Turning Education From a Privilege into a Right

Going to school and receiving an education are opportunities most people usually take for granted. But for 67 million children around the world, such possibilities do not exist.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Won’t Learn Israeli Lessons

Widespread strikes across Palestinian civil society could be in store for East Jerusalem at the start of the next school year, as the municipality moves ahead with its current plan to implement an Israeli curriculum in Palestinian schools.

SRI LANKA: No Cricket for This Tendulkar

His father named him after the famous Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, one of the best sportsmen of his generation. But little Sachin Tendulkar from the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavuniya harbours no ambition of following in the footsteps of his illustrious namesake.

INDONESIA: Network Turns Teachers Into Environment Advocates

Educators in Indonesia are turning green with environmental advocacies they plan to integrate into the curriculum of state-run elementary and high schools through the "Green Teacher Network".

MIDEAST: Children Find an Island of Near Normalcy

It is a warm spring day as citizens go about their business. Colourful bougainvilleas climb the building housing the Yaffa Community Centre (YCC). Inside the centre’s kindergarten children play while older students attend a class at the media centre. A group of foreigners is touring the attractively decorated building and getting a brief introduction to its history.

PAKISTAN: War Breeds Child Workers

He should be inside a classroom but instead Jawad Ali spends his days selling sandals on the sidewalks of Khyber Bazaar in the city of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan. "I want to be in school, but it’s not possible now," said 11-year-old Ali.

EDUCATION-CHILE: Unequal System Under Fire

"Today we need structural changes; we need to move towards a new model of education in Chile and to sit down to talks that include all of the concerned parties," said Camila Vallejo, one of the leaders of the student movement that has the right-wing government of Sebastián Piñera up against the wall.

BRAZIL: Rainbow of Colours and Gender Equality at Innovative School

In the last three years there have been no teen pregnancies among the youngsters at Casa do Zezinho, an extracurricular educational and cultural facility in Brazil attended by 1,500 children and young people from favelas or shantytowns on the south side of São Paulo.

UNICEF Leads ‘Back to School’ Initiative in Cote d’Ivoire

When the five-month-old political standoff in Cote d'Ivoire came to an end in early April, the strife-torn West African nation was expected to return to normal - later than sooner.

PAKISTAN: Schools Rise From the Rubble

Violence in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan has kept students away from school, in some areas for at least two years. Now, officials are trying to make up for lost time by holding classes even under tents or trees.

U.S.: New Yorkers Occupy Streets to Protest Budget Cuts

They have taken over a strip of the sidewalk at Park Place and Broadway, handing out flyers to passersby and taping posters to the ground and to the metal crossbars of the scaffolding that shelters them from the rain.

South Africa Bidding for a World Class Telescope

Innovative research and development in mathematics and science could spur African economic growth, according to South African astrophysicist Bernard Fanaroff. Fanaroff is the project manager of South Africa’s bid to host the world’s largest telescope, the Square Kilometre Array.

SWAZILAND: Girls Leave School Because of No Sanitary Wear

After a newspaper that Prudence* (16) used as sanitary wear fell from her while she played with friends at school, she left and never returned.

INDIA: A School of Hope for Nomad Children

High up in the Himalayan mountains, 13-year-old Mohammad Junaid helps his family collect fresh fodder for their buffaloes, all the while dreaming of the day he could once again play cricket.

Q&A: “The U.N. Overlooks Native Rights in Developed Countries”

The United Nations has largely overlooked the plight of indigenous peoples in developed countries, says Crystal Lee, a Native American activist from the Navajo tribe.

Human Rights Teachings Spread Ripples of Hope

In a new curriculum introduced last December, thousands of students in New York State are learning about modern-day human rights defenders, and that they too can make a positive difference in the world.

INDIA: Violations May Hit Vaccination Plans

After a government report confirmed major ethical violations in trials of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccines on Indian schoolgirls, senior doctors are calling for transparency in clinical trials conducted under private-public partnerships.

PAKISTAN: Women Lose Livelihood Centres to Militants

Housewife Shahida Jabeen was devastated when she heard the news that she could no longer take sewing and embroidery classes at the local training centre in her hometown in South Waziristan in north-west Pakistan.

Push for Girls’ Education Ahead of G8

Amid a flurry of meetings in Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will help to launch a "global partnership for girls' and women's education" here Thursday at the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

IBSA: India Stakes Its Bets on Training Africa

Of the various cooperation programmes Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, plans for an India-Africa Virtual University (IAVU) take pride of place.

Sub-Saharan School Enrolment Shoots Up, But Challenges Remain

Investment in education by sub-Saharan African countries is paying dividends, with more children than ever before now attending school, according to a new report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).