East Africa: HIV/AIDS wreaks havoc on Education in Partner States

[Guest guest]

East Africa: HIV/AIDS wreaks havoc on Education in Partner States

15 January 2011

interview

Despite the strides made in provision of education in the five East African

states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, children from very poor

backgrounds are still not going to school and are engaged in child labour, early

marriages for girls while others ARE living on the streets, according to the

Principal Education Officer for the East African Community(EAC). In this

exclusive Interview with the independent East African News Agency (EANA), Mr

Aloysius Chebet says that the region should expand school feeding programmes so

as to attract and retain in school children from poor households. He also said

HIV/AIDs has adversely affected all the EAC Partner States.

Q: The EAC countries are currently engaged in harmonization of the various

social and economic sectors in the region, what is being done for education?

A: The East African Community partner states have made an explicit decision to

co-operate in various spheres of socio-economic and political development.

Education is one of these areas of cooperation. In this regard, emphasis has

been placed on capacity-building and sharing, joint efforts to develop

specialized training facilities and division of responsibilities in training and

research as well as harmonizing of qualification frameworks within the EAC

partner states.

In your opinion, what are the main challenges in improving education standards

across the EAC?

A number of challenges have been identified in the education systems of the five

EAC partner states. Gender disparity remains a challenge in certain areas

because of harmful cultural practices. The Free Primary Education (FPE) programs

face limitations such as lack of equipment and facilities such as desks, land to

build schools in slum areas; inadequate equipment and materials to cater for

education of children with special needs.

Large enrolments have resulted in inadequate teachers in public schools leading

to heavy teaching workloads. The national pupil-teacher ratios are dropping in

Kenya from 39:1 in 2003 to 43:1 in 2006 and to 44:1 in 2007; This is way below

the expected target of 40:1 by 2007.

Moreover, the impact of HIV/AIDS has been heavy on the education sector in all

the partner states, due to loss of teachers through death, sickness and long

periods of absenteeism and increased number of orphans and vulnerable children.

In all the five states, availability of complete, accurate and reliable

statistics in certain categories such as children with special needs remains a

challenge, and this also applies to high cost of special equipment/facilities

and materials . Assessments to establish the nature of their special needs are

not institutionalized so as to enable these children to be enrolled in

educational programs.

What about the provision of free primary education, its challenges?

A: The implementation of Free Primary Education (FPE) has negatively affected

the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) classes in most of the partner

states. Parents are reluctant or unable to pay fee/levies for their younger

children in nursery classes while the older ones are learning " free " of charge.

This brings in the important issue of how to raise additional resources to

support the FPE programme inclusive of ECDE in the region. Policy documents

espouse the mainstreaming of ECDE as part of public education but the reality is

daunting, and yet the importance of ECDE is well documented.

One of the biggest challenges facing the FPE in the partner states is its

sustainability. An estimated 8.4 per cent of school going children in the East

African region are still out of school and these are mainly disadvantaged

children from very poor households, children with special learning needs

[physically and mentally challenged], internally displaced children, street

children and child labourers. As we strive for harmonization, this is an area

that will need urgent attention.

So what needs to be done?

Despite the strides made in provision of education in the partner states,

children from very poor backgrounds were still not going to school and are

engaged in child labour, early marriages for the girls while others were living

on the streets. These children have failed to access education because of

poverty, indirect cost of education like uniform, opportunity cost and

examination fees among others. For education to be available and benefit all in

the region, the adult education program should be given support and go hand in

hand with the formal education...

Gender and regional disparities is a major problem in the region and requires

collaborative efforts to address the drivers of gender disparity such as harmful

cultural practices like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and " moranism " affecting

the girl and boy child respectively.

To address the regional disparities, there will be need for enhanced political

good will and resource allocation in addition to improvement of infrastructure

in those regions. The school feeding programmes need to be expanded so as to

attract and retain children in school from poor households and others from hard

to reach areas such as slums, the displaced and children in other remote areas.

What needs to be done about manpower in the education sector?

Across the partner states, more teachers need to be employed, especially in

primary schools to reduce student-teacher ratio and foster quality and

productivity in education. Due to increased primary school enrolment rates as a

result of FPE, it is envisaged that employment was created for teachers and the

expansion of school infrastructure created businesses particularly for the local

contractors and suppliers.

Is there any official exchange program of staff and students among the

universities in the region?

The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community provides that

concerted measures shall be taken to foster co-operation in education and

training. Among the identified priority areas of co-operation, the

Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) is charged with the

implementation of this important mandate.

Today, the IUCEA is pursuing a set of programmes affecting education in region

from the primary school to the universities levels, including the over-arching

programme on the harmonization of curricula and education systems of the EAC

partner states. The programmes address specific areas of activities in promoting

quality and relevant education, research and training; development of education,

science and technology in the EAC; promoting networking among the regional

universities and international research and development partners for promotion

of research and scholarship development; and the International Fellowship

Programme under which outstanding East African students are annually awarded

scholarships for specialized studies in leading universities, both locally and

abroad.

Moreover, IUCEA is managing with great success regional universities

collaboration in faculty staff and students exchange programmes within the

region.

