Category: Education

Kampala, Uganda’s schools reopened to students on Monday, ending the world’s longest school disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

The reopening caused traffic congestion in some areas of the capital, Kampala, and students can be seen carrying their mattresses in the streets, a back-to-boarding school phenomenon not witnessed here for nearly two years.

Uganda’s schools have been fully or partially shut for more than 83 weeks, the world’s longest disruption, according to figures from the U.N. cultural agency. The shutdown affected more than 10 million learners.

The East African country of 44 million people first shut down its schools in March 2020, shortly after the first coronavirus case was confirmed on the African continent. Some classes were reopened to students in February 2021, but a total lockdown was imposed again in June as the country faced its first major surge.

For many parents, the reopening was long overdue.

“Inevitably, we have to open up schools,” said Felix Okot, the father of a 6-year-old kindergartner. “The future of our kids, the future of our nation, is at stake.”

The country’s schools cannot “wait forever” for the pandemic’s end, he warned.

The protracted school lockdown proved controversial in a country where measures aimed at stemming the spread of the virus were ignored by many. Vaccine skepticism, even among health workers, remains a problem, with growing reports of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards sold in downtown Kampala.

Many students returning to school are believed to have had no help during the lockdown. Most public schools, which serve the vast majority of children in Uganda, were unable to offer virtual schooling. The Associated Press reported in November on students in a remote Ugandan town where weeds grew in classrooms and some students worked in a swamp as gold miners.

Some critics pointed out that the government of President Yoweri Museveni — an authoritarian who has held power for 36 years and whose wife is the education minister — did little to support home-based learning. Museveni justified the lockdown by insisting that infected students were a danger to their parents and others. “There are many things which can’t be predicted right now. The turnout of students is unpredictable, the turnout of teachers is unpredictable,” said Fagil Mandy, a former government inspector of schools now working as an independent consultant. “I am more worried that many children will not return to school for various reasons, including school fees.”

Mandy also noted concern that a virus outbreak “will spread very fast” in crowded schools, urging close monitoring by school administrators.

Welcoming the reopening of Uganda’s schools, Save the Children warned that “lost learning may lead to high dropout rates in the coming weeks without urgent action,” including what it described as catch-up clubs.

The aid group warned in a statement Monday of a wave of dropouts “as returning students who have fallen behind in their learning fear they have no chance of catching up.”

It remains to be seen how long Uganda’s schools will remain open, with an alarming rise in virus cases in recent days. In the past week health authorities have been reporting a daily positivity rate in excess of 10%, up from virtually zero in December. Museveni has warned of a possible new lockdown if intensive care units reach 50% occupancy.

Hoping for a smooth return to school, authorities waived any COVID test requirements for students. An abridged curriculum also has been approved under an arrangement to automatically promote all students to the next class.

Uganda has received foreign support toward the reopening of schools.

The U.N. children’s agency and the governments of the U.K. and Ireland announced financial support focusing on virus surveillance and the mental health of students and teachers in 40,000 schools. They said their support was key for Uganda’s school system to remain open.

Source: Bahrain news Agency

With COVID-19 cases surging just as students are about to return from winter break, dozens of U.S. colleges are moving classes online again for at least the first week or so of the semester — and some warn it could stretch longer if the wave of infection doesn’t subside soon.

Harvard is moving classes online for the first three weeks of the new year, with a return to campus scheduled for late January, “conditions permitting.” The University of Chicago is delaying the beginning of its new term and holding the first two weeks online. Some others are inviting students back to campus but starting classes online, including Michigan State University.

Many colleges hope that an extra week or two will get them past the peak of the nationwide spike driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. Still, the surge is casting uncertainty over a semester many had hoped would be the closest to normal since the start of the pandemic.

For some students, starting the term remotely is becoming routine — many colleges used the strategy last year amid a wave of cases. But some fear the latest shift could extend well beyond a week or two.

Jake Maynard, a student at George Washington University in the nation’s capital, said he is fine with a week of online classes, but beyond that, he hopes officials trust in the booster shots and provide a traditional college experience.

He has already taken a year of online learning, which he said “did not work” and wasn’t what he expected from a school that charges more than $50,000 a year.

“I’m a junior, but about half my schooling experience has been online,” said Maynard, 20, of Ellicott City, Maryland. “You lose so much of what makes the school the school.”

The university is inviting students back to campus starting Monday, but classes will be held online until Jan. 18 as officials ramp up virus testing and isolate any infected students. The school has more than doubled its isolation space and moved up the deadline for a new booster shot requirement by three weeks because of omicron.

