SOUTH AFRICA: Gender Loses Out in Basic Education Crisis

With the 15th-year review of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women taking place at the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women in New York, South African teachers and education experts say they fear that a special focus on the advancement of girls is getting lost amidst the growing levels of poverty in the country.

EDUCATION-TANZANIA: Pregnant Teens Forced Out of School

Pregnancy is the leading cause of dropouts for school girls in Tanzania. And a national law forbidding young mothers to return to school after giving birth did not make it any easier for them to continue their education.

EDUCATION-URUGUAY: Gardens of Knowledge

"Nature is wise, and if we take the time to observe it, we can learn so much" is the underlying philosophy of a number of innovative programmes being carried out in Uruguayan schools that are using gardens as a teaching resource, explained Edith Moraes, director of the national Primary Education Board.

GUATEMALA: Off Track for Millennium Development Goals

Guatemala knows that when it comes time to demonstrate compliance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of global anti-poverty and development target to be met by 2015, it will make a poor showing.

ZIMBABWE: Informal Sector Lures University Graduates

From the rickety old buses that miraculously make long cross-border journeys to the frustrating red tape at the border post, from fending off sexual advances from bus crews and customs officials to losing goods worth thousands of dollars, 28-year-old Irene Moyo has seen it all.

RIGHTS: Women More Educated, Not More Equal

When it comes to female education rates, progress has been made around the world, and in many countries girls and young women have outnumbered and outperformed boys and men at all levels of schooling for decades. Nevertheless, these advances have yet to translate into greater equity in employment, politics and social relations.

SWAZILAND: Long-distance Learning Certificate for Caregivers

Every Tuesday you will find 70-year-old Precious Dlamini under a tree, weighing children and babies from her local community as she monitors their health and nutrition.

EDUCATION-NEPAL: Unique School Aims to Be a Ticket to Equality

Had Uttam Sanjel stayed on in the Indian city of Mumbai to pursue his dream of becoming a Bollywood director years ago, the Samata (‘equality) schools that he set up here in Nepal may not be around today.

MALAWI: Free Education At What Price

He fishes by night and sells his catch by day. He's the breadwinner for his family of six. Maliko Malombe is nine years old.

URUGUAY: Making the Secret Shame of Illiteracy a Thing of the Past

"Excuse me, I forgot my glasses, could you tell me what that sign says?" This was one of the ruses commonly used by Juan Gómez, who was too embarrassed to admit that at the age of 77, he had never learned to read or write.

RIGHTS: U.N. Goals on Education Under Widespread Attack

The relentless attacks on educational institutions in war zones - along with growing threats against academics, teachers and school-going children - have jeopardised one of the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - education for all by 2015.

VIETNAM: Hard Times Put Lunar New Year on Hold for Children

There will be no Tet (Lunar New Year) for Doan Hung this year. As festivities heat up for the Year of the Tiger, which starts on Feb. 14, the 12-year-old boy is busy selling lottery tickets on the streets.

SWAZILAND: Dating in a Time of HIV

Jabulile Dlamini* is sweet sixteen and has never been kissed. And she is not expecting to be kissed any time soon or to even receive any gifts this Valentine’s Day.

EDUCATION-INDONESIA: Mobile Classes a Lifeline to Dropouts

Two years after the economic recession forced her out of school, 20-year-old Nurul Kumala is now back in classes – mobile classes, that is.

MUSIC-BRAZIL: ‘Enchanted’ Guitars for Social Change

Perfectly in tune, in spite of the off-key world of Terra Encantada ("Enchanted Land"), a shanty town in this Brazilian city, the guitars of Daniel Sant'Anna's orchestra strike up the "Ode to Joy", played by children and teenagers who are looking for a way forward in their lives.

PAKISTAN: Community Midwives Gain Recognition But Concerns Remain

As Kanwal Gul, 25, lay on the delivery table a year ago, preparing to give birth to her first child, she made sure the traditional birth attendant (TBA) assisting her knew exactly what to do. Put on the gloves, she instructed her.

ROMANIA: Starting Early on Human Rights With School Textbook

A textbook on human rights activism, being introduced in Romanian schools this year, steers away from preaching and uses interviews with global and local rights activists to suggest how young people may get involved.

HAITI: Universities Feel Strain After Earthquake

Astride Auguste was late for an exam at Quiskeya University on that fateful Tuesday, Jan. 12, when the earthquake - or "the event", as Haitians have come to call it - struck this capital city.

Q&A: "Being Poor and White Is Not the Same as Being Poor and Black" in Cuba

The elimination of racism remains unfinished business in Cuba today. "We have to admit that the problem exists, determine its impact on the social model that we defend, and tackle it in depth," says Esteban Morales, an Afro-Cuban economist, political scientist and author of numerous articles and essays on the subject.

INDIA: Mobilised by Old Clothes, Poor Folk Stand Up, Take Action

Salidhana village, a mere blip on the vast and arid landscape of India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, was devoid of life’s most basic necessity – water. Until last year, there was no well in this hamlet of about a hundred families. Women would trudge hours daily to fetch water from distant areas, often losing their balance on the hilly village’s treacherous slopes.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Another Kind of Economics Is Possible

Democratising economics as well as politics is essential for ending irrationality and discrimination as part of the struggle for social and environmental justice, said participants at one of the panels of the seminar assessing the World Social Forum's (WSF) first 10 years.