Kenya's exam board is telling schools to cut it out with the fake report cards they keep sending to parents about junior high test scores. Education officials are mad because institutions keep dropping phony league tables and average scores, even though the new system literally does not work that way anymore.
The competency-based setup ditches the old ranking game for an eight-level scale that checks each subject separately instead of cramming everything into one number. Schools apparently missed the memo and started manufacturing their own analyses that look like the outdated format, which is confusing families who are already trying to figure out how this whole thing operates.
Over a million kids took the first round of these...
Some official in the Eastern Cape named Nonceba Kontsiwe just dropped farming gear and sewing equipment on cooperatives around Matatiele to get people making more food and clothes. The handout covered two mini tractors, 30 industrial sewing machines, a pottery wheel, and some slab roller thing for youth groups and women trying to run small businesses in the area.
The agriculture department threw down about 198,000 rand for those hand-held tractors, which are basically cheap alternatives to full-size farm equipment that emerging farmers can actually afford. One young farmer with four hectares said he was hyped because he used to dig everything with hand tools, and the new machine will let him plant way more vegetables for local stores...
South Africa sent condolences to Australia after some psycho opened fire at Bondi Beach and hit 11 people during a Hanukkah celebration. Officials labeled the shooting as terrorism aimed at Jewish folks who were just trying to light candles, and Pretoria made it clear they think attacking people over their religion is completely unacceptable.
The government put out a statement backing Australia through the aftermath and saying there's zero excuse for this kind of violence against any faith group. South African diplomats expressed sympathy for everyone dealing with the tragedy, especially families who lost someone in the attack.
South Africa's education boss Buti Manamela is about to yank the licenses from three private colleges after they ghosted the government on paperwork for way too long. City Varsity, Damelin, and ICESA City Campus blew past multiple deadlines to hand over their financial records and tax docs, and two of them apparently just stopped running classes altogether without telling anyone.
The ministry confirmed that City Varsity and ICESA basically shut down operations but never officially closed up shop. None of the three schools submitted their annual reports or proved they had money to keep going, which is a massive red flag when you're supposed to be educating students who paid tuition.
The government is publishing the cancellation notice...
South Africa's education minister dropped the hammer on two government workers after they got caught leaking matric exam papers to high schoolers around Pretoria. Siviwe Gwarube said the whole thing got busted when markers noticed some kids were writing answers that matched the official grading guides word for word, and one department employee with a kid taking finals apparently got the stuff from someone who works in the exam unit.
The leak hit seven schools and covered math, science, and English papers that got passed around on a USB drive. Over 900,000 students wrote exams this year, but only 26 kids got their hands on the stolen material before test day. The department is launching a full investigation with outside experts, and...
South Africa's welfare office is telling people who want that COVID relief money to stop using borrowed phone numbers when they apply for the grant. SASSA dropped a notice saying applicants need to register with their actual cell digits and real bank info, or the system will basically ghost them when it comes time to verify everything.
The agency explained that keeping tabs on your application and getting their text alerts only works if the number actually belongs to you. Without doing the verification step when they ping you, your application dies, and the cash never shows up in your account.
They're pushing this because the payment system automatically blocks transfers if the banking details don't match the person applying. Getting...
Nigeria's second-in-command flew into Lagos to show up at the army's yearly get-together, and the state's top guy, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, met Kashim Shettima at the airport before military brass took over hosting duties. Defense Minister Christopher Musa and other service chiefs rolled through, catching up with old army buddies at the event.
Shettima is filling in for President Bola Tinubu as the main guest, and he did the whole honor guard inspection thing when he got there. The conference is basically about figuring out how to handle terrorism by mixing military moves with diplomatic tactics for keeping things stable long-term.
They're also dropping a book called A Life of Service about Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, who was the...
Some retired US Army guy named Bish Johnson went on Nigerian TV and basically said the quiet part out loud about why the country keeps dealing with kidnappers and bandits. He thinks people inside the government are getting paid off for this whole mess, and the crime stuff is organized like a legit business operation where different groups team up to cash in on grabbing people for ransom.
Johnson pointed at illegal mining as one money source fueling the chaos, plus he mentioned weak border security near Niger, Chad, and northern Cameroon, letting sketchy characters flood in. The former captain suspects foreign backers might be bankrolling some of the criminal networks operating in Nigeria, not just local bad actors making quick money...
Kaduna's governor is putting together a foundation to keep alive the peacemaking legacy of Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, who passed away recently. Uba Sani showed up at the cleric's family house in Bauchi with like 30 people to pay respects, and he's getting a committee together with relatives and students to hammer out the details.
The governor said Kaduna will honor the sheikh harder than anyone else because the guy was massive for promoting religious tolerance and good leadership. The foundation will pick up where the Islamic scholar left off and finish stuff he wanted to do before he died. Sani mentioned he used to hit up the sheikh for advice all the time, and it always worked out well.
The dead cleric's son thanked the governor...
