Stories about Education from August, 2007
Egypt: Complaining for Change
Something I love about Egyptian blogs is our tendency to complain. Firstly because we're Egyptian and its our nature and secondly because we have so much to complain about. Among our complaints this week: international scandals, intellectual persecution, the Egyptian Legal system (or lack thereof), the question of beauty and as usual, religious persecution rounding out the group, writes D.B. Shobrawy.
Barbados, Cuba, Venezuela: Literacy and Health Care
Individuality1977 weighs in on literacy and health care in Cuba and Venezuela.
Mauritania : Ignorance and Tradition
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Generously endowed women are favored in Mauritania. The fatter the woman, the more beautiful she is thought to be. Being big is also a sign of wealth and the search for beauty and signs of exterior wealth leads to some unorthodox methods...
Singapore: Unlikely Allies
Little Bridge finds African students taking the side of Chinese students in a campus fight with Mongolian students.
Iran:Crackdown on Professors
Kamangir says according to a new law, all state-run universities are obliged to report any trip their faculty members go to outside the country. The trips have to be reported whether or not they are sabbatical or personal and for pleasure.
Lebanon: Uproar at School in NY named after Khalil Gibran
Beirut Spring writes about an uproar surrounding a newly established public school in Brooklyn (NY), that is named after the Lebanese/Arab writer and poet Gibran Khalil Gibran. The school teaches many of its material in Arabic and has some courses on “Arab Culture”. Jewish groups demonstrated and condemned the opening...
Sri Lanka: Education and Nationalist Doctrine
Greenhornet.lk on why nationalist indoctrination should be removed from school syllabi.
Africa: Using ICT to promote culture
Using ICT to promote culture: “This can however only be achieved by using the ICT infrastructure as a tool in promoting science and technology education, enhancing our culture by producing local digital content and nurturing home-grown ideas.”
Arabeyes: Just a Pretty Face
Miss South Carolina's response in the Miss USA Pageant to a question on why a fifth of US students couldn't locate their country on the map was the butt of jokes on Middle Eastern blogs today. Here's a quick review of what some bloggers had to say about her ramblings.
Trinidad & Tobago: Ten Things…
Club Soda and Salt makes ten observations about Trinidad.
Jamaica: Bilingual?
“The very worst thing to do is to pretend that no language difference exists, and to proceed as if you are being fully understood”: Francis Wade examines the language barriers that exist in Jamaica.
India: Reverse Brain Drain from America?
The Indian Ex-President Abdul Kalam was one of the many Indian scientists who stayed back and wanted this reverse brain drain. The media in the recent days has been playing a major role in bringing to light that not only is there reverse brain drain, but foreign students now want...
Gambia: The religion of sycophancy
A Gambia Professor, Ba Banutu Gomez, leaves the US and returns to Gambia, but…: “What gets under my skin though is the tendency of African intellectuals returning home and all of a sudden converting to the religion of sycophancy to fit in the system.”
South Africa: Continuing education is working
The nonrequired writes about the success story that is continuing education in some African nations and how it can prevent the brain drain. Continuing education is paid for by companies and provided by local universities at an affordable cost. It has been succesfully implemented so far in countries such as...
Jordan: Laptop for Varsity Students
A plan to provide Jordanian university students with affordable laptops is finally being implemented, announces Ahmad Humeid from Jordan.
Trinidad & Tobago: A Case for Condoms
“The reality is that people are having sex, illicit or otherwise, with frightening proportions in our country being infected with HIV and other STIs.” Ramblings and Reason makes a case for educating youngsters about being sexually responsible.
Hong Kong: Nine-year-old Enters University
A nine-year old genus was accepted by the Baptist University of Hong Kong. Willsin thinks that it is ridiculous as the kid doesn't need to enter university to prove that he is a genus and university life in Hong Kong will kill his childhood fun (zh). Erynnyes feels that the...
Namibia: Digital tools for development
Gerard writes about LearnLink Project in Namibia: “I will simply start with LearnLink, especially their LearnLink Project: NAMIBIA that saw Ed's Net see the day of light.”
France: Light punishment for racist comments by a high-school teacher.
Titophe on his blog Racisme et Histoire is worried that the French National Board of Education only reprimanded a high-school teacher for racist comments directed at a student of African descent (Fr).
Iraqi Student in India
An American drama teacher in India writes about her encounter with a new Iraqi student, who hopes to stage a play.
Tanzania: Buy a calendar to support a school
Support the School of St. Jude in Arusha, Tanzania, by ordering their 2008 calendar: “A School of St Jude calendar is the perfect gift for that person for whom it is impossible to buy anything – Aunty Madge has enough Body Shop loofahs! And this is a great way to...
