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Guest Editors’ Essay: Towards Africa’s Renewal and Development
Saheed Ahmad Rufai and Hakeem Onapajo7
African journalism scholars are generally agreed that journalism curricula in Africa are too dependent on Western epistemologies. They argue that Western-based curricula tend to alienate African students from their history, thus making it difficult for them to effectively report on pertinent issues on the continent. This dependency has led to increasing calls to Africanise journalism curricula, in order to make it relevant to the African context. However, whilst these calls have been consistently made by some African journalism scholars, there is no agreement about what Africanisation entails. The study, therefore, sought to investigate the perspectives of African journalism scholars on the subject of “Africanisation”. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 31 journalism educators in southern Africa. The aim was to find out whether selected journalism scholars believe that Africanising in the context of a complex global environment is feasible and if so, what they envisage Africanised journalism curricula to look like. Findings of the study reveal selected journalism scholars are generally agreed that it is possible to Africanise journalism curricula. However, the majority are of the view that African journalism curricula cannot completely decouple from Western epistemologies. This paper also highlights the complexities and contradictions inherent in the Africanisation narrative.
Translation is an important aspect of Yoruba language studies and a compulsory course for pre-service teachers in colleges of education in Nigeria. As valuable as it is, reports show that students’ attitude towards it has been negative thus leading to gross under-achievement in questions relating to translation among them. This has been traced to ineffective strategies adopted in teaching translation to pre-service teachers which do not allow them to be actively involved in the teaching-learning process. There is the need to adopt strategies that cater for these deficiencies. Among the strategies are bilingual and peer-tutoring which are learner-centered and activity-based. Studies have shown that these strategies were effective in teaching social studies and mathematics but their effect in teaching and learning of Yoruba translation has not enjoyed much research attention. Therefore, this study examined the effects of bilingual and peer-tutoring instructional strategies on pre-service teachers' attitude towards Yoruba translation. Moderating effects of students’ verbal ability and gender were also examined. Seven hypotheses, tested at 0.05 significant level, were formulated and 300 pre-service teachers in intact classes from six purposively selected colleges of education in Southwestern Nigeria, who were randomly assigned to treatment groups served as participants. Pre-service Teachers’ Attitude to Yoruba Translation Questionnaire (r=0.76), Students’ Verbal Ability Test (r=0.78) and Instructional Guides were used as instruments. Data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance and Scheffe post-hoc analysis. Findings show that bilingual and peer-tutoring instructional strategies are more facilitative in fostering pre-service teachers' attitude towards translation in Yoruba than the traditional lecture strategy. Hence, Yoruba translation teachers in colleges of education should adopt these strategies in teaching Yoruba translation.
Discourses on African political economy harp on corruption, bad leadership, poverty, failed state phenomenon etc, whereas the relegation of culture is one important but understudied topic because it also undermines Africa’s growth and development. The treasure which indigenous languages depict remains untapped for quality education and continental integration. UNESCO estimates that 30percent of the world’s languages are spoken in Africa, with threats of extinction following declining use in homes because of preferences for foreign languages especially as classroom instruction. This undermines the internalization of development initiatives and negates the mental, linguistic and cultural development for the critical mass. This paper highlights the widespread communication gap vis-à-vis disparity between potentials and the ends to which policies are committed. In quantitative and qualitative terms, it advocates a systemic introspection for the realization of development goals.
The quality of education means much to the development of any nation. The government of Nigeria since independence realizes the unique position of education as a catalyst to the development of individual and the society at large. Much as they do; and much as they pronounce it; education polices and its implementation procedures at all levels of governmental powers in Nigeria have revealed intricacies in politics which brought Nigeria into a situation of ‘one leg forward and two legs backward’ as far as achieving qualitative education is concerned. The persistent fall in the standard of education is no longer debatable. The issue is in analyzing the politics and ‘policies’ that have contributed to this fall and search for a ‘ground’ where qualitative education would be achievable. This paper examines the undeniable relationship between politics and education using a system approach analysis and exposes their interrelationship in evolving qualitative education in Nigeria.
The roots of social work education in South Africa originate from its colonial and apartheid history. However, despite the changes taking place, the legacy of apartheid in South Africa still manifests itself through the education systems, especially in higher education institutions in the rural areas. The aim of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by students in a rural-based university with a focus on social work students doing fieldwork practice. The paper draws on a historical analysis of social work education in South Africa. The qualitative research was conducted in the five districts of Limpopo Province in South Africa. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that students face some challenges, including, limited income, accessibility, lack of clear guidance, motivation and support in carrying out their fieldwork practice.
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