“The omicron variant hit us at a terrible time, basically the last couple weeks of the fall semester, which doesn’t give us much time to prepare for spring,” said Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of George Washington’s school of public health.

The university was among many that saw infections soar in the days before winter break. The campus averaged more than 80 cases a day during finals week, compared with just a few a day for much of the fall. And while most recent cases were mild, nearly all were among students who had received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

As for the mid-January target date for resuming in-person learning, Goldman said officials “recognize there’s some possibility that it won’t be possible.”

So far, more than 70 colleges across 26 states are starting the term online, and others say they are considering it. Many making the move now use quarter systems that start earlier than those with semesters.

Many of those shifting online are in recent virus hot spots, including George Washington, Yale and Columbia on the East Coast, along with Wayne State University in Detroit and Northwestern University near Chicago. The list also includes most of the University of California campuses and Rice University in Houston.

At the University of California, Riverside, students can return on Monday but face two weeks of online classes. They are also being asked to sequester for five days while they undergo two rounds of virus testing.

It’s the first time since last spring that the school has moved fully remote, but Chancellor Kim Wilcox said it is the best way to prevent the virus from spreading after students return from holiday travel.

“We think about it as rebuilding our bubble,” he said. “It gives us a chance to reset things and then hopefully be off and running.”

Some other colleges are delaying the new term without offering remote classes. Syracuse University pushed its semester back a week, citing projections that the first three weeks of January will be “the most challenging of this surge.”

Others are pressing ahead with in-person learning, saying the health risks are low with masks and booster shots.

At Northeastern University in Boston, one of a growing number of schools requiring boosters, students are returning as planned. Officials said the school is shifting its focus from preventing all cases to warding off serious illness or hospitalization.

“As we move into this endemic phase of the pandemic, our job is to continue to control COVID effectively, not let COVID control us,” Ken Henderson, chancellor and senior vice president for learning, said in a message to the campus.

The move drew praise from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who said COVID-19 poses little risk to college students, while “prolonged isolation is a very real risk to their growth and mental health.”

The University of Florida plans to return to in-person learning at the start of the semester, despite a request from a faculty union to teach remotely for the first three weeks.

Paul Ortiz, president of the campus chapter of the United Faculty of Florida, said older faculty members will be at higher risk, especially with no mask or vaccine mandates, which have been outlawed by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“We do not want our campus to become a super-spreader,” Ortiz said. “There’s just a lot of uncertainty right now, a lot of stress.”

At some colleges starting remotely, officials say they are committed to a quick return to the classroom.

The 50,000-student campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign plans to resume in-person classes after one week of online instruction. Students are being encouraged to return during that first week so they can take two virus tests, which will clear them to resume in-person activities if they test negative.

“Every semester we’ve had a spike when students come back,” university spokesperson Robin Kaler said. “We want to make sure we’re on top of that so we can crush it as quickly as possible.”

Source: Voice of America

Manama, Education Minister Dr. Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi received ministry employees who have obtained post-graduate degrees.

They presented copies of their theses and highlighted their conclusions and recommendations.

Al Nuaimi congratulated the employees on their success and hailed their efforts in pursuing post-graduate studies.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Abu Dhabi, The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) and the Ministry of Education have launched an educational resource entitled Al Ain Cultural Sites Inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as part of the national educational curriculum.

The publication falls within the framework of a new education strategy aimed at students and teachers at public and private schools across the United Arab Emirates, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

The Educator Resource is a qualitative addition to the national education and social studies curricula for eleventh-grade students that is now being used in all public schools that follow the curriculum of the Ministry of Education.

Al Ain Cultural Sites Inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List is published in both Arabic and English and promotes the Cultural Sites of Al Ain, particularly those that have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. It enhances students’ awareness of the importance of the Al Ain sites as part of a common global and human heritage, as well as the role these students, and all members of society, must play in preserving them for the future.

The Educator Resource was put together by DCT Abu Dhabi under the supervision of leading experts and specialists in the fields of education, culture, and history. DCT Abu Dhabi’s education initiatives are based on an integrative approach with multidisciplinary interactive media and strategies for individual and group learning, to achieve educational goals in cognitive, practical, and behavioral fields related to cultural education.

“This publication, issued by the DCT Abu Dhabi, constitutes an important educational and historical resource that sheds light on Al Ain Cultural Sites listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, some of which date back thousands of years. It offers a wealth of information about the cultural history of these sites, particularly those from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, such as the Jebel Hafit tombs, the Hili settlements, the Bida bint Saud tombs, the falaj irrigation systems, and the historical oases” Minister of Education Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi said.

