Languages
Monday, November 9, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Education
ARGENTINA: Crisis Takes Heavy Toll on Educational System
Argentina's economic collapse has driven middle-class students from private to public schools en masse this year, while thousands of poor children and teenagers have dropped out of the public school system.MALAYSIA: Academics Uneasy with Oath to King, Country – and Govt
Close to one million civil servants in Malaysia are required to sign a new pledge of loyalty, but some academics at public universities are privately grumbling that it could infringe on their academic freedom.EDUCATION-CUBA: Disabled Children Get Self-Esteem Boost
The lives of hundreds of Cuban children with different levels of physical-motor disabilities made a 180-degree turn after they began schooling at the Special Education Panama Solidarity School, in the island's capital.EDUCATION-RUSSIA: This System Will Not Work, But Who Knows What Will
In the wake of the economic reforms, Russia is now struggling to find ways of pulling its education system out of a crisis.PAKISTAN: Better Education Key to Fighting Extremism
Sitting in lotus position on worn-out rugs, the children parrot the verses that their aged teacher recites from the Koran, here in a 'madrasah' or seminary in Seaven, on the outskirts of Peshawar near the border with Afghanistan.CULTURE-BRAZIL: Bolshoi School Helps Children Make Social Leap
Brazilian children are the first to benefit from an effort by the famed Russian Bolshoi Ballet to create dance schools abroad as a tool for cultural diplomacy and social development.EDUCATION-NIGERIA: University Lecturers Go on Strike
University lecturers in Nigeria have gone on strike to demand the re-instatement of their 60 colleagues who were sacked from the University of Ilorin, in central Nigeria, last year.EDUCATION-TRINIDAD: Foreign-Backed School Project Snarled
A politically-charged, internationally-funded school construction effort central to the previous government's drive to provide universal, free secondary education appears to have been derailed.SPAIN: Muslims Demand Religious Instruction in Public Schools
Spain's Muslim community, bolstered by the rising inflow of Muslim immigrants, is demanding enforcement of an agreement with the government that would allow their children to receive Islamic religious instruction in public schools.RIGHTS-SPAIN: Muslim Girl Becomes Symbol of Religious Tolerance
Fátima Elidrisi, a 13-year-old Moroccan girl, became a symbol of the fight against discrimination on religious grounds in Spain Monday, when she began to attend a public school wearing a traditional Muslim head scarf amidst a raging controversy in the educational system.EDUCATION-TRINIDAD: School Violence Worries Authorities
The cartoon in one of the daily newspapers sums it all up: A teacher stands before a class with a police officer standing guard over the students and remarks, "This job just ain't what it used to be."EDUCATION-VIETNAM: College Reforms Off to a Clunky Start
Vietnamese education officials thought they were easing the worries of college-bound students and their parents across the country when they recently announced changes in the university and college admissions system.EDUCATION-VENEZUELA: ‘Contact Zoo’ for Special-Needs Children
A two-hectare area on the outskirts of the Venezuelan capital holds the first contact zoo in Latin America set up especially for mentally disabled children like those with Down's syndrome.EDUCATION-LITHUANIA: Controversial Reforms to Education
Higher education in Lithuania will go through bold new changes next year.INDIA: Education Still Lies under Rubble of Gujarat Quake
Away in the remote Nilpar hamlet, in the Rapar area of quake-ravaged Gujarat in western India, 25 children sit on the bare mud under the winter sun, with their teacher and a small portable blackboard.EDUCATION-SENEGAL: Teachers Seek More Role in School Development
Teachers, seeking more role in education development, in Senegal have criticised some aspects of a programme which seeks to offer opportunity to every child in the country to attend school by the end of the decade.EDUCATION: British, U.S. Recruiters Return to Caribbean
British and U.S. recruiters are returning to the Caribbean in search more of the region's best teachers.EDUCATION-PERU: Teacher Quality a Hostage to Controversy
The call for applicants to fill 35,000 teaching posts in Peru's public education system has triggered a tough debate between the government and the teachers' union, posed as an either-or choice between labour rights and education quality.EDUCATION-SOUTH AFRICA: Attempts to Close the Race Gap
Every year, at about this time, the newspapers are filled with stories about young people who succeed in graduating from secondary school, against the odds.EDUCATION-LATAM: Primary Schools Languish Except in Cuba
Primary education in Latin American countries remains in crisis except in Cuba, which stands out as the best performer despite long years of economic hardship, according to a report released Friday.EDUCATION-SERBIA: Govt Deals with the Legacy of Adult Illiteracy
Serbia is trying to deal with the legacy of adult illiteracy and with the country's inability to keep pace with the modern world.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Two teachers work in a classroom in Forces Vives School in Dori, Burkina Faso. Credit: UNICEF/UNI978361
Safe and uninterrupted education is a fundamental right for all children. Education is paramount to global development, as it has been proven that investing in education – especially for girls and children – contributes significantly to economic growth and prosperity. Although more than 1 billion children go to school, many are subjected to conditions that are not conducive to a proper learning environment, including makeshift facilities, a lack of supplies, violence in classrooms, inadequate sanitation, untrained instructors, and widespread school closures. Since 2015, there have been immense gains in education with an increase of 109 million children in school. However, as of 2023, 272 million children are still out of school.
High poverty levels in developing countries also impede children’s access to a proper education. For example, from the early to mid 2000s, Sub-Saharan African nations witnessed a dramatic decline in trained teachers due to inadequate funding in the education sector. Furthermore, major cuts to United States international aid threaten an estimated 23 million additional children's access to education, as USAID‑funded school programmes across Africa and Asia face closure.
Various other factors contribute to the decline of education, notably hunger, which has increased as conflict and climate change interfere with global food production and dissemination. Meanwhile, certain social and cultural practices also impede children’s access to education, with gender inequality, discrimination, child labour, and child marriages preventing millions of children from attending school. Economic conditions such as the inaccessibility of higher education also affect disenfranchised communities across the world. In extreme situations, such as warfare where educational facilities are destroyed in their totality, notably in Gaza and Sudan, entire generations of children might grow up without access to education. Rebuilding educational infrastructure is a long and arduous process, especially when violence persists across generations, and this significantly stunts the development of societal prosperity and stability.
IPS is dedicated to telling the shocking truths about worldwide education through impassioned opinion pieces and comprehensive articles, highlighting global issues that impede worldwide education and the courses of action being taken by organizations such as UNICEF and Education Cannot Wait.
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
