As of August 12, Africa’s coronavirus cases were at 1,064,772 with 750,335 recoveries. The confirmed death toll stood at 23,725. The outbreak has spread across every nation in Africa. South Africa accounts for more than half of the continent’s registered cases, followed by Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Morocco, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Cameroon

With the rising cases, Africa’s economic recovery hangs in the balance. Concerns over overwhelming healthcare systems have led to the reimplementation of restriction in South Africa, Kenya and Botswana. Nigeria, the continent’s largest economy, will suffer its worst economic hit. Economic contraction will have long term financial implications on the working middle class. On a more positive note, West African countries with diversified economies such as Ghana and Senegal have had more success in containing the coronavirus. Africa’s labour force requires skills gained through high quality and relevant secondary education to adapt to a digitized, fast changing, and globalized working world. Many African governments are implementing multi-faceted strategies to ensure the continuity of learning via radio, television, newspaper and printed learning materials.

TRACKING STUDY PERMITS DATA FOR AFRICA

As per the data released by IRCC of study permit applications processed until June 30 2020, a comparison of study permit numbers from the 2^nd Quarter (2019 & 2020) for the top 15 countries of Africa are presented below. Some of the major countries still show a growth in 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019. It is encouraging for institutions to see an increase of over 35% in study permit numbers from Nigeria (38%), Egypt (39%), and Algeria (36%). Study permit numbers have dropped to more than 25% for countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, and Rwanda. South Africa and Senegal are among the most affected countries, with a decline of 35% and 40% respectively. Interestingly, Kenya and Morocco didn’t see any change in the number of study permit issued as compared to last year.

News from NORTH AFRICA

Algeria – The country has eased its coronavirus restrictions, like travel curbs and lengthy night curfews. In addition to lifting the travel ban on 29 provinces from August 9 until end of the month, it also ended travel restrictions for its remaining 19 provinces in July. The country resumed some economic activity in the past month, mainly in construction and public works sectors.

Egypt – According to the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the first stage of admissions into Egypt’s public universities will begin on 22 August, following the end of university admission tests. The results of the school leaving exam (Thanaweya Amma) showed a success rate of 81.5%. 77,000 Egyptian students have applied to take the admission tests for 2020-21 academic year which will take place between 8-20 August. The Minister of Education announced that the new academic year will begin on October 17.

Morocco – According to the press release issued on August 6, the 2020-2021 school year will officially begin on September 1 with students getting back to their classrooms from September 7. However, the pedagogical model remains undecided, as per the Ministry of Education. Moreover, according to the Ministry, all Moroccan engineering schools will finalize their list of new students by August 21 after which students can no longer enrol despite the new spots freeing up. A national unified entry exam has been introduced instead of the traditional 11 exams for medical schools, the results of which are awaited.

Tunisia – Tunisia has tightened its travel restrictions on arrivals from France, Belgium and Iceland. The pandemic has accelerated its digitalization, including providing effective and affordable internet, yet the nation lags behind in the digitization of all its services.

News from EAST AFRICA

Kenya – The Ministry of Education Emergency Response Plan shared recommendations for school re-opening, a task which requires entering into 5 types of partnerships – Intra-Governmental, Private, Community, Donor and Research, Development & Innovation Partnerships. Education officials announced in July that the academic year will be cancelled and students will have to repeat the year. National exams usually taken by students in their last year of primary school and high school have also been postponed, and there will be no new intake of students in 2021. Universities and Colleges have also been closed for in-person classes until Jan 2021, but can continue holding virtual classes.
 

News from WEST AFRICA

Ghana – The first batch of senior high school students started their West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Cape Coast Metropolis on August 3. A survey by the Ghana Statistical Service has shown that more than 22 million Ghanaians representing 77% households have been affected by a drop in their income since March 16, 2020- soon after the COVID-19 restrictions were introduced. The impact on education remains the major challenge with closure of schools and lack of basic tools being key disruptions for households.

Nigeria – The Senior School Certificate Examination, normally held in May/June every year, will begin this year on August 17 and will go on till Sept. 7. NABTEB will commence its own examination upto Oct. 15 and will be immediately followed by NECO from 5-18 Nov. The screening for the 2020 admission processes will start on September 7 in Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges. At the university level, the National University of Commission (NUC) is conducting preparedness assessments of institutions to understand if institutions are fit to resume.

Cameroon – Schools and Universities reopened in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, August 10 after more than four months of suspension. The Cameroon Education Cluster (CEC) 2020, North West and South West (NWSW) of the country, originally developed in 2019, aligned with the four education strategic objectives of the Cameroon Humanitarian Response Plan (CHRP) 2020, reflecting a deep commitment by the humanitarian community to ensure fundamental right to education.

News from SOUTHERN AFRICA

South Africa – Currently under Level 3 of a 2-month long nationwide lockdown, the South African Government is desperate to push back to Level 2 to salvage the economy. This despite the fact that the country has the most COVID cases in the region and the highest death toll, according to Africa CDC. Business confidence in all key sectors is running low, and the Rand has weakened which will make foreign education more expensive.

Zambia – The country is overcome by COVID-19 mainly due to non-compliance of rules. Zambia recorded 65 new cases raising the nationwide total to 8275. The country has also reported 241 deaths and 7,004 recoveries in total.

WWEC Initiatives

7 August: The Q&A Live with Canadian Immigration Lawyer Josh Schachnow had over 300 participants who received answers to their queries on new IRCC updates, AIP, and travel restrictions and exemptions for Canada. The IGTV went on to garner over 500 views.    10 August: 14 schools and close to 100 students attended the Canadian Universities Webinar aimed at reaching out to top schools in Bangladesh. The webinar was a joint effort of 7 partner Universities – University of Windsor, University of Victoria, Brock University, University of Ottawa, Vancouver Island University, King’s University College and University of Lethbridge.

OUR RESOURCES Worldwide EduConnect International Recruitment Solutions: https://worldeduconnect.com/ WWEC LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/worldwide-educonnect Maple Assist Blog: https://www.mapleassist.com/blogs/ Maple Assist YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXFhQ5_uIF4cQLidiOO_m-Q Scotiabank Resource Centre for Newcomers to Canada: https://startright.scotiabank.com/covid-19-resources.html