = 0.40), the difference in literacy scores is 0.05 SD (95% CI -0.16, 0.27, p = 0.62), and the difference in total scores is 0.07 SD (95% CI -0.11, 0.25, p = 0.44). There are significant differences in program impact by gender, with numeracy and literacy differentially positively affected for girls, and by age, with treatment effects larger for the primary school aged subsample. There are also significant treatment interactions for those living in households with more treatment-eligible children. There is no evidence of differential treatment effects on age at program eligibility or number of years of program eligibility. Conclusions: Mass deworming of preschool aged children in high prevalence communities in Uganda resulted in no statistically significant gains in numeracy or literacy 7-12 years after program completion. Point estimates were positive but imprecise; the study lacked sufficient power to rule out substantial positive effects or more modest negative effects. However, there is suggestive evidence that deworming was relatively more beneficial for girls, primary school aged children, and children living in households with other treated children. Research approval: As this analysis was conducted on secondary data which is publicly available, no research approval was sought or received. All individual records were anonymized by the data provider prior to public release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical research on the race between education and technology has focused on the West but barely touched upon 'the rest'. A new occupational wage database for 50 African and Asian economies allows us to compare long‐run patterns in skill premiums across the colonial and post‐colonial eras (c. 1870–2010). Our data reveal three major patterns. First, skilled labour was considerably more expensive in colonial Africa and Asia than in pre‐industrial Europe. Second, skill premiums were distinctly higher in Africa than in Asia. Third, in both regions, skill premiums fell dramatically over the course of the twentieth century, ultimately converging to levels long observed in the West. Our paper takes a first step to explain both the origins of the Africa–Asia gap and the drivers of global skill premium convergence, paying special attention to the colonial context that shaped demand, supply, and labour market institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing contemporary nutrition problems often requires application of knowledge from multiple disciplines. The scaling up nutrition (SUN) movement harnesses multiple sectors for effective global and in-country planning and implementation. Although the role of knowledge networks (academia and research institutions) is recognised, the how of engaging knowledge networks in the current SUN architecture is only now becoming apparent. For relevant sectors to play their roles effectively, observed capacity gaps, particularly in developing country settings, need to be addressed. The present paper presents the work being undertaken by the Ghana SUN Academic Platform (AP), a local knowledge network, towards strengthening nutrition capacity in Ghana. The AP presently provides technical support, evidence and capacity towards scaling up effective nutrition interventions in Ghana and beyond. The data presented draws heavily on the observations and collective experiences of the authors in practice, complemented by a review of relevant literature. The ultimate goal of the AP is to build capacity of professionals from nutrition and cognate sectors (including planning, agriculture, health, economics, research and academia). This is an essential ingredient for effective and durable SUN efforts. The paper recognises that both disciplinary and interdisciplinary capacity is required for effective SUN efforts in Africa, and offers an approach that utilises cross-sector/inter-professional, peer-learning and experiential learning initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates the relationship between South Africa's most important piece of educational policy, the South African Schools Act (SASA) (Republic of South Africa, 1996b), and learner identity. It seeks to understand how this central piece of South African educational legislation foreshadows, intersects with, foregrounds, prescribes and/or disturbs dominant notions of South African learner identity. What does the SASA say about the South African learner and particularly about what it expects the learner to be? The perspective used in this paper is that identity is constructed from history, memory, social and cultural institutions and power apparatuses. The specific interest of the paper is not to look so much at the mediation of identity in its practical forms, as in actual interchanges between subjects in the classroom, but to develop an understanding of the symbols and signifiers that are privileged in the formal and legal prescripts that surround the process of mediation. What significance this holds for the achievement of equality and justice in South Africa is what is explored here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school system in South Africa has only in recent years begun to more deeply grapple with issues of power and privilege along a number of axes of oppression including race, gender, class and recently, sexual and gender diversity. As a result, learners who embody sexual and gender diversity experiences spaces of belonging and exclusion in school settings. As a result, this paper asks: What needs to be done in the school system to reconstruct the "African child" to include sexual and gender diversity? Possibilities include inclusive policy implementation; inclusive learning and teaching resource materials; teacher preparedness to teach about and affirm sexual and gender diversity in the classroom and a clear rejection of homophobic and transphobic violence. The lessons learnt through the process of challenging racism in the school system - such as around essentialising, othering and systemic violence - have yet to be fully applied to sexual and gender diversity in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is regarded as the least developed continent in terms of overall development and specifically in terms of human capital development (HCD) efforts. Research