South African families say school fees often are unaffordable and are robbing their children of an education, even though national laws there expressly guarantee free schooling for impoverished youths. UNICEF, the World Bank and other rights groups are encouraging officials there and in other African countries to provide universal free education, denied most frequently to girls.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has unveiled plans to provide 500 university scholarships for students from other African nations over the next ten years. Foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit made the announcement on Mubarak's behalf at last week's African Union (AU) summit in Sudan. "The development of African societies should be based on an advanced and strong infrastructure of education, culture and scientific research systems in order to bridge the digital and scientific gaps [that are] steadily increasing between developing and developed countries," said the statement.

An organisation promoting collaboration between African chemists will be launched on 23 February in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The Federation of African Societies of Chemistry will create a network of African chemists to encourage cooperation and help disseminate research results. It also aims to improve chemistry teaching, and raise public understanding of chemistry and its role in economic development. The federation's activities will include publishing a newsletter and organising workshops and scientific meetings, reports www.scidev.net.

UNESCO is supporting an innovative teacher training initiative that is expected to improve the quality of instruction and learning in schools across Eritrea by training teachers on learner-centred interactive pedagogy. Teachers will learn new methodologies and how to apply them in classroom settings, even where class sizes are large.

The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring the Quality of Education (SACMEQ) started ten years ago as an experimental research project of the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). Today, it has grown into a respected inter-governmental agency that designs and implements research and training programmes across 14 counties reports the latest edition of IIEP's newsletter.

Reporting to the Regional Director, the RHC will facilitate the acquisition of emergency preparedness, prevention, mitigation, and response and recovery skills within Oxfam America’s regional offices, partners, and partner communities. During times of emergency, the RHC will perform the designated activities under direct supervision and in consultation with the Regional Director as the designated “Humanitarian Lead,” activating Humanitarian Response Department support, coordinating with the regional office, activating the Oxfam International and partner’s network, and otherwise implementing contingency plans.

The Cape Town based ISS Corruption and Governance Programme seeks to appoint a Researcher who will assist in implementing an eighteen-month project that proposes to monitor the impact of corruption on service delivery in South Africa and asses the effectiveness of public sector anti-corruption strategies. Although with a strong focus on corruption the project is likely to cover diverse areas of service delivery such as local government, housing, healthcare, social welfare and education.

The African Child Policy Forum is calling for papers from activists, practitioners and academics on “Harmonisation and Implementation of Laws pertaining to Children in Africa.” The papers shall form a major publication by the African Child Policy Forum and UNICEF on harmonization of children’s laws in Africa. A call is made to academics and practitioners in the fields of human rights and children’s rights, in the following countries: - Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziliand, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to submit papers on the extent of extent of the harmonization of all laws, policies and programmes pertaining to children in their country in line with the principles and provisions of the CRC and ACRWC.

Members of the House of Representatives of the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar have endorsed a new education policy intended to make major reforms, including allowing students who fall pregnant to resume their studies after giving birth. For more than 20 years, pregnant Zanzibari girls were forced to leave school permanently. Until the repeal of a law in 2005, they could even be imprisoned.

The Work and Health Programme in Southern Africa (WAHSA) is calling for the submission of pre-proposals (2 page research ideas) from researchers in the SADC region for a grants writing workshop to be held in May 2006. WAHSA is a collaborative programme to develop capacity in occupational health in Southern Africa funded by SIDA and focused on the SADC region.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) has announced the fourth session of its Annual Social Science Campus, and invites applications from African scholars for participation in the programme which was initially scheduled to hold in October 2005 but was subsequently been postponed with a view to convening it at the beginning of May 2006. The Campus is conceived as an advanced research dialogue which is both multidisciplinary and intergenerational in nature. It is organised around a specific theme and up to 15 scholars, drawn from different disciplines and reflecting the different generations of African social researchers, are elected to participate in the Campus.

The theme of the programme is: Global Trade and Regional Integration: African Economies, Producers, and Living Conditions. The Programme co-ordinator shall: Develop the programme based on the programme document; Implement the programme; Develop networks of African and Nordic researchers; Conduct own research within the programme; Arrange seminars and publish research results.

In one out of four African countries, half of the children enrolled at the end of primary school do not continue to the secondary level in the following year, according to the most recent factsheet produced by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). This percentage is far lower than the 85% of primary pupils who make the transition in most countries of Europe, Asia, North and South America. The factsheet “How many children in Africa reach secondary education?” gives a breakdown of the dire situation of secondary education in Africa.

SNV in Zambia is contributing to poverty alleviation through strengthening of local governance processes and economic development based on sustainable use of natural resources. This occurs through facilitation of capacity building processes in local level institutions and organisations, primarily in the Western, Northwestern and Luapula provinces. The SNV Zambian programme also focuses on gender and HIV/AIDS issues. Interested candidates should email [email protected].

Key responsibilities of this challenging position based in Addis Ababa will include: the provision of vision and strategic leadership for the Ethiopia programme with full operational responsibility; articulating CCF’s vision and mission; designing and implementing a strategic plan to address the causes and effects of poverty and other adverse conditions on children in the country.

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has an opening for a co-coordinator of our APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) in Africa. As our project commitments have expanded over the past few years, we are looking to employ a co-coordinator to work with the current coordinator with a view to taking responsibility for certain work areas.

Malawi has launched a comprehensive five-year plan intended to foster rapid industrialisation through the use of science and technology. The plan, announced on 19 January, is the first of its kind, has a budget of one billion kwachas (US$8.3 million), and places a heavy emphasis on popularising science. The money will be spent in four main areas: capacity building (US$3.5 million), promoting and popularising science (US$2.3 million), developing and commercialising research (US$1.5 million) and administration (US$1 million), reports SciDev.

The educational level of adults is one of the most important indicators of poverty in Mozambique. More than a decade after the agreement that ended the 16-year civil war, educational levels remain extremely low. Getting more children, and particularly girls, into primary school is a major challenge. And the challenge does not end with getting children into school: it is also important to reduce drop-out rates and ensure that more children complete primary school.

This article, from J. Dickson of the New Zealand Journal of Adult Learning, aims to outline the political and social context of adult education in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The author focuses on two different providers of adult education, namely C4L - Lowveld Centre for Lifelong Learning, and Mpumalanga Regional Training Trust. Both of these providers operate "under the radar" of most analyses of South African education, however, they typify something of the flexible and innovative response community based provision can make within a transitional context.

Educationists are concerned about the future of the Swazi language as the school examination pass rate in SiSwati as a subject continues to fall. "If the 2005 Junior Certificate examination results are any yardstick, then the SiSwati language is gradually being eroded," opined the Times of Swaziland when it reported this week that nearly a quarter of the students sitting the exam had failed the test. In contrast, 92 percent of students taking the crucial exams in 2005 passed English - a total of 10,235 students, up from 9,159 who succeeded in 2004. English is a "must pass" subject, while SiSwati is not. But this was not the reason for declining performance in SiSwati, educationalists told IRIN.