Day: November 3, 2021

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Western Cape Education launches My Covid Journey school library competition

My Covid Journey: Minister Schäfer launches competition to recognise learners’ experiences of the pandemic

In celebration of International School Library Month, which took place during October, the WCED will again hold a school library competition in which learners can help their school win R25 000 to spend on school library resources.

This year, it will take the form of a poetry competition, with the theme of “My Covid Journey”. I chose this theme in acknowledgement of the profound impact that the pandemic has had on our learners. I was therefore extremely excited to visit Laerskool Laurus in Oudtshoorn earlier this year to celebrate the start of National Book Week, only to find that some of the school’s learners read poems they had written themselves, including one on Covid-19 by a Grade 3 learner.

I have been particularly struck by the resilience of our learners despite the changing learning environment, and despite the personal tragedies that so many have experienced as a result of the pandemic. We need to recognise this impact, and also provide an opportunity for learners to express how they are feeling about it, to help them to heal from the mental and emotional trauma it has caused them. It is my hope that all of our schools will participate in this exercise, regardless of whether they win a prize or not, because it is immensely valuable to touch base with their learners about how they are coping at the moment.

We have suggested a few questions to guide learners in writing their poems:

How do you feel about the Covid-19 pandemic?

How has it affected you and your school?

How has it affected your family and friends?

How do we move forward from here and how can your school library help?

Each school can collate as many poems from the learners at their school as they like, to form a single entry for submission. Six schools will be awarded a prize of R25 000 each to spend on library resources – an increase in prize money from last year. Three secondary schools will receive R25 000 each for winning entries in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, and three primary schools will receive R25 000 each for winning entries in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.

The closing date for the competition is 30 November 2021, and a minute regarding the competition will be sent out to schools soon. In the meantime, any school interested in entering can contact Timothy Cloete from Education Library and Information Services (EDULIS) for more information: [email protected](link sends e-mail)

Last year’s winners

I’d also like to highlight the winners of last year’s competition, which invited schools to send written submissions from their learners celebrating the teachers of our province who worked so hard during the tense 2020 school year using the theme of “My Octopus Teacher”. Unfortunately, due to the various disruptions in the calendar, we didn’t receive as many entries as we would have liked, but the entries we did receive were wonderful and deserving of a prize.

The following schools each received R20 000 towards library resources:

Brandenburg PS

Fairmount HS

Gansbaai PS

Garlandale PS

Isalathiso PS

John Graham PS

Congratulations to each of these schools, and to the learners for celebrating their teachers in this way!

I encourage all schools to participate in this year’s competition, and look forward to seeing how our learners express themselves as we face the continuing challenge of schooling during a pandemic.

Source: Government of South Africa

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Cycling Race Traverses Conflict-Stricken Burkina Faso

The Tour du Faso, a 10-day bicycle race through the conflict-stricken West African country of Burkina Faso, began in the southern city of Banfora on October 29. One Burkinabe rider hopes to build on his Summer Olympics performance and secure victory despite security concerns.

Paul Daumont is one of eighty cyclists taking part in this year’s Tour du Faso, Burkina Faso’s answer to the world-famous Tour de France bicycle race.

Since October 29, cyclists have pedaled their way across the country, with a new stage each day.

Daumont is back from the Olympics in Tokyo and hopes to improve on his performance in his home country.

He says breaking into cycling was tough, but at just 22, it has already taken him all over the world, from Japan to Switzerland.

“You could say that cycling, whether in Burkina Faso or in the rest of the world, is a sport that is difficult to get into, because you need a machine and the machines are relatively expensive. You have to be lucky enough to already have a bike — or someone who can lend one to you to get started,” Daumont said.

He says that the cycling federation in Burkina Faso helped him with a road racing bike after he showed potential, but you need a good bike to get to that level in the first place.

Despite difficulties with access, the sport of cycling is becoming more popular in Africa, and the Union Cycliste Internationale’s annual Africa tour takes in 11 countries, including Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso is in the midst of a six-year conflict involving terror groups linked to the Islamic State group, al-Qaida and local bandits, and security has deteriorated in recent months.

The organizers and participants at this year’s event, however, were pushing ahead, and the atmosphere was festive.

When asked about security, one of the organizers said it was a concern.

“Yeah. Sure. It’s one of the big difficulties for us, because of course when we have, for example, European countries. We are not all the time sure, but we have a big organization. We have the military with us; we have to police with us,” Bezault said.

Contenders from Europe say they are not worried about security.