Source/Credit http://www.arushatimes.co.tz/Society_5.htm

[Guest guest]

East Africa: HIV/AIDS wreaks havoc on Education in Partner States

15 January 2011

interview

Despite the strides made in provision of education in the five East African

states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, children from very poor

backgrounds are still not going to school and are engaged in child labour, early

marriages for girls while others ARE living on the streets, according to the

Principal Education Officer for the East African Community(EAC). In this

exclusive Interview with the independent East African News Agency (EANA), Mr

Aloysius Chebet says that the region should expand school feeding programmes so

as to attract and retain in school children from poor households. He also said

HIV/AIDs has adversely affected all the EAC Partner States.

Q: The EAC countries are currently engaged in harmonization of the various

social and economic sectors in the region, what is being done for education?

A: The East African Community partner states have made an explicit decision to

co-operate in various spheres of socio-economic and political development.

Education is one of these areas of cooperation. In this regard, emphasis has

been placed on capacity-building and sharing, joint efforts to develop

specialized training facilities and division of responsibilities in training and

research as well as harmonizing of qualification frameworks within the EAC

partner states.

In your opinion, what are the main challenges in improving education standards

across the EAC?

A number of challenges have been identified in the education systems of the five

EAC partner states. Gender disparity remains a challenge in certain areas

because of harmful cultural practices. The Free Primary Education (FPE) programs

face limitations such as lack of equipment and facilities such as desks, land to

build schools in slum areas; inadequate equipment and materials to cater for

education of children with special needs.

Large enrolments have resulted in inadequate teachers in public schools leading

to heavy teaching workloads. The national pupil-teacher ratios are dropping in

Kenya from 39:1 in 2003 to 43:1 in 2006 and to 44:1 in 2007; This is way below

the expected target of 40:1 by 2007.

Moreover, the impact of HIV/AIDS has been heavy on the education sector in all

the partner states, due to loss of teachers through death, sickness and long

periods of absenteeism and increased number of orphans and vulnerable children.

In all the five states, availability of complete, accurate and reliable

statistics in certain categories such as children with special needs remains a

challenge, and this also applies to high cost of special equipment/facilities

and materials . Assessments to establish the nature of their special needs are

not institutionalized so as to enable these children to be enrolled in

educational programs.

What about the provision of free primary education, its challenges?

A: The implementation of Free Primary Education (FPE) has negatively affected

the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) classes in most of the partner

states. Parents are reluctant or unable to pay fee/levies for their younger

children in nursery classes while the older ones are learning " free " of charge.

This brings in the important issue of how to raise additional resources to

support the FPE programme inclusive of ECDE in the region. Policy documents

espouse the mainstreaming of ECDE as part of public education but the reality is

daunting, and yet the importance of ECDE is well documented.

One of the biggest challenges facing the FPE in the partner states is its

sustainability. An estimated 8.4 per cent of school going children in the East

African region are still out of school and these are mainly disadvantaged

children from very poor households, children with special learning needs

[physically and mentally challenged], internally displaced children, street

children and child labourers. As we strive for harmonization, this is an area

that will need urgent attention.

So what needs to be done?

Despite the strides made in provision of education in the partner states,

children from very poor backgrounds were still not going to school and are

engaged in child labour, early marriages for the girls while others were living

on the streets. These children have failed to access education because of

poverty, indirect cost of education like uniform, opportunity cost and

examination fees among others. For education to be available and benefit all in

the region, the adult education program should be given support and go hand in

hand with the formal education...

Gender and regional disparities is a major problem in the region and requires

collaborative efforts to address the drivers of gender disparity such as harmful

cultural practices like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and " moranism " affecting

the girl and boy child respectively.

To address the regional disparities, there will be need for enhanced political

good will and resource allocation in addition to improvement of infrastructure

in those regions. The school feeding programmes need to be expanded so as to

attract and retain children in school from poor households and others from hard

to reach areas such as slums, the displaced and children in other remote areas.

What needs to be done about manpower in the education sector?

Across the partner states, more teachers need to be employed, especially in

primary schools to reduce student-teacher ratio and foster quality and

productivity in education. Due to increased primary school enrolment rates as a

result of FPE, it is envisaged that employment was created for teachers and the

expansion of school infrastructure created businesses particularly for the local

contractors and suppliers.

Is there any official exchange program of staff and students among the

universities in the region?

The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community provides that

concerted measures shall be taken to foster co-operation in education and

training. Among the identified priority areas of co-operation, the

Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) is charged with the

implementation of this important mandate.

Today, the IUCEA is pursuing a set of programmes affecting education in region

from the primary school to the universities levels, including the over-arching

programme on the harmonization of curricula and education systems of the EAC

partner states. The programmes address specific areas of activities in promoting

quality and relevant education, research and training; development of education,

science and technology in the EAC; promoting networking among the regional

universities and international research and development partners for promotion

of research and scholarship development; and the International Fellowship

Programme under which outstanding East African students are annually awarded

scholarships for specialized studies in leading universities, both locally and

abroad.

Moreover, IUCEA is managing with great success regional universities

collaboration in faculty staff and students exchange programmes within the

region.

Source/Credit http://www.arushatimes.co.tz/Society_5.htm