on the determinants of HCD in Africa is scanty, as the literature is dominated by country-specific studies as well as group of country studies that primarily focus on the effect of human capital on growth and other economic development parameters. Therefore, this paper investigates the determinants of human capital development in 33 African countries over a 14-year period from 2000 to 2013. The empirical analysis is predicated on Sen's capability approach that was modified following Binder and Georgiadis (2011) in order to explicitly account for the role of health, infrastructure and institutions as potential drivers of HCD. This is a departure from previous studies that focused primarily on the role of education. In addition to preliminary tests such as line plot, descriptive statistics and correlation analysis carried out, the data is analysed using panel unit root, cointegration and causality techniques. Findings show that all the variables are integrated of order one while HCD and its determinants have a stable long-run equilibrium relationship. Specifically, all the variables significantly influence HCD in the long run, whereas the contemporaneous models suggest that only institutions matter. Utilizing alternative estimators as well as estimation of subsamples, robustness tests reinforce our findings. Therefore, African governments may consider supporting HCD through sustained investment in the education and health sectors. At the same time, short-term gains may be attained through enhanced institutional quality and infrastructure development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While school-aged children in low- and middle-income countries remain highly exposed to acute infections, programs targeting this age group remain limited in scale and scope. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of a new and comprehensive primary school-based health intervention program on student-reported morbidity and anthropometric outcomes in Lusaka, Zambia. Methods: A prospective matched control study identified 12 classes in 7 schools for the intervention and 12 classes in 7 matched schools as controls. Teachers in intervention schools were trained to deliver health lessons and to refer sick students to care. In addition, vitamin A and deworming medication were biannually administered to intervention students. The primary study outcome was student-reported morbidity. Secondary outcomes were weight, height, health knowledge, and absenteeism. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate program impact. Results: 380 students ages 4–16 were enrolled in the study in 2015, and 97% were followed up at endline in 2016. The intervention decreased the adjusted odds of self-reported acute illnesses by 38% (95% CI: 0.48, 0.77) and the adjusted odds of stunting by 52% (95% CI: 0.26, 0.87). It also increased health knowledge by 0.53 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.24, 0.81). No impact was found on weight (adjusted mean difference β = 0.17, 95% CI: - 1.11, 1.44) and student absenteeism (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.60, 1.33). Conclusion: The results presented in this paper suggest that comprehensive school-based health programs may offer a highly effective way to improve students’ health knowledge as well as their health status. Given their low cost, a more general adoption and implementation of such programs seems recommendable. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility of individual (istic) identity formation is explored within a context of a synergistic and communal support system. Within this context, the intrinsic complexities of the African child who enters the academia with a multiplicity of epistemic identity contestations are simultaneously explored. The ensuing alienation resulting from the cultural displacement from the known and familiar to the unknown and unfamiliar is brought into view as a factor for further interrogation. Attention is thus drawn to the implications for identity formation in this cultural and epistemic displacement. In this discussion the Ubuntu philosophical orientation is presented as part of a transformative pathway of transition into the multiple contextual nuances of identity formation. This is coupled with participatory praxis within the paradigm of community-based action for transformation. The empirical data of this discussion accrues from a study in which the existential realities and complexities of being a Black African in a previously white institution of higher learning were brought into view. This study paid specific attention to the convergence of language and identity in relation to a contextualized understanding of the performance (as it was conceived of in this study) of this cohort. The findings of this study pointed towards the need for a synergistic student support system that would provide individualized or individualistic and customized support. I argue here that the African child is often kept in a cyclical position of pathologizing, insubordination and multilayered subjugation, within a system that does not adequately provide support for this positionality. This paper thus interrogates the possibility and potential of the collective in harnessing the benefit to be derived from communal interaction and engagement in the direction of interpersonal and intrapersonal transformation. In this regard I present the tenets of the Ubuntu way of life within a decolonial synergistic support system that takes into consideration the value of communal interactions but not at the expense of individual transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the practice of inclusive education has recently been widely embraced as an ideal model for education, the acceptance of inclusive education practices has not translated into reality in most mainstream classrooms. Despite the fact that education policies in South Africa stipulate that all learners should be provided with the opportunities to participate as far as possible in all classroom activities, the implementation of inclusive education is still hampered by a combination of a lack of resources and the attitudes and actions of the teachers in the classroom. The main purpose of this paper was to develop a deeper understanding of a group