· October, 2012

Stories about Education from October, 2012

Pakistan: Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy fired from LUMS

  30 October 2012

MIT alumni and preeminent physicist Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy has been fired from Lahore University of Management Sciences presumably because of ideological differences with the management. Dr. Hoodbhoy's contract was a buzzing news on the Pakistani twitter community.

Tajikistan: Students Forced to Love President

  30 October 2012

As the president of Tajikistan tours the country's northern province of Sughd, blogger Teocrat reports [ru] that thousands of students were mobilized to greet the president wherever he goes. This has become a standard practice in Sughd. In June, thousands of students were sent to the streets to greet the president's...

Brazil: Rethinking Drug Policy

  24 October 2012

Rio Real blog wrote about the launch of Pense Livre (Think Free) [pt] in September 2012, a network to urge a rethink of Brazil’s drug policy. The author stresses that drug decriminalization would remap Rio de Janeiro, and links to an interview [pt] to Pedro Abramovay, a lawyer and law professor who...

Benin: Organizing Volunteer Holidays to Share Specific Expertise

  23 October 2012

Youphil writes [fr] about a project driven by Espace Volontariats du Bénin and supported by France Volontaires that promotes volunteer holidays in Porto Novo and Sô-Ava. The project will help experts share their knowledge in fields such as accounting, communication, ICT & project management with local NGOs.

After Japan Earthquake, a New Local Newspaper by Citizens

  22 October 2012

Since the local newspaper in Otsuchi, Japan was forced to close down after the 2011 earthquake, a new hyper-local, hybrid newspaper project is teaching local citizens skills in reporting, and invites journalism students from across the country to sign up for internships.

Slovakia: Music Copyright Agency Vs. School Drama Club

  17 October 2012

The Slovak Performing and Mechanical Rights Society imposes a €975 fine on a high school drama club for a fundraiser ball, which included a raffle and featured songs authored and performed by the club members - but had not been properly registered with the music copyright agency. Tibor Blazko reports.

Serbia: Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2012

  14 October 2012

Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2012 took place in Belgrade on October 13–14, 2012, and is the first Wikimedia CEE Meeting for Central and Eastern Europe. The primary goal of the event is to intensify cooperation among the Wiki communities, Wikimedia chapters, and other interested groups from Central and Eastern Europe. The...

Sierra Leone: Is Ami Musa the Saddest Pinterest Page in the World?

  14 October 2012

One blog, Lovelyish, considers a Pinterest campaign about a 13-year-old girl Ami Musa from Sierra Leone by UNICEF UK to raise awareness about children living in poverty in Africa "the saddest Pinterest page in the world." Another blogger, Tom Murphy, argues that Pinterest represents a bit of a brave new world for NGOs to reach newer audiences.

Costa Rica: Students Protest Veto of ‘Photocopying Law’

  11 October 2012

Thousands of students participated in a march in San José on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, protesting for their right to photocopy textbooks for educational purposes. The unrest was caused by President Chinchilla vetoing Bill 17342 (known as the ‘Photocopying Law’) on the grounds that it removes protection of the work and intellectual property in the artistic, literary and technological areas.

Colombia: The Conflicting Relationship With ‘The Public’

  8 October 2012

After riots at the campus of the National University of Colombia in Bogotá last week, some students proposed [es] to paint the buildings white to express their rejection of vandalism, prompting a debate [es] about the issue. Andrés Villaveces writes [es] about this and the “conflicting relationship” of most Bogotanos...

El Salvador's First International Literacy Brigade

  5 October 2012

Madeleine Conway, a member of the University of Santa Cruz CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) chapter, writes about El Salvador's National Literacy Program (NLP) for Upside Down World. CISPES is “the first international volunteer brigade to answer the government’s call and support the literacy program”:...

Bangladesh: Video Contents In Students’ Reach

  5 October 2012

A growing number of contents available online become useless to people, who do not have access to the internet. Agami, a project based in San Jose, CA has made it possible to provide access of educational videos of Khan Academy translated in Bangla to underprivileged students in Khulna, Bangladesh using...