Education

Malala Yousafzai Becomes UN’s Youngest Messenger of Peace

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai has become the youngest UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on girls’ education.

How a Devastating Hurricane Led to St. Vincent’s First Sustainability School

By Kenton X. Chance
In the 1980s, an institution for troubled Danish youth and a vocational school for Vincentians was built in Richmond Vale, an agricultural district on the northwestern tip of St. Vincent.

A Special Learning Journey Cut Short

By Charity Chimungu Phiri
When building a house, it’s critical to lay a strong foundation. The same applies to education, with studies showing that children who attend early learning centers perform better in school than those who do not.

France Hosts Major Exhibition on Jamaican Music

By A. D. McKenzie
It’s one of those movie-like spring days in Paris, where blue skies and brilliant sunshine lift spirits after a long, wet, grey winter. Many people are outdoors trying to catch the rays, but Jamaican artist Danny Coxson is not among them.  He’s inside a museum in a northeastern neighbourhood of the French capital, with a brush in his hand and tubs of vivid paint beside him, focusing on finishing a portrait of a deejay named Big Youth.

Free Education Helps Combat Child Labour in Fiji

By Catherine Wilson
In the South Pacific nation of Fiji, free and compulsory education, introduced three years ago, in association with better awareness and child protection measures, is helping to reduce children’s vulnerability to harmful and hazardous forms of work.

New Recipe for School Meals Programmes in Latin America

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Sunita Daniel remembers what the school lunch programmes were like in her Caribbean island nation, Saint Lucía, until a couple of years ago: meals made of processed foods and imported products, and little integration with the surrounding communities.

Menstrual Hygiene Project Keeps Girls in School

By Mahfuzur Rahman
Breaking taboos surrounding menstruation, a project to distribute sanitary napkins to girls in one district of Bangladesh has had a positive impact on school dropout rates – and should be replicated in other parts of the country, experts say.

370 Million Children Eat Healthy Food at School, Every Day

By IPS World Desk
Every day some 370 million children around the world are fed at school, while learning about healthy food and nutrition through school meals programmes that also help boost attendance, the United Nations reports.

Barefoot Solar Warriors Take On Gender Injustice and Climate Change

By Stella Paul
On a summer morning in 2008, Magan Kawar decided to leave her village for a job. The very next day, her parents-in-law excommunicated her.

These Women Cannot Celebrate Their Day

By Baher Kamal
This is a story that one would wish to never have to write—the story of hundreds of millions of life-givers whose production and productivity have systematically been ‘quantified’ in much detailed statistics, but whose abnegation, human suffering and denial of rights are subject to just words.

No Hidden Figures: Success Stories Can Help Girls’ STEM Careers

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
What makes a young girl believe she is less intelligent and capable than a boy? And what happens when those children face the ‘hard’ subjects like science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)? A recent study, ‘Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests’ showed that by the age of 6, girls were already less likely than boys to describe their own gender as ‘brilliant’, and less likely to join an activity labelled for ‘very, very smart’ kids.

Stop worrying about ‘Doing Business’ ranking

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Without any hint of irony, the World Bank’s most recent Doing Business Report 2017 promises ‘Equal Opportunity for All’. Bangladesh ranked 176th among 190 economies, below civil war-ravaged Iraq and Syria! Bangladesh even slipped two places from 174 in the 2016 ranking and is three places below its 2015 ranking.

More of the Same: World Bank Doing Business Report Continues to Mislead

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2017, subtitled ‘Equal Opportunity for All’, continues to mislead despite the many criticisms, including from within, levelled against the Bank’s most widely read publication, and Bank management promises of reform for many years.

Why Achieving Sdg Goal 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth Is Critical for Kenya

By Mary Kawar and Siddharth Chatterjee
In Kenya the Gini coefficient of inequality is at around 0.45%. Therefore, the economic growth statistics present an unequivocal picture of a highly unequal society, whose development strategy is largely leading to accumulation of wealth by a few and worsening the poverty of the majority.

The United Nations Volunteer: From Global To Local

By Siddharth Chatterjee
Today 05 December is International Volunteer Day, and every year we recognize the invaluable contributions of volunteers to peace and development.

Unleashing Africa Full Potential

By Ambassador Amina Mohamed
Africa, the cradle of mankind and home to the youngest population in the world, has a historic opportunity to realise its full potential, in sharing our potential prosperity, by enhancing economic growth, promoting and entrenching democratic ideals. That is why I am so passionate to be running for the coveted African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson.

Students Under Siege as Schools Burn in India’s Troubled Kashmir

By Stella Paul
In the fading light of a November afternoon, 12-year-old Mariya Sareer bends over a textbook, trying to read as much as she can before it gets dark. It's been nearly five months since the seventh grader from Shurat, a village 70 kms south of Srinagar city, last went to school, thanks to a raging political conflict.

Children of the ‘Others’, Sons of Minor Gods

By Baher Kamal
In December 1946, “faced with the reality of millions of children suffering daily deprivation in Europe after World War II,” the General Assembly of the United Nations created the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), to mount urgent relief programmes.

Beyond Calais: A Perspective on Migration, Agriculture and Rural Development

By José Graziano da Silva
Migration is part of the process of development. It is not a problem in itself, and could, in fact, offer a solution to a number of matters. Migrants can make a positive and profound contribution to the economic and social development of their countries of origin, transit and destination alike. To quote the New York Declaration, adopted at the UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants on 19 September, “migrants can help to respond to demographic trends, labour shortages and other challenges in host societies, and add fresh skills and dynamism to the latter’s economies”.

Q&A: Bangladesh’s ‘Higher Trajectory of Development’ Not Easy but Achievable

By Mahfuzur Rahman
Bangladesh, a country of 160 million people, has made significant progress in its efforts to accelerate economic growth, reduce poverty and promote social development, but it now faces certain challenges in consolidating these achievements and marching forward on the higher trajectory of development, says one of its leading economists.

Student Struggle in South Africa Gains Momentum

By Desmond Latham
When #FeesMustFall began to trend on social media platforms in South Africa in October 2015, government shrugged it off as an example of isolated hotheads, while political pundits predicted the student campaign wouldn’t last.
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