of South African teachers' personal understanding about barriers to learning and how their understanding relates to their consequent actions to implement inclusive education in their classrooms. A qualitative research approach placed within a cultural-historical and bio-ecological theoretical framework was used. The findings, in this paper, indicate that the way in which teachers understand a diversity of learning needs is based on the training that they initially received as teachers, which focused on a deficit, individualised approach to barriers to learning and development, as well as contextual challenges, and that both have direct and substantial effects on teachers' classroom practices. As a result, they engage in practices in their classrooms that are less inclusive, by creating dual learning opportunities that are not sufficiently made available for everyone, with the result that every learner is not able to participate fully as an accepted member of their peer group in all classroom activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide an expose of digital-age library and information science (LIS) education for an African agenda, this paper adopts an emergent qualitative research design by drawing on the literature on LIS education in Africa. It also draws on data gleaned from a survey of heads of schools of LIS in South Africa, and from content analyses of LIS school websites in South Africa and selected parts of the continent. The paper locates its narrative within Abbott's chaos of disciplines theory and concludes that the LIS discipline's "interstitial nature," its "fractal distinctions in time," and the resulting chaos of disciplines should not be seen as a crisis for LIS education in Africa and globally, but as an opportunity for a paradigm shift to broaden the LIS disciplinary domain and to stake an intellectual claim on this extended domain--and so contribute to the growth and development of LIS services in Africa within the context of an African development agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of pacing in Africa has evolved in an uncoordinated way across the continent with significant variation in local expertise, cost, and utilization. There are many countries where pacemaker services do not meet one-hundredth of the national demand. Regional, national, and institutional standards for pacemaker qualification and credentials are lacking. This paper reviews the current needs for bradycardia pacing and evaluates what standards should be set to develop pacemaker services in a resource-constrained continent, including the challenges and opportunities of capacity building and training as well as standards for training programs (training prerequisites, case volumes, program content, and evaluation)., (Copyright © 2020 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Tone is an important feature of African tone languages. The aspect of tone identification, marking and analysis seem to be problematic in the teaching of most Nigerian languages; even in the existing orthographies apart from Yoruba and Tiv. The paper therefore proposed the use of modern technological aid for effective teaching of tones, with a view to providing insight into the analysis of Anaang/Ibibio tones. This study examined the relevance of the computer and software in language to show how the teacherslearners in a setting like Anaang/Ibibio stand to benefit from the use of modern technological devices in language research. The paper argues that teachers need to revise their methods in line with current technological trends for a better understanding of tone. This entails taking advantage of the double resources which the computer, and the access software provided, and adding to it the human intelligence. The position of the paper is that the computer is a more recent direction in language research and proved to be result oriented for the teaching/learning of tone. The application of modern technological device like software PRAAT and computer enhanced a feasibility study of the different patterns of tone. The use of spectrographic analysis actually converted the abstract sounds to ideal and visible sounds, thereby enhanced easy identification of the different tones. This paper therefore establishes a basis for the understanding of the relative tone/pitch forms of Anaang /Ibibio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Educación XX1 is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The concept of soft power has recently become more integrated in China's diplomatic strategy and foreign policy: this work discusses the "Soft Power with Chinese characteristics" and is polarized on the application in African countries. The realm of higher education represents the focus of China's most systematically planned soft power policy and cultural diplomacy; this is evident in Africa where Beijing has committed to the development of human resources. The paper aims to examine the China's use of the soft power and cultural diplomacy and, specifically, the investment in education and human resource development in Africa. It discusses the main aspects of China's education aid ranging from: (1) Confucius Institutes (C.I.), which are providing language and culture-related training in host countries; (2) longer term scholarships and short-term training (3) school construction and stand-alone education projects and, more in general, the development of capacity building for the structural transformation C.I. appears similar to other cultural institutes then, in order to better understand the importance of this soft power instrument, the inter-related dimensions of a network communication approach have been examined. China claims partnership is at the heart of its higher education cooperation with Africa and, if this seems most obvious in the Confucius Institute, several of other modalities rely upon a Chinese partner to deliver staffing, local or overseas training, and/or administration. From this point of view, based on bilateral consultations and dialogs on equal footing, the China-Africa educational exchange and cooperation seems to satisfy the demands of Africa in educational development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the performance of key factors influencing the prospect of Africa's