“Oh, I don’t feel unsafe at all. I think everyone is very friendly and, yeah, like I said, I haven’t felt unsafe at all. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Betten said.

Local riders say they are enjoying the cosmopolitan nature of the event but have their eyes on the prize.

“I thank the foreigners who came, and I also thank the cyclists, the runners from Burkina Faso. May God give us the yellow jersey,” Sorgho said.

Meanwhile, Daumont has already placed in the top 10 in the first two stages of the Tour du Faso, which will reach its conclusion on Sunday.

Source: Voice of America

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Egypt Strives To Become Transport, Logistics Hub By 2024

Egypt will be transformed by 2024 into one of the major global hubs for transport and logistics, through a massive 10-year plan to modernise its transport infrastructure, Egyptian Minister of Transport, Kamel al-Wazir, said.

The transportation system established in the country will contribute significantly to achieving sustainable development and changing the face of life throughout Egypt, the minister told foreign reporters.

He explained that, the 10-year plan, implemented from 2014 to 2024, was drawn up to modernise the transport and communication sectors, at an expected cost of 1.669 trillion Egyptian pounds (about 106.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The plan covers six main areas, including roads and bridges, at a cost of 474 billion Egyptian pounds, railways, 225 billion pounds, tunnels and electric traction, 837 billion pounds, maritime transport, 115 billion pounds, dry ports and logistics, 15 billion pounds, and river transport, three billion pounds.

Over the past seven years, al-Wazir said, projects worth 1.295 trillion Egyptian pounds have already been implemented, noting that a number of large projects will be completed by the end of this year, while other projects such as the light rail will be finalised by the end of 2022.

“Projects such as the monorail, the high-speed electric train, as well as, port projects will be completed by the end of 2024,” al-Wazir said.

The minister said, around 30,000 km of new and developed roads will be completed by the end of 2024.

With the completion of the transport and road system in 2024, Egypt will be turned into a regional and international hub for transport and logistics, the minister stressed, adding that, there are also plans to link Egypt with other North African countries, including building a road that will run through Egypt, Libya, Chad and Niger.

“Additionally, there will be Cairo-Cape Town axis, which connects North Africa with South Africa…a river transport route reaching Lake Victoria will also be established,” al-Wazir noted.

The Egyptian minister extended an open invitation to all Egyptian and foreign investors, to manage and operate railways across the country, as well as, participate in all the ministry’s projects covering various fields.

A workshop was held on Sunday, to discuss the economic, social, environmental and health returns for the development of the transport system in Egypt, during which experts talked about the effects and impacts of the huge transport projects that Egypt is currently building.

Khaled Abdel-Fattah, head of the Sociology Department of the Helwan University, said, the development and modernisation of Egypt’s transportation system has become an urgent necessity, which is difficult to ignore.

“The poor old transportation system has multiple negative effects on all aspects of life at the level of individuals and society,” he said.

Ayman Mosallam, a professor of structural engineering of the University of California, spoke about the technical aspects of new transport projects in Egypt.

“Great efforts have been exerted in the field of constructing roads for heavy transport vehicles, equipped with reinforced concrete castings. The construction of many roads in the mountains with high efficiency and skills must be applauded.”

For his part, Mourid Albert, undersecretary of the general traffic department of Egypt, said that, the Ministry of Interior is working on the national road plan and has turned to modern technology to tighten control over the vast areas.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Death Toll Rises to 22 from Nigeria Building Collapse

In Lagos, Nigeria, the death toll from the collapse of a building Monday has risen to 22 as rescuers continue digging through the rubble in a search for survivors. Experts say the collapse was likely the result of poor construction and weak oversight, and are worried that such catastrophes could happen again.

The search for survivors continued Wednesday at the site of the building collapse in Ikoyi, an upper-class area of Lagos state.

So far, nine survivors have been pulled out of the rubble and taken to hospitals. Scores more are reported missing.

Search teams have found 22 bodies.

On Tuesday, Lagos state governor Babajide Sanwolu visited the site and later suspended the state’s building control head. Lagos state also launched an independent investigation into the collapse.

But Festus Adebayo, founder of the Housing Development Advocacy Network, who visited the site, said authorities have been careless.

“We are careless, we’re just careless. We have recommended, the building code is there and we have said 21 years jail term, but nobody has been jailed it has all been media hype, noise, noise, noise,” said Adebayo.

Lagos authorities halted the construction of the building in June for not meeting standard structural requirements.

The local president of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, David Majekodunmi, said the institute doesn’t know if the problem was fixed before the workers were asked to return to the site.

