EDUCATION-SWAZILAND: A New Policy to Keep AIDS Orphans in School

A new education initiative has been started in Swaziland to assist children who have lost parents to the AIDS pandemic.

EDUCATION-UGANDA: Universal Primary Schooling Succeeds to a Fault

Martin Oketch, 13, sat his Primary Leaving Examinations in Uganda late last year. His first choice for secondary education was St Mary's College Kisubi, one of the country's best boys' schools. "I want to become a doctor like Uncle Nathan," he says, pointing to his relative.

SCIENCE-MEXICO: Kids’ Museum Offers a Passport to the Stars

Mexico is a long way from the "space race", but is opening the door for people to leave Earth and the Milky Way for the edge of the known universe, in a virtual voyage that is impossible in any other Latin American country.

EDUCATION-SWAZILAND: English a Passport to Success?

A heated debate is underway in Swaziland about whether children who fail English should be forced to repeat the academic year.

EDUCATION-SRI LANKA: For Poor Students, English Makes a Difference

The children trudge into the Mohoththawagoda Secondary School, a few wearing white shoes and socks, some in rubber slippers but most of them barefoot.

EDUCATION-ZAMBIA: Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child?

Human rights activists in Zambia scored another victory recently when they got parliament to outlaw corporal punishment in the country.

EDUCATION-KENYA: Ongoing Claims About AIDS Discrimination in Schools

A decision by the guardians of 72 HIV-positive children to sue Kenya's government for alleged discrimination in public schools appears to have struck a nerve in the East African country. AIDS organisations say this trend may be widespread, and they are calling on government to take action in the matter.

HAITI: Student Opposition Bodes Ill for Government

When over 15,000 people marched through the streets of Haiti's capital Monday, psychology student Vladimir Jean Charles was in the lead.

EDUCATION-KENYA: Too Much, Too Soon?

As Kenya enters 2004, it appears likely that the country's education system will come under increased scrutiny. Many teachers want the current syllabus to be overhauled, saying it places undue pressure on staff and children alike.

EDUCATION: Thailand Has Good Marks, But Needs Improvement

Thailand remains a model for Asian developing countries for its economic development that has brought impressive gains in education, but it has some catching up to do in the fewer number of girls in primary schools.

SOUTH AFRICA: Education a Beacon of Hope for the Girl Child

South Africa has become a beacon of hope for the girl child in Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty and outdated traditions have prevented girls from attending schools.

EDUCATION: More Girls in School Benefits Everyone, Says UNICEF

Shamim Cairo Atwine, a 15-year-old Ugandan girl, speaks with great pride of the success of the Girls' Education Movement (GEM) at her school in Nakulabye, a poor and densely populated neighbourhood of Kampala.

EDUCATION-CUBA: Rural Students Benefit from Computers, Solar Panels

"My kids didn't know what traffic lights were. Now they even understand how they work," says the director of a childcare centre in rural Pinar del Río province, in western Cuba. The change is the result of the arrival of technology to remote towns.

HEALTH-THAILAND: Students Want Universities to be Condom-Free Zones

Just as Thailand was basking in another round of praise for combating HIV/AIDS through an effective condom campaign, it has been reminded by its future leaders - university students - that its triumph is not worthy of repetition.

EDUCATION-MALAWI: Making Universal Primary Schooling a Reality

When the Commonwealth heads of government gather in Nigeria next month for their bi-annual meeting, the agenda will probably be dominated by politics. But, if activist Julita Msanjama had her way, the leaders would spend most of their time discussing education.

EDUCATION: Expiration Dates and Refresher Courses for Graduates

University degrees should have a sort of ''expiration date'', and professionals should be required to renew them every five years by taking refresher courses, to keep up in a world where knowledge is expanding at a dizzying pace.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Call to Spare the Rod in Schools Grows Louder

Schoolchildren in Pakistan have routinely been slapped, caned or spanked in an effort to get them to behave or perform better, but only after a federal minister's son was given the same treatment has the spotlight been turned onto an archaic, 143-year-old law which permits corporal punishment in schools.

CULTURE: U.S. Students Must Open Avenues to the World – Panel

America's global woes can be solved only with a greater understanding of different cultures and languages, attainable only if more U.S. students study abroad, said a panel of experts Tuesday.

HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Dearth of Trained Midwives Plagues Planners

In the village of Talhi, in Pakistan's Sindh province, water still tends to be transported on camel-back. That is how a midwife too gets her supply of water to carry out a delivery, and such a midwife is Margaret Gill.

DEVELOPMENT: Jamaica Suggests "Managed" Brain Drain

Struggling to cope with a growing brain drain of professionals to industrialised countries, Caribbean leaders are mooting ideas like "managed migration" and training professionals for "export" as ways to curtail the problem.

EDUCATION-KENYA: Striking Lecturers Say They Live ‘Hand-to-Mouth’

Winnie Mitullah was in no mood to take part in this year’s "Africa University Day" celebration on Wednesday (Nov. 12). She has joined other striking university lecturers in a demand for better pay.