poorest children avoiding being left behind in poverty by 2030 as required by the United Nation's Agenda for Sustainable Development, a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) declared in 2015. At that time, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was facing both rising debt and deterioration of the fiscal space required to provide resources. Quantitative methods employing descriptive analysis on secondary data are used in this study to compare the trend of child poverty, as represented by under-5 mortality rates (U5MR), both over time and between country clusters. U5MR was chosen because it is an indicator of the well-being of a nation's children. Countries were "clustered" into quartiles based on their average U5MR between 2000 and 2018. The results indicate marked disparities in U5MR across SSA. No strong association was found between economic growth and U5MR, but good governance, as demonstrated by progress towards achieving the SDGs, correlates with decreases in both U5MR and the incidence of childhood stunting. In the first U5MR quartile, the SDG index score is over 50% in all child poverty indicators under consideration, whereas in the fourth quartile it is below 50%. SSA as a whole performed well in child poverty indicators from 2000 to 2015; however, consideration of the period from 2015 to 2018 suggests that much remains to be done to lift every child out of poverty. Within and across countries, critical areas for immediate attention include: improving sanitation and access to clean water and lowering the prevalence of anaemia and stunting; increasing the rates of exclusive breastfeeding, birth registration, and pre-primary enrolment; and reducing youth unemployment and socioeconomic disparities. Cash transfers to low-income families may help address the added economic insecurity due to COVID-19 that has left more children vulnerable to child marriage and child labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Global Strategy to Eliminate Lymphatic Filiariasis (GFELF) through Mass Drug Administration (MDA) has been implemented in Ghana since the year 2000 and transmission has been interrupted in 76 of 98 endemic districts. To improve the MDA in the remaining districts with microfilaria (MF) prevalence above the 1% threshold for the interruption of transmission, there is a need to identify and implement appropriate quality improvement (QI) strategies. This paper describes the use of intervention mapping to select QI strategies to improve an existing evidence-based MDA program in Northern Ghana. Methods: Due to the complexities associated with implementing evidence-based programs (EBP) such as the lymphatic filariasis MDA and variability in the context, an initial assessment to identify implementation bottlenecks associated with the quality of implementation of lymphatic filariasis MDA in the Bole District of Ghana was conducted using a mixed methods approach. Based on the findings of the initial assessment, a context specific QI strategy was designed and operationalized using intervention mapping strategy in terms of seven domains: actor, the action, action targets, temporality, dose, implementation outcomes addressed, and theoretical justification. Results: The initial needs assessment shows that the persistent transmission of lymphatic filariasis in the Bole District is characterized by high levels of refusal to ingest the drug, high levels of reported adverse drug reactions, low MDA coverage at community level, poor adherence to the MDA protocol and non-participants’ responsiveness. Conclusion: This study has shown that it is feasible to develop a context specific QI strategy for an existing evidence-based intervention based on an initial needs assessment through stakeholder participation using the IM approach. However, working (towards) QI requires more time than is usually available in public health service. Sufficient theoretical knowledge of implementation research and experience with technical IM experts must be available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, the educational attainment of African children has been a focal point of policy and research since the end of apartheid in 1994. Individual and policy-level determinants of child development and educational outcomes have been exhaustively investigated. A less researched perspective is the role of community and household composition on educational outcomes. The aim of this paper is to explore the socio-economic and demographic composition of communities and households that influence grade repetition among children in South Africa. The nationally representative South African General Household Survey of 2017 is analysed. The sample is children, 7-14 years old who have repeated a grade (N=529,624). Frequency distributions and multilevel modelling techniques are used to estimate the impact of household and community characteristics on child education outcomes. Results show that males (62.29%) and older children, 10-14 years old (61.27%), have higher grade repetition. In addition, children in female-headed households (54.57%) and poor households (61.13%) also have higher repetition rates. Finally, household poverty (OR: 1.617) and community poverty (OR: 1.944) are associated with increased likelihood of grade repetition. To ensure that South African children progress through school, the households and communities they are nested in require attention and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we draw on a recent ethnographic study in a rural primary school to illustrate the ways that vestiges of colonialism remain deeply imbricated in contemporary schooling in Ghana. In reference to the history of education, we use evidence from this study to argue that colonial constructions of the African child are reproduced within schooling. We highlight the significance of schooling for the production of learner subjectivities and point to the ways that the institution of schooling and its everyday life continue to echo and re-instantiate colonial constructions of the African child. Drawing on the voices and experiences of students and teachers we illustrate the ways that formal schooling continues to work to devalue indigenous knowledge, to regulate and discipline African children and produce