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Covid closures coincided with an initiation ceremony that has put many on a path out of education and set back years of progressPhotographs by Joost BastmeijerShortly after sunrise, three boys step off their motorcycle, pat the dust off their checkered shuka cloths, and enter their family’s boma – an enclosure built from thorny acacia branches in eastern Samburu.Now that they are morans, the teenagers...

Only seven out of 24 countries have reopened classrooms with Covid-safe measures, leaving millions unable to access educationCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageOnly one in three countries in west and central Africa have reopened their schools, leaving children at risk of child marriage, early pregnancy and recruitment by local armed groups, Unicef has warned.Six months after schools across the region closed under...

Violent unrest at Ethiopia’s universities has been quelled by police, but the root causes will prove harder to tackleOn a December morning last year, students at Ambo University in Ethiopia’s Oromia region awoke to find threatening notices pinned to the walls of their dormitories. The message was simple: boycott classes. Anyone failing to do so would face punishment.Written by Oromo student activists calling themselves...

Official announcement greeted with cautious optimism but World Bank comes under fire over $500m education loan Tanzania has pledged to improve access to education for pregnant girls after receiving a controversial $500m (£402m) World Bank loan, but has stopped short of readmitting them to mainstream classrooms.The World Bank has been accused of undermining human rights and has faced criticism from local and international civil...

Decision hailed as ‘victory’ comes amid warnings that coronavirus could close schools and leave teenagers vulnerable in quarantineSierra Leone has lifted an internationally criticised ban that prohibited pregnant schoolgirls from attending school and sitting exams, in a move heralded by activists as a “victory for feminism” in the west African nation.The decision, announced on Monday, follows a judgment last December by a top regional...

Bringing skateboards to children in Madhya Pradesh gives them enthusiasm to go to school and gives girls a confidence in themselvesThe children skid into the dusty courtyard at breakfast time, grabbing skateboards from a stack near a tethered brown cow.Boards jammed under arms, they sprint barefoot past a large well pump, the main water supply for many families here. They slap their wheels on...

Opposition leader Zitto Kabwe received death threats after asking bank to suspend education fund over human rights concernsAn opposition leader in Tanzania said he was taking death threats he received after he urged the World Bank to withdraw a $500m (£382m) education loan to the country over human rights concerns “very seriously”.But Zitto Kabwe, leader of the alliance for change and transparency party (Act),...

Children aged 11-13 will be first to benefit as government eases long-standing restrictions in effort to avoid ‘lost generation’ Bangladesh has confirmed it will lift restrictions on education for young Rohingya refugees, easing bans in place since the existing camps were established 30 years ago.The government’s move to allow schooling for children aged 11-13 has been widely welcomed by activists and teachers. Continue reading...

Campaigners say education funding would be ‘inappropriate if not irresponsible’ in light of ban on pregnant girls attending school An opposition MP and activists in Tanzania are urging the World Bank to withdraw a $500m (£381m) loan to the country, amid concerns over deteriorating human rights, particularly for women and girls.In a letter addressed to the bank’s board members, Zitto Kabwe said he feared...

Regional court ruling hailed as ‘landmark moment for thousands of girls’ who will no longer be forced to miss lessons and examsPregnant schoolgirls in Sierra Leone will no longer be banned from attending class or sitting exams, after a regional court ordered the immediate overturn of a “discriminatory” policy that has denied tens of thousands the right to finish their education.In a ruling handed...

Experts from Barcelona combined local techniques and materials with the tradition of the Catalan master to build new schoolAt first sight the school buildings that have sprung up in Thionck Essyl in Senegal resemble a lost work by Antonio Gaudí.The strikingly-designed school, where classes began in October, is the work of a group of volunteers led by the Barcelona architect David Garcia and his...

Country will become first to make study of global heating and human influence on natural resources compulsory in state schoolsItaly is to become the first country in the world to make sustainability and climate crisis compulsory subjects for schoolchildren.State schools will begin incorporating the UN’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development into as many subjects as possible from September, with one hour a week dedicated...

Javed Iqbal denies involvement in scandal over alleged use of CCTV footage to extort money from students in BalochistanThe vice-chancellor of a university in the volatile region of Balochistan in Pakistan has temporarily stepped down from his role following the launch of an investigation into allegations of harassment and blackmail on campus.Javed Iqbal said on Sunday that he was leaving his post at the...

World Bank targets ‘learning poverty’ as research shows major shortfall in basic reading skills among least privileged childrenNine out of 10 children in the world’s poorest countries are unable to read a basic book by the age of 10 – a situation mirrored in reverse in rich countries, where only 9% cannot do so by the same age.Data compiled by the World Bank and...

Swamped by sewage and prone to floods, Cité Soleil is a hotbed for gangs and violence. But for a lucky few, an education initiative offers a glimpse of a better futureBilly Lafalaise has spent much of his 16 years avoiding the allure of gang life in one of the world’s most notorious slums. He was born in Cité Soleil, the sprawling shantytown of Haiti’s...

UN refugee chief warns of generation condemned to grow up unable to find work, as special education envoy Gordon Brown calls for urgent fundingMore than half of the world’s 7.1 million school-age refugee children are failing to get an education despite recent spikes in enrolment rates, the UN refugee agency has found.School shortages, oversubscribed classrooms and a lack of teachers in host countries are...

Unicef report points to three-fold increase in number of schools closed in the region in two years due to intensifying conflictMore than 1.9 million children are forced out of school across west and central Africa due to rising violence and insecurity, putting them at higher risk of recruitment by armed groups, the UN’s children agency has warned.In an urgent report published on Friday, Unicef...