Sarah Jemutai, winner of the ‘best dissertation in the Humanities’ award

The evening of June 21, 2018 was a particularly special one for CERM-ESA Master’s student Sarah Jemutai, her supervisors as well as for her family and friends. Sarah, who graduated cum laude, was selected as the recipient of the Nelson Mandela University Council’s best Master’s Degree by Dissertation in the Humanities Award, which she received during the Academic Awards Dinner held at Port Elizabeth’s Feather Market Hall. The dinner is an annual event to acknowledge academic excellence, both in undergraduate and postgraduate studies across all of the faculties at Nelson Mandela University. Excellence is one of the university’s six values and is believed to be central to the institution’s striving for a sustainable future.

Sarah completed her Master’s degree by dissertation, an academic journey which requires commitment, sustained hard work and diligence. Her dissertation is entitled ‘The effect of using a six-brick Duplo block guided play approach on pre-school learners’ visual perceptual abilities’. The study situates itself within the pre-existing body of knowledge around the development of children’s visual and spatial abilities, which belies reading, writing and mathematics. However, through her research, Sarah identified that pre-existing studies have focused on older children who are already literate and who are being educated within a Western context. In light of this gap, the focus and dimensions of Sarah’s study are particularly topical. In focusing on the use of a six brick Duplo block intervention in one South African and one Kenyan school, Sarah argues that children’s development is accelerated through teachers’ facilitation of guided play using the six brick Duplo block approach. In turn, these findings have implications for curriculum developers, early childhood advisors and teachers when designing instructional materials that promote the development of reading, writing and numeracy skills in pre-literate children.

Not only does her study attest to the ever-evolving ways in which we conceive of educational methodologies and innovation, but her outstanding academic achievement demonstrates the potential of committed hard work, which sets an inspiring example for CERM-ESA students to follow.

Dear colleagues at the Centres of African Excellence,

CERM-ESA would like to announce its Capacity Building Programme for Lecturers and Supervisors in the DAAD funded Centres of African Excellence (CABLES).

The programme aims to further support the Centres’ work and efforts to offer excellent study and research opportunities. Hence, lecturers and supervisors who contribute to the Centres’ success and carry a substantial teaching and supervision load are the main target group for this year’s programme. Up to 6 lecturers/ supervisors of each Centre qualify for a full scholarship (travel, subsistence and study fees) to participate in the CABLES-programme.

The first CABLES-programme will take place between the 9th and 18th of August 2018 at the  Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth. This programme is offered to lecturers and supervisors of the Centres of African Excellence in South Africa and Namibia. Please see the poster/ handout attached and forward it to your colleagues in the Centres of African Excellence. We will also ask you as managers of the Centres to provide us with a list of names of your lecturers and supervisors in the Centre indicating the teaching load / contribution to the Centre’s work.

The second CABLES-programme is planned to take place at Moi University in October 2018 for all Centres of African Excellence in East Africa. The third CABLES is planned in 2019 for the West African Centres of African Excellence. More information on these is forthcoming.

Background: following from CERM-ESA’s mid-term evaluation and discussions with DAAD, CERM-ESA has developed this programme as one of its pillars for the second funding phase (starting in 2019) and for the Centre’s long-term perspective and sustainability strategy. It was decided that the programme should be offered in a first pilot phase to all Centres of African Excellence. Please have a look at the programme contents below. We hope that they are relevant to you and your academic staff.

Please see the attached PDF document for more information.

With kind regards,

your CERM-ESA team   Capacity_Building_Programme_Proposal_2018-ENGLISH_Flyer

Today, CERM-ESA’s first cohort of eight Kenyan Master’s scholarship holders are graduating from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. We are extremely proud of our pioneer group of students who ventured to do a Master’s by Research in Education programme and worked hard under difficult circumstances to achieve their goal! Thanks to all supervisors from Mandela University, co-supervisors from Moi University and mentors from the CERM-ESA Faculty who supported the students tirelessly in their reserach journey. A 100% passrate and half of the students graduating with CUM LAUDE is fantastic!

Congratuations and have a wonderful day, Sarah Jemutai, Lily Yego, Zainabu Ramadhan, Ezekiel Chemwor, Ann Waithera, Janet Ronoh and Cornelius Rugut! And to you too, Robert Gamba, receiving the award on behalf of your late father, dear Josphat.

Enjoy! CERM-ESA community from Kenya, Germany, Tanzania and Uganda is with you in thought today!