their inferiorisation through their education. We specifically highlight the gender inflections in the institutional routines of schooling. Following a brief introduction to the historical context of education in Ghana, we outline the research study and then the theoretical position upon which our analysis is based. We develop the analysis along three major discursive themes starting with the formal institutional structures of the school, highlighting the ways its disciplinary boundaries structure age and gender relations. We then turn to the curriculum and pedagogic practices that shape student understandings of what constitutes legitimate knowledge and the processes of learning. In the final theme, we examine the language of instruction and the ways that this produces exclusions and vilifies indigenous languages and the cultures that are expressed through it. In the conclusion, we draw the key points together to reflect on the extent to which contemporary schooling in Ghana sustains the production of the African child framed in the colonial era. Finally, we suggest that the educational experience of students offers an important starting point for efforts in decolonizing the school and curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ascent of the National Party to power in South Africa in 1948, education reflected apartheid thinking and practices and implemented the ideology of separate development in educational institutions. Pronouncements of the African child's inferiority were reflected in government policy and legislation. The origins of this thinking and practice however can be traced to prevalent and pervasive existing racist pseudo-scientific theories where the African child was categorised and seen as intellectually inferior. Pseudo-scientific theories on the human intellect had become part of the thinking and practice of racial superiority thinking and practices propagated especially during the first part of the 20th century. These assertions rationalised social, political and ideological arrangements of segregation at the time and formed part of the contextual mind-set in South Africa. Yet even today where a democratic and inclusive society, in which the development and recognition of the whole child is advocated, racist thinking and practices still emerge, especially in education. The aim of this paper is to examine some of these pseudo-scientific theories on the intellect of the African child from a historical-educational perspective, their reflection in educational policy documents and practices and diverse perceptions thereof. Some thoughts on the way forward for education practice, based on this discussion are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Value Added in Africa (VAA) is a social enterprise working to help build incomes and secure livelihoods through increased value addition in African trade. In the course of their work they uncovered a marked reluctance on the part of buyers and suppliers in Europe towards doing business with African companies. This article captures the outcomes of a study undertaken by VAA in response to this problem of bias towards African suppliers and products. The study engaged with the business sector, business students, development education practitioners and academics. The study concluded that an intervention in third level business education was warranted to inculcate improved awareness and understanding of the impact of business on development, and to build awareness among business students of their potential as future business leaders in making choices which affect poorer people. The Fellowship in Business and Development was established in 2013 as a partnership between VAA and UCD School of Business, to work across all business schools in Ireland. This paper relates the study's findings, how the Fellowship was designed, and the early experience of implementing the programme in 2013/2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communications technologies in education remain the toast of the millennium in the sphere of education. The irony however in such situation is that the professionals (the teachers) in the sector who marvel and revel at it may not be aware that in one hand they are creating and promoting their own albatross and on the other hand that the younger generation of beneficiaries are at the receiving end as the aims and purposes of education has been unknowingly redefined for them. This paper maintains that education has a normative dimension which is negated or blurred by technologies. It discusses the impact of these technologies on traditional pedagogy and argues on the dangers of replacing the traditional face to face encounter in teaching and learning, limitations these technologies in the philosophy of education. It also argues strongly that these technologies in education are an im-perialist economic agenda in the current trend of globalisation. This imperialist agenda is the latent albatross hanging on the neck of the teaching profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a cursory history of Tertiary Education in Nigeria and attempts a philosophical analysis of the concepts of quality and access to education; two major concepts that featured prominently in the goals of Nigeria's Tertiary Education as stated in Nigeria's National Policy on Education (2013). Subsequently, a philosophical assessment of the goals of Tertiary Education as stated in the National Policy document and the implementation is undertaken. Based on this philosophical assessment, it is shown among other things, that the concepts of quality and access to education as reflected in the goals of Tertiary Education are better used with clarifications. In addition, it is argued that the history of Tertiary Education in Nigeria is not totally that of woe because Tertiary Education has made some remarkable impact in the nation's developmental strides. It is however emphasized that there are still enormous challenges facing Nigeria's Tertiary Education especially when compared with global best practices. Furthermore it is argued that there is still a wide gap between the policy statements on Tertiary Education and their implementation. Suggestions are made towards addressing the challenges pointed out. These suggestions include: