Date: 16th October 2020  –  Time: 2:00PM – 3:30PM (GMT+1)
Venue: Online via Zoom Platform.

Background

The Covid-19 pandemic that has been raging for several months has caused profound upheavals, the consequences of which are still being assessed. While the health crisis is the immediate consequence, in particular because of the high contagiousness of the disease, the particularly high mortality rate in the developed countries and the unprecedented strain on health systems worldwide, other sectors of human activity have also been severely affected. In fact, measures taken to restrict or contain the mobility of persons have led to a slowdown in economic activity, resulting in higher unemployment, lower production, lower trade, etc., and have also led to a decline in the quality of life of the population. The education sector is no exception. One of the first measures adopted was the suspension of academic activities. In Cameroon, for example, the third emblematic measure of the government’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) was the temporal closure of “all public and private training establishments of the various levels of education, from nursery school to higher education, including vocational training centres and professional schools”. These measures have had the effect of plunging administrative and academic authorities as well as pupils/students and their families into uncertainty. The difficulties in predicting the end of the spread of the virus have led to resumption of academic activities via the virtual platform. However, how has this measure affected national exams, assessments for promotion to higher levels of education of students, and curriculum completion? In this vast context, higher education is undoubtedly suffering more drastically from the effects of the pandemic.

Objectives:

Is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the African informal sector.

• Propose possible short-term and long-term solutions to mitigate the effect of the pandemic on the educational sector amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Main themes to be discussed during the event

• Assessment of the impact of the pandemic on academic activities in the short, medium and long term
• Assessing the appropriateness, relevance and effectiveness of the measures taken by African governments and other international bodies to revamp the educational sector.
• Developing future prospects for higher education in Africa

Expected Results:

At the end of the event, participants should understand the following;

• How COVID-19 has effect the educational sector
• What measures are necessary to strengthen this sector amid the pandemic

Participants

The event will gather different actors involved like researchers, experts on public policy and policy makers at the national, continental and international levels, leaders of civil society organizations, educationists, leaders of NGOs and International Organizations.