Stories about Education from July, 2011
Cote d'Ivoire: Unequal pay for equal work
Siriki Moustapha explains on africavox.com [fr] why equal pay for women still is a subject of debate in Ivory Coast: “These are men of varying socio-economic and intellectual levels; they do not think of themselves as old-fashioned, enemies of women, or even anti-feminist. Their logic is that the Ivorian woman...
SEE: Danica Radovanovic's Interview on Online Social Interactions
At Open Society Foundations’ Blog, an interview with Danica Radovanovic of Digital Serendipities, covering “various topics related to digital use, online social interactions, digital divide, social networks and young adults in Southeastern Europe” and the Balkans.
Mexico: Improvements in Education Decreasing Emigration Rates
The second post on a series about immigration throughout the Americas on the Council on Hemispheric Affairs Blog focuses on “Mexico's Improving Education and Declining Emigration”.
Poland: The State of Reading
A few weeks ago, a new social campaign - Reading in Poland - was launched by one of Poland's largest daily newspapers due to the fact that reading rates in Poland are very low: one reports states that 56 percent of the Poles don't read books at all - and are also incapable of reading texts longer than 3 pages. A huge debate has started on the reading culture in Poland and the reasons for the crisis it is facing.
Puerto Rico: Science and Ethics
Miguel Adrover discusses and contextualizes [es] governor Luis Fortuño's recent comments about the need to develop more engineers, scientists and mathematicians. The blogger, a science teacher himself, stresses that what needs support is a scientific culture with a profound ethical commitment within an interdisciplinary curriculum.
Puerto Rico: Libraries and Reading
Gil the Jenius puts forward a theory about why “there are no decent libraries on the island”, adding that with the current levels of Internet penetration, “We don't have any excuses anymore.”
Africa: Membership Opens For mLab SA
Application for membership for mLab Southern Africa has opened: “The mLab SA provides incubation support to mobile developers and entrepreneurs through the following services: subsidised office space with meeting rooms – to allow members to benefit from being part of the mobile startup community; training and accreditation on mobile technologies...
Jamaica, Haiti: On Creole Language
“Well, I’ve always known that my views on Jamaican Creole or Patwa, the native language here, were contentious but sound”: Annie Paul is vindicated.
Tajikistan: Minors prohibited from visiting places of religious worship
Avicenna says that minors in Tajikistan are prohibited from going to mosques, churches and sinagogues, as the parliament have unanimously approved a bill “On the responsibility of parents for their children’s upbringing and education”.
India: Should Colleges Make Attendance Voluntary?
Youth Ki Awaaz curates reactions of Indian youths in Facebook on the news that the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore has decided to make attendance voluntary across all courses.
Philippines: Planking Against Education Cuts
Thousands of students in the Philippines took to the streets on July 19 to demand a higher budget for education from President Noynoy Aquino. The protesting students used the latest planking craze to register their grievances.
Russia: “Double-Entry Bookkeeping” in Moscow State University
Blogger Vladimir Varfolomeev writes [ru] about strange occurrences during the entry exams to the prestigious Journalism Department of the Moscow State University. Varfolomeev brings up a story of the entrant who received the highest possible mark for the interview. After the interview, however, the mark was significantly reduced by a...
Singapore: Popular primary schools versus neighbourhood schools
While many Singaporean parents are scrambling to enroll their children in popular primary schools, Yee Jenn Jong lists a few advantages of neighbourhood schools and bats for a true holistic education.
Uruguay: A Critical Look at Secondary Education
“What do we learn in High School?” and “What happens to students who struggle with a subject?”. These are some of the question Alvaro Fagalde asks in a post [es] where he gives readers a critical look at secondary education in Uruguay.
North Korean Defectors Living in South Korea
Robert Neff of Marmot's Hole blog wrote about the International Crisis Group's report about North Korean defectors living in South Korea (PDF). The report covers practical problems defectors face in education and health care and discrimination issues.
Chile: Students Take Over Schools Demanding Education Reform
Students have taken over hundreds of schools throughout Chile, turning their classrooms into temporary homes while they demand free and higher quality education. They are sharing their movement online through video and blogs, giving us a glimpse of what it is like to be on the inside of a student-controlled school.
Hungary: Military Training on School Curriculum
Eva Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum reports that from the schoolyear 2012/2013, Hungarian high school students will be able to study basic military science as a subject to be included in their highschool degree, and goes on to present other critical views on what she feels is a militarization of Hungary.
Bangladesh: Sexual Assault By A Teacher Triggers Student Uprising
The recent protests at the Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNC) in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, has stirred much buzz in the Bangladeshi blogosphere. After a three-fold campaign via Blogs, Facebook and street protests authorities were forced to sack and arrest a teacher accused of sexually molesting a student.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Sex Education
The public reaction to Abeni‘s T-shirt, emblazoned with the words “Sex nice, but de AIDS ting…”, leads her to conclude “that HIV education has to overcome so many prejudices. The reluctance to talk about sex in a holistic way forces the young and not so young to accept myths as...
China: Teaching kids to fight
Jing Gao from Ministry of Tofu highlights a video showing how a father teaches his kids to fight without mercy.
Portugal: Research on Literacy, Media and Citizenship
The Research Center on Communication and Society from the University of Minho, in Portugal, has made available for download the proceedings of the First National Congress on Literacy, Media and Society. Among more than sixty papers on several topics, there is one dedicated to “Perspectives on info-exclusion in the lusophone...