“The content of this book is in line with the Ministry’s vision and philosophy and meets the criteria for subjects like social studies and national education by providing students with new knowledge, experiences, and skills. It also helps in enhancing their national identity and building their Emirati character by studying the past and drawing knowledge and lessons to help them in building the present and the future” He added.

“Educating future generations about our country’s rich cultural heritage and historic environment is one of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi’s core mandates and greatest responsibilities.

Education is a vital pillar in preserving our history and heritage, inspiring students and embedding the values of good citizenship as they learn about safekeeping our past, which is the true wealth of the nation” Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak said.

“This resource employs a simplified teaching methodology at the highest standards of global education and development. This publication is another milestone in our significant efforts to integrate cultural heritage into the curriculum of government schools through innovative modern educational tools. A curriculum featuring the Educator Resource will ensure that students are not only aware of the Cultural Sites of Al Ain, but will fully realise their importance to our society and learn how they can play an active role in the safeguarding of these sites for future generations” He added.

Al Ain Cultural Sites Inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List supports the Ministry of Education’s plans to develop and update educational curricula in line with current sector developments.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that his administration will extend the pause on student loan repayment in the United States until May 1, 2022, in response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a statement from the president released by the White House, pausing loan repayments is part of the country’s economic recovery.

“Today my administration is extending the pause on federal student loan repayments for an additional 90 days — through May 1, 2022 — as we manage the ongoing pandemic and further strengthen our economic recovery,” Biden said in a statement.

The Department of Education will continue working with borrowers to ensure they are adequately supported to “transition smoothly back into repayment and advance economic stability for their own households and for our nation,” Biden said.

In the statement, Biden urged borrowers to take advantage of the department’s resources, such as options to lower payments through income-based repayment plans and public service loan forgiveness.

This is not the first time the Biden administration has extended the loan repayment pause. In August, it was extended through January 31.

The forbearance has benefited millions across the country. According to Reuters, nearly 41 million borrowers benefited from the freeze on interest accruals, and about 27 million borrowers have not had to pay their monthly bills since the pause began.

The administration’s decision has been welcomed by Democratic lawmakers. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren issued a joint statement applauding the announcement but also urging the president to cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt.

“We continue to call on President Biden to take executive action to cancel $50,000 in student debt, which will help close the racial wealth gap for borrowers and accelerate our economic recovery,” they said.

The president, however, has made it clear several times he does not support such an initiative. During a town hall with CNN in February, in response to other Democrats’ idea to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower, he said, “I will not make that happen.”

The extension in the loan repayment pause comes as the U.S. addresses the surge in COVID-19 cases spurring from the spread of the omicron variant. With the holidays nearing, anxieties over the virus have increased and more Americans are getting tested daily ahead of family gatherings and celebrations.

Despite worries over what the omicron variant means for the nation, President Biden assured Americans in a nationwide address Tuesday that a complete shutdown like that of March 2020 is not imminent.

Source: Voice of America

Hong Kong, A monument at a Hong Kong university that commemorates the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre was removed by workers early Thursday over the objections of its creator from Denmark.

The 8-meter (26-foot) tall Pillar of Shame, which depicts 50 torn and twisted bodies piled on top of each other, was made by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt to symbolize the lives lost during the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, according to The AP.

Workers barricaded the monument at the University of Hong Kong late Wednesday night. Drilling sounds and loud clanging could be heard coming from the boarded-up site, which was patrolled by guards.

The dismantling of the sculpture came days after pro-Beijing candidates scored a landslide victory in the Hong Kong legislative elections, after amendments in election laws allowed the vetting of all candidates to ensure that they are “patriots” loyal to Beijing.

The removal also happened in the same week that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam traveled to Beijing to report on developments in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, where authorities have silenced dissent following the implementation of a sweeping national security law that appeared to target much of the pro-democracy movement following mass protests in 2019.

The Pillar of Shame monument became an issue in October, with the university demanding that it be removed, even as activists and rights groups protested. Galschiøt offered to take it back to Denmark provided he was given legal immunity that he won’t be persecuted under Hong Kong’s national security law, but has not succeeded so far.

“No party has ever obtained any approval from the university to display the statue on campus, and the university has the right to take appropriate actions to handle it at any time,” the university said in a statement Thursday.

“Latest legal advice given to the university cautioned that the continued display of the statue would pose legal risks to the university based on the Crimes Ordinance enacted under the Hong Kong colonial government.”

The university said that it had requested for the statue to be put in storage and would continue to seek legal advice on follow-up actions.