government redoubled commitment towards the funding of Tertiary Education, the enforcement of ethics education that has its foundation in the traditional values of Africa in order to address the prevailing laxity in the moral tone of many of the Tertiary Institutions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Crime and violence causes massive disruptions to the health, survival and development of populations. In South Africa, incredibly high rates of crime and violence are noted. The country also has a very large youth population whose health, survival and development are key to economic growth. Among other efforts to encourage healthy youth development and the promotion of social activities such as sports, youth groups, choirs and so forth. This study examines the relationship between perceived community safety and the uptake of social activities among youth in South Africa. Data and methods: This paper uses data from the National Youth Lifestyle Survey (2008) with an unweighted sample of 4,391 youth (age12-22 years old). Using chi-square and logistic regression analysis the association between perceived community safety and social activity participation are tested. Findings: The results indicate that youth participation in social activities in South Africa is high (55% of males and 45% of females). Among males, the most prominent activity is sports (51.8%), while for females there is high participation in choir and singing groups (55.68%). More than 50% of males perceive their communities as risky while less than half of females feel the same. Male youth are more likely to participate in social activities if they perceive their communities as risky (OR = 1.04). Females (OR = 0.83), youth have a negative view of their future (OR = 0.43) are less likely to participate in social activities. Conclusions: There exists an association between youth’s perception of community safety and their participation in social activities. Whether sports and groups are protective or enabling environments for youth from unsafe communities is moot. More in-depth research is needed on why youth participate in these clubs and groups to truly understand the role of social activities in South African societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous knowledge points to the fact that Africa has been able to generate, test and apply knowledge through its own methodologies and approaches. This knowledge sustained communities for years prior to colonialism which somehow downplayed the value of indigenous knowledge and promoted western knowledge systems. Colonialism created dependence on western knowledge systems and Africa has over the years neglected its own rich indigenous knowledge. This paper sought to highlight challenges faced in the quest to incorporate IK into developmental goals and projects. Furthermore, the study also sought to recommend ways through which Africans can promote IK in its developmental projects. A desk research was carried out to show the challenges faced in African indigenous knowledge. The results of the study showed that there was a need for policies, legislation, standards, research capacitation, investment and local inclusion in indigenous knowledge research, documentation and use. The study also pointed to the fact that indigenous knowledge could be tapped into for developmental goals and projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School enrollment has universally increased over the last 25 years in low-income countries. Enrolling in school, however, does not assure that children learn. A large share of children in low-income countries complete their primary education lacking even basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. Teacher quality is a key determinant of student learning, but not much is known about teacher quality in low-income countries. This paper discusses an ongoing research program intended to help fill this void. We use data collected through direct observations, unannounced visits, and tests from primary schools in seven sub-Saharan African countries to answer three questions: How much do teachers teach? What do teachers know? How well do teachers teach? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we approach 2015 the question of what, if anything, should replace the MDGs becomes increasingly important. This paper presents findings from studies on the implementation of the poverty, education and gender MDGs in Kenya and South Africa. These show how top-down processes associated with meeting the MDG targets led by government or large NGOs are disassociated from bottom-up engagements with gender, education and poverty by households or communities. A missing middle linked with professional action by teachers or civil servants and enhanced information flow means that groups from the top and the bottom talk past each other. We therefore argue that these experiences with implementing the MDGs, coupled with a variety of global changes since 2000s, mean that a major concern in developing a set of post 2015 goals is the need to address the disarticulation between 'top down' and 'bottom up' approaches in international development. We link this challenge with five principles put forward for post 2015 goals and indicators: holism, equity, sustainability, ownership and global obligation. The application of this approach to work on goals and targets is illustrated in relation to nutrition/food security and secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais is the property of Associacao Nacional de Pos-Graduacao e Pesquisa em Planejamento Urbano e Regional and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship & Education is the property of Institute of Economic Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the use of primary sources in fieldwork related to African history. The author argues that fieldworkers should make primary evidence materials available to all history scholars, with a particular focus on the availability of oral information. The creation of archives by academic historians performing research on oral traditions and oral history is addressed. Topics include field records, the value of scholarly data for particular historical periods such as the colonial period in Africa, and the importance of such archives for the study of African oral traditions and oral history.

