EDUCATION: Fighting Computer-Assisted Plagiarism in Latin America

Student plagiarism is becoming more and more common in Latin America, with the infinite possibilities offered by the Internet to those who follow the law of least effort.

RIGHTS-MESOAMERICA: Indigenous Peoples Particularly Vulnerable to Disasters

In the areas of Guatemala recently devastated by Hurricane Stan, which claimed the lives of more than 655 people, indigenous children last year played Kumatzin, a board game in the Maya language and with Mayan illustrations, used as an educational tool on how to prepare for and survive natural disasters.

EDUCATION-SOUTH AFRICA: The Past Isn’t History Yet

Clever student, top grades, demanding university course...For anyone in this position, using a cheque book or managing medical insurance should be a cinch, right?

POPULATION: Youth Unemployment Hits All-Time High

With nearly half the world's population of six billion people under 25 years old, the U.N. warned this week that poverty and lack of education is creating a new generation of marginalised youth.

EDUCATION-NIGERIA: Making School a Tasty Experience

A government programme to provide primary school children with free lunches has been launched in Nigeria, to encourage parents to educate their children - and to ensure that pupils learn effectively.

MALAYSIA: Campus Poll Boycott Sets Liberals Back Further

Just when student activists felt that procedures for campus elections in Malaysia could not get more restrictive, tighter regulations were introduced during polls last week, sparking boycotts that have not helped matters.

DEVELOPMENT: And the Alternative Nobel Prize Goes To…

Social activists from Mexico, Malaysia, Botswana and Canada have won the 2005 "Right Livelihood Award", an honour meant to celebrate groups and individuals who show outstanding vision and work on behalf of the natural world and its people.

POLITICS-US: Faith-Based Hiring Sets up Congressional Rift

Advocates for separation of church and state took a major hit yesterday as the U.S. House of Representatives voted to allow "faith-based" groups to discriminate on the basis of religion in hiring personnel to participate in the Head Start education programme for poor children.

DEVELOPMENT: Making Children the Sixth Pillar of Islam

The Islamic world, which encompasses nations as diverse in wealth and culture as Niger and Saudi Arabia, has some of the highest child mortality rates in the world, says a new report that calls on Islamic states to make children the focal point for greater unity and solidarity.

EDUCATION-BURKINA FASO: For Greater Literacy, Go Local

In 1990, Burkinabe linguist Benoit Ouoba used his own funds to set up a teaching programme with a difference: it focused on using local languages to develop literacy, rather than the customary French.

FINANCE: IMF Policies Thwart Poverty Goals – Report

If U.S. President George W. Bush is serious about his enthusiastic embrace last week at the United Nations of democracy and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to slash global poverty, he will press his treasury secretary and other members of the governing board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting here this week to stop imposing strict spending limits on poor-country governments.

LATIN AMERICA: Gender Equality in Education not Matched in Labour Market

One of the few Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have already met or are well on their way to fulfilling refers to gender equality at all levels of education.

DEVELOPMENT: Poor Victimised By Extortion, Large and Small

Antonio María Costa, head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, was a happy man. With Ecuador's ratification of the Convention Against Corruption, his agency has finally come into its own.

HEALTH: Disaster’s Psychic Wounds Take Longest to Heal

Public anger over the failures of U.S. federal, state and local authorities to respond quickly to the massive flooding in New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina can only deepen the survivors' lasting psychological trauma, says a Yale University sociologist.

EDUCATION: Empty Classrooms, Bleak Futures

Enrolling children in school is one thing, but ensuring that they stay in class is a challenge that is being failed by nearly half of the world's countries.

EDUCATION-SOUTH AFRICA: From Blackboard to SMARTboard

The electronic board in front of the class flickers, and a periodic table is projected onto the screen. "Do you all know what this is?" booms a voice from the loud speaker. "Yes!" the students chorus, as any typical class would.

DEVELOPMENT: Digital Divide Becoming a Vast Chasm

While information and communications technologies (ICTs) have an important role in meeting internationally agreed development goals, one in every six people still does not even own a telephone, according to experts meeting here.

MILLENNIUM GOALS-CUBA: Educational Focus Shifts from Quantity to Quality

Universal primary education, one of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2000, has been a reality in Cuba for so long that it essentially taken for granted, leading both parents and the authorities to shift their attention to the quality of education received by Cuban schoolchildren.

RIGHTS: Child Labour a ‘Necessary Evil’

"Child labour is evil," says Aimé Bada, a defender of minors' rights from Senegal. "But it is a necessary evil, because without the income the children earn in the poorest countries of the world, their families would be worse off."

POLITICS-US: Visa Policy Costing Economy Billions

As Congress returns to Washington facing what promises to be a rancorous debate on how to protect U.S. borders, a leading immigration think-tank is charging that U.S. visa policies - a key tool in promoting national security - are in danger of compromising U.S. economic competitiveness and foreign policy goals.

EDUCATION-BRAZIL: Integration Now Extends to Language

South American integration has finally extended to language training in Brazil, thanks to a new law that makes it mandatory for all secondary schools in this Portuguese-speaking giant to teach Spanish, the language spoken by the vast majority of the continent's nations.