The Kenya National Union of Teachers yesterday asked teachers in schools bordering the Kenya-Somali border to stay away until the government guarantees them of security.
This is after five people among them a school teacher were killed last Saturday during the attack on two police posts by Al Shabaab militants …
BUCHAREST, 24 May 2013 – This week, Romania’s Ministry of Education and UNICEF, in partnership with the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and Senior Citizens, the National Institute of Statistics and the Institute of Education Sciences have launched “All Children in School by 2015 – the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children: Romania Country Study”.
The report was developed as part of the global Out-of-School Children Initiative, an equity focused effort developed by UNICEF and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics aiming to reduce the number of out-of-school children, address disparities in access and attendance and achieve universal primary education by 2015. (via Romania launches ‘All Children in School by 2015,’ a country study on out-of-school children | Back on Track)
International aid agency the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has announced grants of $4.2 million to Somaliland and $2.1 million to Puntland to pay teachers’ salaries, the UN Children’s Fund announced Thursday (May 23rd).
The funding will enable the regional governments to compensate and hire teachers, facilitating the enrolment of more children in school.
Teachers' Union in Gambia Explores More Alternatives to Corporal Punishment in Schools
The Gambia Teachers’ Union (GTU) through its women’s wing on Wednesday organised a day’s training for 20 lower basic school teachers on alternative measures to corporal punishment in schools, at its secretariat along MDI Road in Kanifing.
The latest training is among series of others to be organised by the GTU in its bid to discourage corporal punishment in schools and promote the agenda for the attainment of quality education. Through this synergy, the GTU advocates for teachers to adopt other disciplinary measures as opposed to physical punishment, as in line with Principle 1 of the GTU Code of Conduct for teachers.
Toronto Catholic school board rejects call for ban on gay-straight alliances
The Toronto Catholic District School Board has rejected a call from two trustees to ban gay-straight alliances in schools — which Ontario now says schools must allow.
Trustees voted 7 to 4 against a motion Thursday by trustee Garry Tanuan calling on the board to defy Ontario’s year-old Accepting Schools Act that says boards must let students set up gay-straight alliances (GSAs) if they wish. Tanuan’s motion, seconded by trustee John Del Grande, said gay-straight alliances “promote a positive view of homosexual activity, which undermines Catholic teaching on chastity and marriage.”
However, students from two new gay-straight alliances in Catholic high schools argued they are having a “positive impact” on school climate and leading to fewer homophobic slurs.
According to the research, around 368 million children – about one out of every five – get a meal at school every day in 169 developing and developed countries. Global investment in these programmes is about US$75 billion, with most coming from government budgets.
Yet despite the global nature of school feeding, the coverage of these programmes is lowest where they are most needed. In low-income countries, where children are most likely to be poor and hungry, only 18 percent receive a daily meal at school, compared to nearly 49 percent of children in middle-income countries. (via School Feeding Crucial In Crisis Times, Yet The Most Needy Still Miss Out, New Report Finds | WFP | United Nations World Food Programme - Fighting Hunger Worldwide)
“These children come to school with a deep desire for learning,” says Ali Hujeiri, 55, the school principal. ”They know what they’ve missed and now they appreciate the value of their education.”
They have arrived from Syrian towns and cities such as Qusayr, Dara’a and Homs – places that are now battlegrounds. At least one of the boys in the class has seen his home blown to pieces. But somehow the silent walls of school that provide them a place for study also nurture a sense of hope beyond conflict. Here Billal, aged 11, can dream of becoming a teacher. Halid, also 11, aspires one day to be a doctor. Ten-year-old Selieman wants to be a hairdresser.
Arsal was once a sleepy town nestled in the hills a few kilometres from the Syrian border. When war broke out in Syria two years ago, the town bulged as civilians, most of them women and children, fled to Lebanon. Soon Arsal grew by 10,000 people – roughly half were children. (via A learning curve for young Syrian refugees at model school in Lebanon | ReliefWeb)
If students designed their own schools…
The best small town in America experiments with self-directed learning at its public high school. A group of students gets to create their own school-within-a-school and they learn only what they want to learn. Does it work? Charles Tsai finds out by spending a week with the Independent Project.
(by chazyvr)
![[NIGER] NIAMEY , May 20 2013 (IPS) - A decade ago, less than a third of school-aged girls in Niger were in class. Today, though significant cultural and religious opposition remains, nearly two-thirds of girls are enrolled in school.
“Back in 2003, we had only 15 girls at my school, out of 150 students. Now, we have 103 girls out of a total of 175 students,” said Ibrahim Sani, who has taught for 17 years in the town of Agadez, in the northern part of this West African country.
Between 2001 and 2011, Niger’s overall rate of enrolment for girls rose from 29 to 63 percent, according to the Ministry of Education. (via IPS – It Takes a Village to Educate a Girl | Inter Press Service)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/add04f7489bc4433b0dfbed243ef30fd/tumblr_mnayvxvBsE1qb8rnio1_r1_500.png)
[NIGER] NIAMEY , May 20 2013 (IPS) - A decade ago, less than a third of school-aged girls in Niger were in class. Today, though significant cultural and religious opposition remains, nearly two-thirds of girls are enrolled in school.
“Back in 2003, we had only 15 girls at my school, out of 150 students. Now, we have 103 girls out of a total of 175 students,” said Ibrahim Sani, who has taught for 17 years in the town of Agadez, in the northern part of this West African country.
Between 2001 and 2011, Niger’s overall rate of enrolment for girls rose from 29 to 63 percent, according to the Ministry of Education. (via IPS – It Takes a Village to Educate a Girl | Inter Press Service)
![[UNITED STATES] The number of alternative programs nationwide has skyrocketed, rising from 70 programs in the 2000-2001 school year to 658 in 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and these programs now make up 31 percent of all teacher preparation programs in the nation. Yet experts on teacher preparation acknowledge that little is known about which strategies actually work best for developing high-quality teachers. (via Alternative routes to teaching become more popular despite lack of evidence | Hechinger Report)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/6efb62424ac132b57cb49dc94c31ef76/tumblr_mn7bx4W7lJ1qb8rnio1_r1_500.png)
[UNITED STATES] The number of alternative programs nationwide has skyrocketed, rising from 70 programs in the 2000-2001 school year to 658 in 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and these programs now make up 31 percent of all teacher preparation programs in the nation. Yet experts on teacher preparation acknowledge that little is known about which strategies actually work best for developing high-quality teachers. (via Alternative routes to teaching become more popular despite lack of evidence | Hechinger Report)