Copyright of International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

(Learning, Culture, Spirituality and Local Knowedge: Implications for African Schooling) – Using a Ghanaian case study, this paper looks at the relevance and implications of local knowledge, culture and spirituality for understanding and implementing educational change in Africa. It examines how teachers, educators, and students use local cultural knowledge about self, personhood and community. Among the critical issues raised are: How do subjects understand the nature, impact and implications of spirituality for schooling and education? What is the role of spirituality, culture, language and social politics in knowledge production? What contribution does the local cultural knowledge base make to the search for genuine educational options in Africa? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The population of Ghana is increasingly becoming urbanized with about 70% of the estimated 27 million people living in urban and peri-urban areas. Nonetheless, eight out of the ten regions in Ghana remain predominantly rural where only 32% of the national health sector workforce works. Moreover, the rural-urban disparities in the density of health tutors (staff responsible for pre-service training of health professionals) are enormous. This paper explores perceived needs of health tutors in rural and urban health training institutions in Ghana. Methods: This is a descriptive qualitative study conducted in the Greater Accra and Northern regions of Ghana. The Study used the deductive thematic and sub-thematic analysis approaches. Five health training institutions were randomly sampled, and 72 tutors engaged in separate focus group discussions with an average size of 14 participants per group in each training institution. Results: Perceived rural-urban disparities among health tutors were found in the payment of extra duty allowances; school infrastructure including libraries and internet connectivity; staff accommodation; and opportunities for scholarships and higher education. Health tutors in rural areas generally expressed more frustration with these work conditions than those in urban areas. Conclusions: There is the need to initiate and sustain work incentives that promote motivation of rural health tutors to control ongoing rural-urban migration of qualified staff. It is recommended the following incentives be prioritized to promote retention of qualified health tutors in rural health training schools: payment of research, book and rural allowances; early promotion of rural staff; prioritizing rural tutors for scholarships, and introduction of national best health tutor awards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools are described as ideal settings for nurturing and fostering children's hopes, and the teaching profession as rooted in hopefulness. However, there is a paucity of research linking hope theory and teacher education in the South African context. Using evidence from my own transformative, visual participatory research with rural South African children on hope and well-being, I argue in this position paper that hope theory, in particular an African perspective of hope, should be positioned alongside discussions on practising an engaged pedagogy to enable teaching practices that are more congruent with an Afrocentric worldview. This article argues a need to infuse relational hope in teacher education practices by encouraging collaborative, participatory learning engagements that create safe and creative spaces for critical dialogue, allowing for multiple voices and experiences to be heard. Such practices could in turn foster a sense of collective hope-characterised by the values of connectedness, caring, and collective agency-thereby equipping student teachers with the tools to build communities of hope in their classrooms and schools. The article concludes with implications of mobilising such a practice of hope through an engaged pedagogy in student teacher education in the South African context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Mainstream feminism’ in India remained substantially elitist in its concerns carrying the legacy of ‘western feminism’. As such it failed to appreciate, accommodate and represent the specific concerns of Dalit women. Consequently Dalit women are forced to lead a separate movement. It is the premise of this paper that the nascent Dalit Feminism, which could not derive any theoretical and representational sustenance from the Indian Feminism, can draw from the African American womanist/feminist experiences as it shares a similar socio-historical environment. Further, it argues in favor of Dalit feminism as a more inclusive kind of feminism that challenges oppression of any form for women in India or elsewhere. As much of Dalit women’s writing is produced in Indian vernaculars a few short stories from Telugu Dalit writing, translated into English are analyzed to reflect different perspectives of Dalit women’s discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's accounts on the development of science education in Ghana, Africa, as based from a working paper prepared for the Fourteenth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs. These accounts are being derived from the author's observations during the six months he spent in 1963-64 as a visiting professor of physics at the University of Ghana. The author said that his length of stay in Ghana was long enough to gain an impressive view of people's great efforts to overcome their difficulties, of their optimistic belief in progress through education, and finally of their openmindedness and warm hospitality.

