RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Children Undeterred by Attacks, Want Education

"I don’t feel any fear. My parents do. They instruct me almost every day to stay away from crowded places," said Afaq Ali, a Grade 1 student in this capital city of the militancy-wracked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

SRI LANKA: Jaffna Tamils Decry Development Plan of Gov’t

Two cyclists from the minority Tamil community are shooed away by government soldiers as they approach this northern Sri Lankan city’s only Buddhist temple while President Mahinda Rajapaksa is paying a visit.

SOUTH AFRICA: Children Help to Assess Water Health

Miss, Miss, there are tiny creatures here in the water!" a Grade 7 pupil shouts excitedly, trying to draw attention to his water sample. At first, the liquid looks clear, but upon closer examination, one can make out a tiny aquatic invertebrate.

MEDIA-ASIA: Parents Try to Keep Up with Net-savvy Youngsters

Many parents are scratching their heads as they watch youngsters in the Asia- Pacific region create often-private online worlds, feeling lost over how to be a part of it and oversee their Internet lives.

PHILIPPINES: Women’s College Corrects Gender Miseducation

Flip open a typical textbook used in many Philippine schools and you will likely find images of women illustrating verbs such as ‘cook’ or ‘clean’, but hardly appearing anywhere much in economics and history textbooks.

Q&A: Equality for Women – “The Core of the Problem is Care”

"Women help to reduce poverty and raise family incomes, but they pay too high a price for it, because in every country their working days are longer than men's," said Sonia Montaño, head of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean's (ECLAC) Division for Gender Affairs.

EGYPT: Looking Away From the Disabled

Egyptians find it hard to see past Mahrousa Salem's wheelchair, so they look away.

UGANDA: Information Technology Helps Farmers

Mayuge district has 31,000 farming families served by just nine agricultural extension workers. In Wainha village, an internet centre run by the Busoga Rural Open Source and Development Initiative is more than filling the gap in assisting farmers.

RIGHTS-PERU: Generals on Trial for Murders of 37 Students

There is more than enough evidence to convict three generals and other army officers in the kidnapping and murder of 36 university students from the highlands city of Huancayo in Peru between 1989 and 1993, Víctor Lizárraga of the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH) told IPS.

KENYA: Primary Education Under the Gun

The children are afraid. There are armed bandits hiding with stolen animals in the thickets behind Nawoyaregae Primary School in Kaputir Location.

ARTS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Women Dancers Can Fill Granaries

"Some said, how can women dancers tell us about climate change? Some said, how can dancers talk about planting trees? Others asked, how can women dancers build schools? But now the government says a drum has managed to fill our granaries, a dancer has managed to build schools."

ARGENTINA: Homemade Portraits of Life Behind Bars

"I wanted to take a self-portrait, and I thought about keeping a straight face, but it came out all weird, with these very long arms," says Liliana Cabrera about the photo she took with a camera she made herself, out of a condensed milk tin, at a workshop in an Argentine prison.

EDUCATION-AFRICA: “Change the System to Fit the Child”

Teachers in Africa need to be trained to teach pupils from multiple grades simultaneously because although this is a common form of instruction on the continent, many teachers are not educated to do this.

ZAMBIA: School Policy for Teen Mothers a Partial Success

Naomi Mulenga is determined to beat the odds by finishing her school education and becoming a nurse – despite being a teenage mother.

EDUCATION-MALAWI: Local Language Dictionary Released

The thickest book on secondary school teacher Hellen Ndalama’s desk is her indigenous language dictionary. It is also her most-used book.

EDUCATION-SIERRA LEONE: Government Ignores Demands for Additional Teachers

Ismail Conteh has been teaching for the past year-and-a-half at a primary school in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown – without receiving a single cent. He is one of hundreds of teachers recruited by schools to match the ever-growing number of pupils.

NAMIBIA: “If You Kiss for Five Minutes You Get It”

"At home we have a bar," says grade seven learner David Bravo* (14). "When my mother puts on the music I cannot concentrate on (my) schoolwork anymore. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I just sit there and watch the people."

SWAZILAND: Budget Cuts Ahead but More Money for Education and Health

Her swollen feet are a constant reminder to Sanele Matsebula that she needs to take her medication.

MALAWI: Rural Communities Jointly Care for Orphans

At the age of 66, village headman Kamwala of Dedza district in central Malawi is starting to feel the effects of ageing. He gets tired easily and needs frequent naps but says he cannot afford this luxury. He and his wife are caregivers to a one-year-old orphan.

MEXICO: Music and Dance Classes Foster Tolerance, Self-Esteem

Ten-year-old Jessica Algoneda leaps in the air, raising her arms and spinning around at her primary school in the Mexican capital, as if in honour of Terpsichore, the Greek muse of dance and poetry.

EGYPT: Population Growth Overtakes Literacy Rise

Literacy programmes are teaching millions of Egyptians to read, but are struggling to keep up with the country's high population growth.