In October, the university informed the now-defunct candlelight vigil organizer, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, that it had to remove the statue following “the latest risk assessment and legal advice.”

The organization had said that it was dissolving, citing a climate of oppression, and that it did not own the sculpture. The university was told to speak to its creator instead.

When reached by The Associated Press, sculptor Galschiøt said he was only aware of what was happening to the sculpture Wednesday from social media and other reports.

“We don’t know exactly what happened, but I fear they destroy it,” he said. “This is my sculpture, and it is my property.”

Galschiøt said that he would sue the university if necessary to protect the sculpture.

He had previously written to the university to assert his ownership of the monument, although his requests had gone largely ignored.

Over 100 pro-democracy activists have been arrested since Beijing implemented the national security law in Hong Kong. It outlaws secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion to intervene in the city’s affairs. Critics say it rolled back freedoms promised to Hong Kong when it was handed over to China by Britain in 1997.

The Pillar of Shame monument has been erected for over two decades, and initially stood at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park before eventually being moved to the University of Hong Kong on a long-term basis.

Each year on June 4, members of the now-defunct student union would wash the statue to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre. The city, together with Macao, were previously the only places on Chinese soil where commemoration of the Tiananmen crackdown was allowed.

Over the past two years, the annual candlelight vigil in Hong Kong had been banned by authorities, who cited public risks from the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 24 activists were charged for their roles in the Tiananmen vigil last year, during which activists turned up and thousands followed, breaking past barricades in the park to sing songs and light candles despite the police ban on the event.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Frank Hardy, 18, has been homeless for the past eight years, moving in and out of shelters with his mom, or staying with his sister’s family while his mom has been in jail.

As part of an economic stimulus package to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Congress voted in March to fast-track $800 million and urged educators to move quickly to aid the estimated 1.5 million students like Hardy who are homeless across America.

But the cash has yet to reach the Los Angeles Unified School district, which oversees Hardy’s high school. Some states and school districts rushed their millions to those in need. But California has only begun disbursing the first quarter of its allotment of $98.7 million.

The federal government authorized sending out a first $200 million in April followed by the rest last summer.

Other big states such as New York and Florida are even further behind, having yet to deliver a dime to the districts, because of bureaucratic logjams or because some districts are ill-equipped even to find students in need.

“In the early part of the pandemic, the most stable place in the lives of homeless students – school – disappeared,” said Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, a Washington-based non-profit that addresses student homelessness.

Even with the return to in-class learning that followed initial moves to remote tuition, Duffield said, “We know we’re missing tons of students.”

SchoolHouse Connection and the University of Michigan conducted a survey in October of 700 school districts and found a 4% increase in student homelessness, compared to the same period the year before the pandemic.

A story of perseverance

Hardy is on track to graduate in June from the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, even after losing most of his junior year to the pandemic, living in a motel without a proper internet connection and trying to work off a faulty laptop.

“I was never going to let being homeless stop me from achieving what I want to achieve,” said Hardy, who dreams of becoming a professional singer.

Only 68% of homeless students graduated high school in 2019, some 18 percentage points below the national average.

Hardy currently lives with his mother Cherie Hardy, 51, at a People Assisting the Homeless shelter in Los Angeles.

Cherie Hardy said she has a record for robbery, theft and other offenses, but has straightened her life out in part because “I have a son that needs me.”

Many other homeless students have slipped through the cracks.

At least 420,000 homeless students lost contact with their schools during the pandemic, according to Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who along with Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia championed the last-minute amendment that provided the $800 million.

Schools are using the funds to buy food, clothes and school supplies. In some cases they are paying for car repairs or car insurance to get kids get to school, or cell phones so counselors can check in with students. Cincinnati and Nashville schools have hired Spanish-speaking social workers.

Cherie Hardy said she would have welcomed help buying her son clothes or a laptop.

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s homeless liaison, Angela Chandler, said the district is exploring hiring staff to identify and reach out to homeless students, and she would like to help high school students continue their education by funding college tours that might inspire kids who otherwise would never visit a campus.

“The possibilities are endless,” Chandler said.

But the second largest district in the country has yet to receive any of the nearly $8 million it is due. Funds from the first tranche of $883,000 should be sent out “shortly,” a California Department of Education spokesperson said on Wednesday. A second tranche of $7.1 million will be received in January. The spokesperson did not address why the process has taken so long.

Florida school districts could only begin applying for their share of $43.8 million as of Dec. 2, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Education said.

New York state has yet to issue any of its $58.9 million from the new funds. The application period of the first tranche was opened on Dec. 1 and closes on Dec. 22, its Education Department said.

Even Murkowski’s state Alaska “is a little bit overwhelmed with all this money,” said Dave Mayo-Kiely, a program coordinator for homeless students and families in Anchorage.

Elsewhere some states were applying time-consuming rules the federal government had said were unnecessary, while in others state legislative or local school board approvals were slow to come, according to the education news site Chalkbeat.

“There are a million things that go wrong, things you don’t expect to happen,” said Phyllis Jordan, associate director of the FutureEd independent think tank at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., describing schools failing to find tutors to hire.

Some states have moved more quickly.

Lisa Phillips, North Carolina’s coordinator for the education of homeless children and youth, said her state followed federal guidelines and set up an approval process before districts made requests. Districts are getting funding within 10 days of making a valid application, she said.

More than half of North Carolina school districts have received their share of funds in the second phase of the program, with another 25% being processed.

Source: Voice of America

A new study out of South Africa shows that Pfizer’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine provides a high degree of protection against hospitalization from the fast-spreading omicron variant.

The real-world study, conducted by the South African Medical Research Council and Discovery Health, the country’s largest private health insurance administrator, was based on more than 211,000 positive COVID-19 test results between November 15 to December 7, with about 78,000 believed to be caused by omicron.

The study concluded that while the vaccine offered only a 33% rate of protection against an overall infection, it provided 70% protection against hospitalization. It also concludes that while there was a higher risk of reinfection during this current surge, the risk of hospitalization among adults was 29% lower than during the initial wave. Pfizer developed the vaccine in collaboration with German-based BioNTech.

South Africa is experiencing a dramatic surge in new daily COVID-19 cases driven by omicron, which was first announced by the country in November.

In a related development, Pfizer announced Tuesday that a new study of its experimental COVID-19 antiviral pill confirms it is highly effective in preventing severe disease among high-risk adults that could lead to hospitalizations and deaths, even against the omicron variant.

The company says it found that the drug, dubbed Paxlovid, reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 89% if given within three days of the onset of COVID-19 symptoms, and as much 88% if administered within five days.

Pfizer has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize use of Paxlovid based on results from a preliminary study.

The FDA is expected to announce soon whether to grant permission for doctors to use Paxlovid and a competing drug, molnupiravir, developed by Merck. Merck said last month a clinical trial revealed molnupiravir reduced hospitalizations and deaths by only 30% among high-risk adults.

The new developments come as health authorities around the world are warning that omicron could soon surpass delta as the most dominant variant of the coronavirus.

Denmark says omicron will trigger 10,000 new infections by the end of the week, compared to the current rate of 6,000 cases driven entirely by delta. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health also warned Monday that omicron “will soon dominate,” with new infections rising from 4,700 daily cases to a record 90,000 to 300,000 daily cases.

The new warnings come just days after the World Health Organization warned that omicron poses a “very high” global risk because its mutations may lead to higher transmission. The U.N. health agency said while the current vaccines are less effective against omicron, early data shows it causes less severe symptoms than other variants.

Meanwhile, China is reporting its second case of omicron infection on its mainland. A 67-year-old man tested positive Monday, two weeks after arriving in Shanghai from overseas. Authorities say the man repeatedly tested negative during his mandatory two-week hotel quarantine before flying to the southern city of Guangzhou, where he was spending another week in self-isolation at his residence. He tested positive for the new variant after researchers conducted genome sequencing.

The first case of omicron on mainland China was a person in the northern port city of Tianjin who tested positive for the new variant after arriving from overseas on December 9. The individual, who was shown to be asymptomatic, is now quarantined and undergoing treatment in a hospital.

The first cases of omicron on mainland China come two years after COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, was first detected in the central city of Wuhan. China has since imposed a “zero-tolerance” strategy, including mass testing, snap lockdowns and extensive quarantines, as a means to prevent any further outbreaks.

Source: Voice of America

Dubai, Minister of Youth and Sport Affairs Ayman bin Tawfeeq Al Moayyed and Higher Education Council (HEC) Secretary-General Dr. Shaikha Rana bint Isa bin Daij Al Khalifa paid a visit to Estonia Pavilion in Dubai Expo 2020. Minister Al Moayyed and Dr. Shaikha Rana met with the Minister of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia Liina Kersna, where they were briefed about Estonia pavilion and the various digital services that Estonia provides, in addition to the digital governance model it follows.

They held a meeting with Estonia’s education minister in which they discussed relations between the friendly countries, aspects of cooperation in the educational fields and areas of modernization, promoting the educational and training system and benefiting from experiences and expertise in the areas of digitization.

Source: Bahrain News Agency