Background: Tanzania, like other African countries, faces significant health workforce shortages. With advisory and partnership from Columbia University, the Ifakara Health Institute and the Tanzanian Training Centre for International Health (TTCIH) developed and implemented the Connect Project as a randomized cluster experimental trial of the childhood survival impact of recruiting, training, and deploying of a new cadre of paid community health workers (CHW), named "Wawazesha wa afya ya Jamii" (WAJA). This paper presents an estimation of the cost of training and deploying WAJA in three rural districts of Tanzania.Methods: Costing data were collected by tracking project activity expenditure records and conducting in-depth interviews of TTCIH staff who have led the training and deployment of WAJA, as well as their counterparts at Public Clinical Training Centres who have responsibility for scaling up the WAJA training program. The trial is registered with the International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Register number ( ISRCTN96819844 ).Results: The Connect training cost was US$ 2,489.3 per WAJA, of which 40.1 % was for meals, 20.2 % for accommodation 10.2 % for tuition fees and the remaining 29.5 % for other costs including instruction and training facilities and field allowance. A comparable training program estimated unit cost for scaling-up this training via regional/district clinical training centres would be US$ 833.5 per WAJA. Of this unit cost, 50.3 % would involve the cost of meals, 27.4 % training fees, 13.7 % for field allowances, 9 % for accommodation and medical insurance. The annual running cost of WAJA in a village will cost US$ 1.16 per capita.Conclusion: Costs estimated by this study are likely to be sustainable on a large scale, particularly if existing regional/district institutions are utilized for this program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues arising from relationships between academic departments in universities and external stakeholders are numerous and complex. The matter is illustrated in this paper by focusing on a dispute in the theology department at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, which came to a head from 2004 to 2007. The dispute itself is detailed and developments influencing it at the local, national and global (worldwide theological education) levels are considered. A number of education issues that were at stake in the dispute are then examined in relation to models of leadership, models of teaching, student learning, equity, and the place of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discipline of bioinformatics has developed rapidly since the complete sequencing of the first genomes in the 1990s. The development of many high-throughput techniques during the last decades has ensured that bioinformatics has grown into a discipline that overlaps with, and is required for, the modern practice of virtually every field in the life sciences. This has placed a scientific premium on the availability of skilled bioinformaticians, a qualification that is extremely scarce on the African continent. The reasons for this are numerous, although the absence of a skilled bioinformatician at academic institutions to initiate a training process and build sustained capacity seems to be a common African shortcoming. This dearth of bioinformatics expertise has had a knock-on effect on the establishment of many modern high-throughput projects at African institutes, including the comprehensive and systematic analysis of genomes from African populations, which are among the most genetically diverse anywhere on the planet. Recent funding initiatives from the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome rust are aimed at ameliorating this shortcoming. In this paper, we discuss the problems that have limited the establishment of the bioinformatics field in Africa, as well as propose specific actions that will help with the education and training of bioinformaticians on the continent. This is an absolute requirement in anticipation of a boom in high-throughput approaches to human health issues unique to data from African populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Sociological Review is the property of CODESRIA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper is about why and how African-centered Mathematics can be a driving force in Africa's development efforts. That Africa was the center of Mathematics history for tens of thousands of years is hardly a matter of dispute. From the civilizations across the continent emerged contributions which would enrich both ancient and modern understandings of nature through Mathematics. Yet, today, scholars and other professionals working in the field of Mathematics Education in Africa have identified a plethora of problematic issues in the endeavor. In this paper, I argue that a major reason for these problems is that the African mother tongue has been greatly neglected in the teaching of Mathematics in Africa. This situation must be changed if the continent is to benefit from the tremendous opportunities Mathematics offers. While a great deal of work exists on the connections between Linguistics and Mathematics in general, few can be found on the nexus between African languages and Mathematics in particular, and these latter works are not linguistics-theoretically grounded. Thus, this essay begins by identifying the objects to the study of Linguistics and Mathematics and delineates which ones they study in common. Next, since the object of the study of Linguistics is language, the nine design features of language are employed to examine each of the objects as it pertains to African languages. After that, Mathematics of Sustainability and Mathematics of Tipping Points are suggested as a means to help Africa's development efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The society we live in is in constant need of information to solve its problems. The library serves as the agency responsible for the collecting, processing, managing and disseminating of this information in various formats to meet the varying needs of the users. Information may be needed for education, entertainment, socio-cultural development etc. It is therefore the duty of the librarian to ensure that there is availability and accessibility to the required information whenever it is needed. This paper looks at the nature of libraries, the structures of libraries, the literature of libraries and common problems plaguing the delivery of library services in Africa. In order for the library to take its place in information management in Africa, several solutions were suggested. These solutions include: increased funding, ICT skill acquisition, resource sharing and networking etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]