Stories about Education from August, 2009
Vietnam: Education system
Economist Peter Nelson writes about the education system of Vietnam.
Online Campaigns To Combat Spread Of HIV/AIDS
To combat the spread of AIDS, many organizations and activists worldwide are engaged with innovative and localized campaigns and initiatives. Today we will discuss some of them who use ICT and citizen media to augment their cause.
Pakistan: Sex Education Row
Faisal K. at Deadpan Thoughts is outraged by a controversy in a Pakistan school where some parents are demanding that the principal should step down because she introduced a grade 7 biology book in the curriculum which has a few pages on human reproduction system.
Guatemala: New BarCamps Planned
Gustavo Reyes of Interactiva Web [es] announces the launch of EduCamp in Guatemala, which is targeted for teachers, as well as the first regional BarCamp in Esquipulas.
Laos: Foreign languages in schools
Laos students are required to study French and English languages. In some border areas, Chinese and Vietnamese languages are also taught to students.
Netherlands: Too young to sail the world alone at 13?
Laura Dekker from the Netherlands is 13 years-old and wants to sail around the world alone to break a world record, but the Dutch Child Welfare Council have taken legal action to stop her.
Turkmenistan: Students prevented from study abroad
Orazdurdy reports that Turkmen students studying at the American University in Central Asia (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) were rejected at airport en route to USA through U.S. State Dept. undergraduate program.
Afghanistan: Reportages on Children
Onne Parl offers a series of posts about children living in the provinces of Afghanistan, featuring a post about the place of religion in high school education, about regular school for street children and about life of kids in the traditional rural economy.
Hong Kong: School drug testing scheme
The Hong Kong government insisted to go ahead in implementing the school drug testing scheme despite a growing concern over its violation of children's rights.
Dominican Republic: Treasure Trove
Repeating Islands blogs about “the discovery of a ‘treasure trove’ of stone tools and the bones of several now-extinct Caribbean animals in a prehistoric water-filled cave in the Dominican Republic”, which may “give insights into the earliest inhabitants of the Greater Antilles.”
Bloggers Reflect On HIV/AIDS Awareness In Arab World
While some bloggers in the Arab world report encountering ignorance about HIV/AIDS, others are impressed at the progress being made in destigmatising the disease.
Haiti: H1N1 Vaccination
“The H1N1 virus is not as deadly as the common cold. The panic and fear being generated…stands to enrich the powerful pharmaceuticals who will make gianormous profits from any mandated vaccination”: The Haitian Blogger examines the issue.
USA: “I am getting deported on Wednesday”
Herta Llusho is a 19-year old student at risk of being deported from the United States to Albania. Bloggers at DreamActivist.org and other immigrant rights blogs are calling on Americans to help her.
Armenia: Environmental activist charged with libel
Unzipped comments on the case of Mariam Sukhudyan, an environmentalist who recently put her name to an open letter posted on a blog alleging sexual abuse at a Yerevan educational facility for children with special needs. The blog says that the charges of libel against her are yet another example...
Dominican Republic: Cyber-Journalism Olympics
The third Cyber-Journalism Olympics will take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where participants will learn how to write for the internet according to Luijo of Ahí é Que Prende [es]
Turkmenistan: Ministry of Education clamps down on students
Orazdurdy reports that dozens of students at Ashgabat (capital of Turkmenistan) airport were not allowed on board a plane heading to Almaty. This is the latest incident in a broader trend: hundreds of Turkmen students still cannot leave the country in pursuit of education abroad.
Guatemala: Educational Portal for K'iche’ Community
Guatezona [es] writes about the new educational portal called Skoool, which offers bilingual resources in Spanish and Maya K’iche’ targeted to the indigenous community K’iche’.
Japan: Law Banning Cell Phones for Kids Passed in Ishikawa
Ever since Ishikawa prefecture (500 km/315 miles north of Tokyo) passed the first of a kind regulation in the nation to limit cell phone usage for kids and tweens on June 29th, the blogosphere has been buzzing with what's appropriate for kids.
Guyana: “Brigah”-Free
“Guyanese got a word for this way of behaving. Anybody who is too proud or haughty, we does say them is brigah”: Guyana-Gyal attends a wedding that is refreshingly free of labels.
Belarus: Cell Phones and School Uniform
Evgeny Morozov of Foreign Policy's Net.Effect reports that “a Belarusian textile company has developed a special school uniform that protects kids from… electromagnetic radiation emanating from their cellphones! The uniform features a dedicated pocket that can store the phone and make it safe for those who wear it.”
Haiti: The Revolution & Human Rights
Repeating Islands reports that an international colloquium, scheduled to take place in Port-au-Prince, will examine “the universalization of the social, economic, political, cultural, and philosophical dimensions of human rights in the context of the legacies of the Haitian Revolution.”