“You seal up a site, definitely there are processes that you need to do before the site can be opened. We can’t tell now whether the process went through,” he said.

Lagos authorities say they are assessing the possible impact of the collapse on nearby structures.

Building collapses, unfortunately, are not uncommon in Lagos state, which has a population of 21 million people and thousands of high-rise structures.

Adebayo said these catastrophes are not good for investment or business.

“How do you think the whole world will see us? What’s the impression they’ll be having about our professionals? You’ll discover that a lot of people will not be going for high rise buildings,” said Adebayo.

On Tuesday, rescuers received several phone calls from people trapped under the debris. No new calls came on Wednesday, and experts say that as the days go by, the chances of survival for trapped victims are getting slimmer.

Source: Voice of America

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Vote counting completed

The Electoral Commission (IEC) has announced that vote counting for the 2021 Municipal Elections has been completed.

“At the level of capturing, 96.9 percent of results are already in the system awaiting scanning and auditing. This means of the 64 502 results expected, 62 500 have been captured into the results system,” IEC General Manager: Electoral Matters Granville Abrahams said.

Addressing a media briefing on Wednesday, Abrahams said of the 62 161 results captured, 53 209 have been scanned into an image and thus available.

“The completion rate in the Northern Cape is 95.5 percent, 88 percent in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape 83 percent; Mpumalanga 85.4 and the Free State are at 87 percent. The completion rate in the rest of the provinces ranges between 60 and 80 percent,” he said.

The IEC has affirmed its commitment to finalising results expeditiously while taking care to ensure that all necessary verifications are enforced.

“Progress in relation to the finalisation of results now stands at 79 percent of expected results. The number of completed municipalities now stands 139 from a total of 257,” Abrahams said.

He said all results are now being transcribed to result slips and all these result slips are at local offices.

“At the local office, they are required to check them for arithmetic accuracy. It is then captured once into the system, the screen goes blank and we capture it the second time. We call this double blind capturing. It is done to verify what was captured the first time is correct, once those numbers are verified the result slip is confirmed, scanned and matched to the result.

“We have auditors at all of our capturing sites. We also have the national audit manager for the project monitoring the operations. These are independent auditors. It’s not the internal audit function of the IEC,” Abrahams said.

The auditors verify that the information on the form is the same as what was captured in the system. The auditor has a unique code to enter the result system and nobody knows the code.

“Once all of those controls are done, the result is cleared. 96.9% of all the result slips have been captured and are in the system. The remaining 3.1% is focused primarily in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng.

“We have, however, expedited Gauteng by providing additional capacity as far as the capturing phase is concerned, which should be done very soon.

“As far as the auditors is concerned, we cannot rush the auditors. It is essential do their work independently without any pressure from the IEC,” he said.

Abrahams said the IEC is not behind in finalising the results, as they must be announced within seven days of the election.

Source: South African Government News Agency

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No rest until the results are all declared: IEC CEO

After three days of ballot counting and capturing results, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has confirmed that almost 90% of the votes have been calculated as of Wednesday evening.

Addressing the media, Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo, said 89.8% of the votes have been finalised and collated, while 99.3% of the results are awaiting capturing and auditing.

“Now you may ask the question, when are we likely to conclude everything? Our position is that we will not go to bed until the results are all declared for all municipalities.”

In real numbers, he said the 64 062 out of the expected 64 502 results have been captured in the system, while 62 539 have been audited and 58 956 have been scanned into an image and available to participants.

According to the CEO, the Northern Cape has climbed to the top of the leaderboard in terms of completion rate with 99.9% of the results being concluded, followed by 98.6% in Free State, 95.2% in the North West, 93.2% in the Eastern Cape, 91.6% in Mpumalanga, Gauteng 90.7% and 88.8% in the Western Cape.

“We previously indicated, the Commission remains committed to finalising the results expeditiously,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, he announced that the number of completed municipalities stands at 177 from the total of 257.

The IEC said it has received 80 complaints and objections and that the Presiding Officer deals with many of these.

Mamabolo told journalists that there are many lessons learnt from this year’s Local Government Elections. However, the leadership will have an opportunity to debrief the political parties, staff and observers.

“And from those then we will carry out lessons that will inform future legislative amendments, other policy adjustments,” he said, adding that the glitches they experienced sharpen training.

“We can’t go back. We’ve got to move forward and ensure that we improve the proficiency of use and other related operational matters, it’s been a very important national investment to fortify controls around the electoral process.”

Source: South African Government News Agency