In this context, the assertion that the US is Africa’s greatest partner in combating Covid-19 certainly lacks credibility. The US continues to struggle to control and combat Covid-19 within its borders, and simply cannot donate millions of items of PPE abroad. American warnings about how China is an example of the perils of the single-party rule are not at all strengthened by the fact that it is China, and not America, that has largely succeeded in curbing the spread of the virus. Indeed, as African countries try to fight Covid-19 and recover from the public health and economic crisis, it would not be surprising to see China’s influence, investment,
Africa and aid links with the continent strengthen. China has made itself indispensable to African nations through its ability to fill huge gaps in resources that the US is unable or unwilling to help provide. There are promises of debt cancellation for African countries struggling with Covid-19, prioritisation of supply to African states upon Chinese success in vaccine development, and provisions of medical teams and aid which is desperately needed. The debate over whether Chinese involvement in Africa amounts to neo-colonialism looks likely to remain an intellectual one and unlikely to push African leaders away from growing ties with China.
Covid-19 and the learning gap: The challenges Africa’s Universities are facing due to the global pandemic. written by Rosie McCann The common global response to the Coronavirus pandemic has been to close schools and universities in order to prevent rising infection rates on campus. This represents a unique challenge for the Higher Education sector as it renders traditional in-person teaching impossible, and remote learning necessary. The way African universities approach the challenges posed by remote teaching will have a lifelong and potentially irreversible impact on education across the continent. If handled poorly, inequalities within education will deepen, making social mobility even more inaccessible. Alternatively, a strong online learning programme could overhaul traditional models of education and allow more young people to enrol at university. An effective response could therefore alleviate pre-existing problems within the sector and prevent the pandemic from further entrenching inequality within education. The Western response to Covid-19 has embraced technology, with the delivery of lectures and seminars taking place over virtual platforms. Paired with Ebooks, online journals and email correspondence from professors, institutions have attempted to replicate the traditional classroom experience from home. Yet, in Africa,
there are more limitations to this style of online learning. In March 2020, internet accessibility across the continent stood at merely 39% of the total population, compared to the rest of the world’s 63%. This, however, varies regionally. Most notably, in Sub-Saharan Africa where 6% of young people are enrolled in higher education courses, only 4% of students have the potential to access technology-based remote learning. Such low levels of connectivity and a lack of technological access means that attempts at online learning across Africa have been mostly ineffective and fragmented, leaving many students behind. For a continent that, generally speaking, has lower levels of education, these facts are extremely worrying. As it stands, nearly 60% of youth between the ages of 1517 are not in school, and thus the proportion of young people progressing to higher education is low. According to the World Bank, 87% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa are ‘learning poor’ and lack the skills necessary for both the twenty-first century and the ever-changing labour market. These statistics, when considered alongside the inaccessibility of remote learning, highlight the need for another solution. If Western-style on-
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