Full Coverage: Children

31.01.2006 As representatives of more than 70 countries sit down today with Afghan Government leaders to shape the reconstruction framework, the UN Children's Fund urges delegates to maintain a clear focus on the development needs of children and mothers.

31.01.2006 Almost 8 million babies a year - around 6 per cent of total births - have a serious defect of genetic or partial genetic origin, according to a new report that says hundreds of thousands more are born with serious defects caused by exposure to alcohol, rubella or syphilis.

30.01.2006 University Grants Commission (UGC) has created a task force for setting up a National Qualification Framework (NQF) for standardising knowledge and skills of various programmes in different universities and institutions. NQF is a set of principles and guidelines by which the learner's acquired knowledge and skills are registered, enabling the conferring of national recognition.

30.01.2006 To keep pace with the rapid changes in the field of education, the Ministry of HRD is planning to constitute a National Commission for Higher Education. The Commission will keep track of the changes private players becoming a major force, enrollment figures doubling in the next few years, and only 10 per cent students being able to take a graduation degree

30.01.2006 Senior ministers of the Indian government told a group of international investors that India was committed to more reforms in the education sector to ensure that there was no shortage of skilled manpower to sustain an annual growth rate of over 8 per cent in the coming years

27.01.2006 The Albanian Children's Alliance (Tirana Region) and CRCA Children's Club Against Child Labour, under the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the plan of activities of both NGO's, organised a football match with children and pupils of School 'Dhora Leka' in Tirana.

27.01.2006 An OECD report shows that children in New Zealand have a high level of access to information communications technology at school. The report “Are Students Ready for a Technology-Rich World” rated New Zealand secondary school students fifth out of 41 countries for access to ICT such as computers and the Internet.

25.01.2006 A thorough assessment of nutritional levels in Madagascar's drought-stricken southeast has revealed that not as many people as previously thought are suffering from life-threatening malnutrition, according to U.N. agencies, but the situation is still quite "fragile" and the front-line responders remain short on funds.

25.01.2006 United Nations ChildrenÂ’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that they do not support the involvement of children in anything which could lead to violence and has advised against the involvement of children in such events

25.01.2006 In yet another case of midday meals causing food poisoning, 160 students reportedly fell ill in a primary school in Alampur village of Azmargarh block. Fifteen of the children are reported to be in a serious condition.According to reports, the children started vomiting soon after eating the khichdi that was served. The school, in Sagri tehsil of Azamgarh district, has a total of 206 students.

25.01.2006 OWPSEEÂ’s Dejan Milovac visited the site of the terrible railway accident, at Bioce near Podgorica, in which 45 people were killed and over 200 injured.

25.01.2006 While the State government is committed to achieve Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) by 2010 under the Millennium Development Goals, over 51,000 primary teacher posts are lying vacant.Sarva Sikhya Abhijan (SSA) was launched on a nation-wide scale in 2003-04 to provide useful and quality education to all the children in the 6-14 years age group by 2010.

24.01.2006 Despite record emergency funding last year, the UN Children's Fund says it needs $805 million to assist children and women in 29 humanitarian emergencies. More than one-third of the money is wanted for Sudan.

23.01.2006 About 60% of the citizens of Leskovac estimate that the competent state institutions are inefficient in processing of the criminal offence of violence in the family and that the state bodies lack the capacity to solve the problem, report the representatives of “Zenski Centar” (Women Centre) the results from a recent poll.

23.01.2006 The number of severely malnourished children in drought-hit Kenya may have doubled in the last few months, said the UN Children's Fund.

23.01.2006 The most recent statistics available for the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) reveal that the proportion of the local population that cannot read or write increased by more than 10 percent, to 54.9 percent in 2003, from 43.8 percent in 2002.

21.01.2006 The Delhi High Court stayed the operation of a circular issued by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in October, 2005, which made it mandatory for all affiliated schools in the country to provide free education to every single girl child of a parent from Class VI onwards.

20.01.2006 The Ombudspersons of the B&H Federation, Vera Jovanovic, Esad Muhibic and Branka Raguz, reccomended the Federal Ministry of ducation and all cantonal education ministries in the Federation to secure free access to primary healthcare to all university and high school students, a right guaranteed by the federal Law on Healthcare.

20.01.2006 Thomson Financial’s IFR magazine raised £2 million for Save the Children at its 11th annual awards dinner this week.

19.01.2006 Great variations apart, elementary education in rural India has taken firm root, but the quality leaves a lot to be desired.This is the essence of Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) prepared by Pratham and released by Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia.