May 04, 2020

Quote of the week "We can defeat the virus, but for how long it will take...it is up to you". De Philosopher DJ #StayHome #StaySafe

Country Updates

The regional Values and Life Skills (VaLi) cluster convened a webinar on the ALiVE (Assessment of Lifeskills and Values in East Africa) on April 24. ALiVE is a project of the VaLi regional thematic cluster which seeks to bring together local and global experts to agree on a set of life skills competencies that are most critical and consistent across contexts and eventually advocate to governments for system change. The session introduced members to the new initiative, providing an opportunity to learn about areas of focus and how they could contribute to the initiative.

Tanzania: The Teacher and Development Support (TDS) thematic group met on April 18 to explore the use of digital tools and platforms to facilitate connection, productivity and to make life easier during the COVID-19 global crisis. Umayra Said and Dr. Shadid Ndossa co-facilitated the online training session and shared their experiences on using zoom for teaching, learning and video conferencing. The TDS members join hands to practice and explore many innovative features on various virtual spaces.

Kenya: On Thursday, April 23, members of the secondary education special interest group; Benta Abuya, Lucy Maina and Martin Ogola convened a webinar to discuss the status of secondary education in Kenya. The team presented the findings from a study conducted in Kenya with the objective of examining educational attainment and quality of secondary education as well as identifying factors affecting equitable educational participation and to explore implications of curricular changes. The study found that some of the factors affecting equitable educational participation are inequitable distribution of teachers, and schools in areas of poverty have poor facilities and other infrastructure. The discussion continues offline and provides an opportunity for members to contribute to the final report .

Uganda: The RELI Uganda team continues to support the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) framework for the provision of continued learning during the Covid-19 lockdown. RELI member organisations are continuously publicizing the MoES open source self-study materials through text messaging to primary and secondary school teachers and learners in in their networks. Advantaged learners are following live lessons via television and radio platforms from their homes thanks to the Parents’ Guide on Learning from Home' inclusive of this study package. Continued advocacy by members for the less disadvantaged and assurance that no learner is left behind is underway.

What we're reading this week: Long Term Impact of a Global Crisis on Children Left Behind by Deborah Kimathi Digital learning management systems Ways to boost Immunity Nugget-Stronger against Covid-19 by Minet COVID 19 - A Shule Direct Experience Over one billion children are out of school due to covid-19, what next? by RELI Kenya learner centred teaching thematic group.

Join the conversation on Twitter by following @ReliAfrica and using the hashtags #RELIAfrica #RELILearning to keep the conversation going. A social media toolkit is available here . Are you a member of the RELI online platform? Click here for more details.