RIGHTS-US: Big Brother Thriving in High School Classrooms

While authoritarian states in much of the world routinely jail journalists and others for expressing critical opinions, a high percentage of U.S. high school students believe the government should censor the press and that constitutional protection of free speech goes "too far".

EDUCATION: Italian ‘Godparents’ Sponsor Children in Paraguay

Cristian Núñez, a young Paraguayan who has been "sponsored" by an Italian family since he was five years old, is about to see his dream come true: he will start studying at the university in Asunción, the capital of that South American country, this month, with the aim of becoming an electrical engineer.

EDUCATION-ZIMBABWE: A Dubious Report Card for Grade Zero

Hats a size too large for most of the small heads, formal school uniforms equally incongruous, they march on regardless - the vanguard in an effort to bring pre-schoolers into Zimbabwe's education system.

DEVELOPMENT: Oil-Rich Trinidad Confronts Its Darker Side

It is considered the most economically well-off country in the English-speaking Caribbean.

DEVELOPMENT-SUDAN: The South Starts Picking Up the Pieces

The roads are carpeted by thick layers of dust. Tanks, military trucks and the skeletal remains of buildings dot the landscape. Welcome to Rumbek: the newly-designated administrative capital of southern Sudan.

EDUCATION-SWAZILAND: AIDS Orphans on (Somewhat) Firmer Ground

In May last year, IPS reported that teachers in Swaziland were at loggerheads with government over the delicate matter of admitting AIDS orphans to schools free of charge. With the new academic year looming, has the situation improved?

EDUCATION-KENYA: Time Now for Universal Secondary Schooling?

A recent statement by the Kenyan government that many students who graduated from primary school last year will not find places in the country's secondary schools has generated widespread concern.

EDUCATION-CAMEROON: Private Trumps Public – For Better and For Worse

In 1993, the government of Cameroon passed a law allowing private tertiary education institutions to be established in the country. Now, almost a decade later, is this decision still viewed as the right one? That depends on who you ask.

EDUCATION-AFRICA: Universal Schooling an Elusive Goal

A new report by the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA) has highlighted the challenges and constraints facing education in Africa.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: A Classroom for the Mentally Disabled

The only classroom for the mentally disabled in the tiny West African nation of Equatorial Guinea is run by two non-governmental organisations, because for the government, the mentally handicapped do not exist, an activist told IPS in Spain.

MALAYSIA: Student Activism, a Definite No – Say Authorities

Student activism and politics just don't mix in Malaysia - at least in the eyes of university authorities. And third year journalism student Soh Sook Hwa can bear testimony to that.

CULTURE-VENEZUELA: New Compendium on Yanomami Language

When a Yanomami Indian dies, his or her name is not to be pronounced for some time, so as not to soil the memory of the deceased.

U.S.: Foreign Student Numbers Drop

The number of foreign students studying in the United States has dropped for the first time in more than three decades, in part because of a perception those students are not welcome here.

ENVIRONMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Making Greens Out of Blacks and Whites

A decade into democracy in South Africa, visitor figures for the country’s national parks still reflect a legacy of racial exclusion.

EDUCATION: Quality Costs Money

Without education, no development is possible, but it is precisely underdeveloped countries that suffer the greatest dearth of quality education, due to the lack of funds. How can that circle be broken?

IMMIGRATION-SPAIN: Barred from the Classrooms in Madrid and Valencia

Activists, teachers and politicians with the ruling socialist party in Spain are worried about a decision by authorities in schools in the provinces of Madrid and Valencia, which are governed by the centre-right Popular Party, to bar undocumented immigrants who have completed the 10 years of compulsory schooling from continuing their education.

EDUCATION: Gov’ts Need to Do Homework in Key Goals, Says UNESCO

Even while millions of children continue to be denied schooling in the Asia-Pacific region, a U.N. report released Monday says that the situation could get worse if governments fail to address the gaps that plague even the most basic education programmes.

EDUCATION-KENYA: Free Schooling – Good, but not Enough

By any measure, the enrolment of over a million extra children in Kenya’s primary school system over the past two years is a success story. Enrolment figures in the East African country burgeoned after President Mwai Kibaki introduced free primary education in 2003, when he took over as head of state from Daniel arap Moi.

EDUCATION-ZIMBABWE: The Schools Soldier On

Wooden panels in the main hall still list the fading names of outstanding students who attended Milton Junior School in the southern Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo, during the last century.

EDUCATION-KENYA: Mastering the ABCs is Not Always Child’s Play

Discussions about improving the level of education in Kenya often focus on the challenge of achieving universal primary education - or ensuring that girls are not discriminated against when it comes to schooling.

EDUCATION: Low Marks for Mexico

The 33-student class taught by Alejandra Avendaño, a Mexican schoolteacher, includes children from four different grade levels, who are not benefiting from the experience.