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Monday, November 9, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Education
EDUCATION-MEDIA: Billion-Dollar Venture Supports Distance- Learning Track
A new business venture here believes it has the answer to providing better access to citizens of poor countries who lack the time, money and transportation to get inside a schoolroom.SOUTH AFRICA-EDUCATION: ANC Pushes New System Ahead of elections
, Apr 15 -- South Africa will next year embark on a revolution aimed at providing it with the one of most progressive education systems in the world, focusing on outcomes rather than content-based education.JAMAICA-EDUCATION: Students Left Out in the Cold
The recent closure of one of Jamaica's privately-run schools in western Jamaica has highlighted the absence of legislation to protect students attending these institutions.HONG KONG-CHINA: Smuggling Of Children Peaks As Handover Nears
A huge increase in the number of children being smuggled into Hong Kong from China, often through dangerous and frightening boat journeys, is worrying Hong Kong officials who fear a major catastrophe at sea.MOZAMBIQUE-EDUCATION: Good Schools Hard to Find
Many state officials in Mozambique send their children to school in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Portugal and the United States. So do other Mozambicans who can afford it.ZIMBABWE-EDUCATION: University Students Launch Indefinite Boycott
University students here Wednesday started an indefinite strike over the state's delay in paying their stipends and against a recent measure that requires new students to pay half their fees.HONG KONG: Beijing’s Hand In Educational System Feared
With Hong Kong reverting to Chinese rule in three months, its school textbooks are being revised to reflect the change in sovereignty.MALAYSIA-EDUCATION: Smart Schools Not The Only Answer – Experts
The Malaysian government envisions all its academic institutions graduating into 'smart schools' in the next 13 years, churning out technology whizzes who will be the country's edge in an information age.INDOCHINA-EDUCATION: Funding Lack Takes Toll on Free Education
"The clang of a metal pipe against an old car wheel resounded across the school yard, signalling the end of morning classes, but none of the 70 students in Kung Vichet's fourth-grade class budged from their seats.LATAM-EDUCATION: Neo-liberalism Blamed for Educational Ills
Demonizing neoliberalism as the cause of all evil would not solve problems affecting educational systems within the Latin American region, an international conference on education heard here.BOLIVIA-EDUCATION: Machos Students Against Co-education
The sorry tale of 'macho' students at the all-male Colegio Ayacucho de la Paz fighting against the admission of female pupils has underlined the fact that discrimination against women has not ended in Bolivia.CHINA-EDUCATION: MBA a ‘Make or Break Asset’ in the Job Market //REPEATING//
In China's burgeoning market economy, a MBA is more than a Master of Business Administration, it is a 'Make or Break Asset'.CHINA-EDUCATION: MBA a ‘Make or Break Asset’ in the Job Market
In China's burgeoning market economy, an MBA is more than a Master of Business Administration, it is a 'Make or Break Asset'.TAIWAN-EDUCATION: Make or Break Exams Force Students to Cram
Pauline, Ruth and Daisy are among the lucky ones. They have made it to Taipei First Municipal Girls School. Each year, some 30,000 girls sitting their 15+ exam put this school as first choice, but only 1,200 make it.EDUCATION: Sending Teachers Back to School
Three years away from the target date to universalise education, developing nations are using ingenious ways to bring and keep children in school.MALAYSIA-EDUCATION: ‘Corporate Universities’ on the Curriculum
Plans to 'corporatise' Malaysia's state-run universities are causing concern among academics who worry that a 'corporate' education sector will focus mainly on business-related classes at the expense of intellectual pursuit.THAILAND-EDUCATION: School Shuts Out Aspiring Homosexual Teachers
Thailand's traditionally liberal attitude toward homosexuality has come under scrutiny with the decision of a government training college to bar homosexuals from studying to become teachers.JAMAICA-EDUCATION: The Long Road to a Literate Population
More than two decades after a nation-wide adult literacy programme was launched here, more than one-quarter of Jamaica's population is still unable to read and write.BRAZIL: Small Town Revolutionises Learning with Poetry
A small town surrounded by sugar cane has opened a new path for Brazil's discredited education system, for poetry has become all the rage in Dois Corregos, improving the schooling and everyone's self-esteem.MALAYSIA: Malays See the Dollars and Sense in Learning English
"Repeat after me: 'The girl have a basket'," says the teacher, pointing to the blackboard during an English lesson at a primary school on Penang island.JAMAICA-EDUCATION: Breaking With Tradition is no Easy Task
Despite efforts by various sectors in this northern Caribbean island to bring change to the educational system, the traditional gender roles persist in many high schools.« 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.
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