The Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MSHE) is working to fight the spread of Corona virus pandemic in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the US Embassy and other partner agencies.
Recently, The Ministry has prepared a webinar under the theme “COVID-19 Diagnostic and Community Health Challenges in Ethiopia”.
State Minister of Science and Higher Education, Professor Afework Kassu, who initiated the webinar, said that the discussion was supported by scientists and researchers from across the globe and it helps the effort of the community and government to fight the spread of the virus. It also has high value to apply the well-known research results and knowledge on the pandemic especially in international and continental organizations.
Prof. Afewerk said: “We have to focus on the research result conducted by the National Multi Sectoral COVID-19 Task Force and coordination with the Ethiopian and foreign scholars in the field, which has been established by the MSHE.”
Fitsum Arega, the Ethiopian Ambassador to US, in his statement said that currently to fight the spread of this disease; the Ethiopian Diaspora communities are playing their role through contributing their own resources to assist their country during this pandemic, in addition to purchasing the necessary supplies to prevent the spread of the virus. In addition to providing the necessary supplies, they have collected more than 1.2 million Dollars from the Ethiopian Diasporas.
The ambassador also called on the Diaspora to continue making great efforts to support their country and continue to do their utmost support to enable their country’s higher education students and other education sectors to keep up their learning at home with the help of technology.
Education and health are among the national security issues of Ethiopia.
About 350 participants were attended the webinar, and articles on the topics “Challenges and Dilemmas in COVID-19 Diagnosis and Therapy” and “Using Non pharmaceutical Interventions to Address COVID-19” were discussed.
Meanwhile, MSHE called on all concerned bodies to support the effort of the community to fight the corona virus. The exact time to help and support the community who has “taught us without being educated” is now.
Countries will do their best to provide their citizens with a modern education, no matter their wealth. At this time in the world of innovation and technological competition, countries are investing in education, with the intention of leaving the tail behind and becoming a leader.
Considering the strong interest of the country, the government has allocated approximately 386.9 billion Birr for 2019/20 budget year including the support for regional and state development grants. Out of this, 48.4 billion Birr was allocated to the Science and Higher Education Institutions and other 45 Government Institutions. This accounts 20.15 percent of the total federal budget and shows that the government’s focus on the sector is high.
If we say, “Why spend so much on education and training,” education is critical to a nationwide development. Education is the basis for human development, economic prosperity, social security, personal satisfaction, and a sustainable planet.
Learning is the process of gaining new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, and choices. Learning helps broaden one’s thinking. Education helps to gain life experience. Learning facilitates the development of many skills and become better at practice.
So what is required of the nation to fight COVID- 19 is a well-educated citizen who the country has invested on so much.
“The desire to serve the community without teaching ourselves will be hard. Of course we are in time to show that. The right time to serve the ‘community who have taught us being uneducated’ is today and now.”
Learning can also help bring about change in behavior and take on new knowledge. And first of all, the precautions that must be taken to prevent the spread of COVID -19 need to be done as an individual.
Everyone should then alert one’s own and neighbors for the sake of common wellbeing. Educating others on the virus, helping them apply all the precautionary measures and helping them to find the right information about the virus, need integrated effort.
The higher education and training institution have the opportunity to save more lives if they can educate themselves and teach others to be cautious.
In particular, awareness creation needs to be done so that the people can get out of the attitude of not being reached and stay away from social interaction and keep physically active.
“By being cautious together, we can greatly reduce the harm that the virus can cause when we wake our fellows. So, let’s wake up today and now, to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” MSHE stated.
The Ethiopian Herald May 19/2020
BY ESSEYE MENGISTE
