INDIA: Kashmir Youth Fight – to Save the Environment

Now that the armed conflict between Indian security forces and Kashmiri militants has eased considerably, youngsters are coming out to fight a new threat – environmental degradation – that looms over this beautiful valley often termed ‘paradise on earth’.

THAILAND: Sexuality 101 Exhibit Says It Straight

Teenage boys gape at a coloured photograph of a vagina, while girls give embarrassed smiles as they watch a cartoon that showed penises 'talking' about masturbation. Young girls crowd around a display panel about love and relationships, as a boy embraces a female mannequin with all his might in order to measure the strength of his hug.

ARGENTINA: Poorest First Served with Free Digital TV

In contrast to what has happened in most countries that have switched from analogue to digital television, in Argentina the technological leap has begun with the poorest households.

ECUADOR: Like Mother, Like Multi-Tasking Daughter

In Ecuador, girl workers conform to universal statistics: they drop out of school less than boy workers, because they learn from an early age to juggle earning an income with looking after younger siblings and getting an education.

CHINA: Alarming School Dropout Rate Blamed on Teaching Methods

In Chinese education, the examination is paramount.

Despite Gains, South Korean Women Still Struggle for Equality

Forty-six year-old language professor Kwon Hye Yang views her life as a typical example of the growing confidence of modern women in her home country, South Korea.

UGANDA: Too Young to Know, Yet Too Young to Die

Thirteen-year-old Jacinta Okello and her fellow primary school classmates call it "doing bad manners". But when you ask her what she knows about sex, she breaks into a shy smile, looks to her feet and giggles.

URUGUAY: Incubating Businesses and ICT Job Prospects

"Without this opportunity, I might never have been able to get a higher education," says Paolo Carabajal, one of the beneficiaries of a digital development plan in this city in northwestern Uruguay.

EDUCATION: EnGendering Awareness in Trainee Teachers

The teacher seats the most attentive girls in the front row and the troublesome boys at the back of the classroom. He punishes the liveliest pupil and lets the withdrawn one be. Dark-skinned boys sit with dark-skinned girls, boys play with boys and girls with girls.

BURMA: Public Education a Drain on Family Incomes

Once again, parents in military-ruled Burma are counting the cost of a primary education for their children in public schools. It is an annual ritual that comes with the beginning of a new school year, which coincides with the onset of the monsoon rains in June.

INDIA: Muslim Women Explore Opportunity in Non-Traditional Fields

In a small, dingy and humid room in Metiabruz, a poor Muslim-dominated locality in Kolkata in eastern India, at least 20 Muslim women are talking with excitement about their aspirations and why they decided to study information technology (IT), a short-term course offered for a minimal fee by a non- government organisation operating in their locality.

AFRICA: Renewing the Promise of Education for All

The World Cup is wreaking havoc with a key millennium development goal in South Africa: as the football tournament hit its stride, not a single child across the nation attended school.

ARGENTINA: Football Referee School Offers Way Out of Poverty

A new school to train football referees to work amateur-level tournaments in Argentina aims at providing skills and a legitimate source of income for young people from poor homes.

BRAZIL: “Gol de Letra” Scores Goals off the Playing Field

In a country where many poor children dream of "making it big" through football or modeling, retired Brazilian football stars Leonardo and Raí could have simply basked in their fame. But they decided instead to combine sport with education, art and skills training.

Banning Junk Foods in Mexico’s Schools to Fight Obesity

Consumer organisations and experts say the Mexican government's plan to remove junk food from schools is a step in the right direction in the fight against obesity in this country, which has the highest rate of childhood obesity in the world, and the second highest rate for adults, after the United States.

JAMAICA: Communities Pay High Price for Soaring Crime Rates

This week's ongoing standoff in Jamaica, in which 73 people have been killed as police search for a wanted gang leader in the Tivoli Gardens neighbourhood of Kingston, is focusing renewed international attention on the island's seemingly intractable violent crime rate.

Texas Texts Tilt to the Right

The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a letter-writing campaign designed to persuade book publishers not to use the "ideologically-slanted standards for social studies textbooks" approved by the Texas State Board of Education as a model for use in other states.

Iran’s Hijab Crackdown Intensifies as Election Anniversary Nears

It might be hard to imagine that a woman's attendance at a university would be contingent upon the way she dresses.

Universal Education an Empty Promise for Liberia’s Girls

In a small office tucked behind the stairwell in Liberia’s Ministry of Education, the once-proud staff of the Girls’ Education Unit appear defeated.

MEXICO: Acrobatics for At-Risk Children

Learning to do aerial acrobatics has not only helped 13-year-old Atenas Padilla overcome her fear of heights, but also to become more tolerant and creative.

INDIA: One Woman’s Entrepreneurial Venture Now Employs Thousands

Shameema Wani, 40, never imagined a simple venture, begun from scratch, would grow into the 2,000-strong business enterprise, employing mainly women, that it is today in this capital city of India’s disputed Jammu and Kashmir state.