Full Coverage: Education

29.10.2007 EDEX – Sri Lanka’s largest Education and Careers Expo – will offer online resources in higher education, skills development, employment guidance and placements through its web portal. This would be operational via ICTA’s Nenasala programme that boosts IT literacy among rural youth through its 400 IT kiosks across the country.

26.10.2007 Professor Bina Agarwal of the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) at Hague (Netherlands), making her join the ranks of earlier recipients Edward Said and Nobel laureates Jan Tinbergen and Amartya Sen.

12.10.2007 The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in India is helping Afghan academics to upgrade their elementary education system. The ongoing training programme includes a multi-method approach through both classroom and field experiences.

10.10.2007 A new manual encourages the hearing disabled communities in developing countries to take control of their health. Developed by the Kenyan Peer Education Network,The Deaf PeersÂ’ Education Manual addresses three main issues: sexual education, relationships and hygiene for a basic understanding of sexual health, HIV/AIDS, and can be adapted to fit the cultural context and needs of the deaf communities.

09.10.2007 Kannettaviin tietokoneisiin liittyvä innovaatio toi nepalilaiselle Mahabir Punille arvostetun Ramon Magsaysay -palkinnon. Pun oli käynnistäjänä projektissa, joka yhdisti seitsemän nepalin vuoristokylää langattomilla yhteyksillä toisiinsa sekä lopulta Internetiin. Kaiken kaikkiaan hanke on tarjonnut 14 syrjäiselle kylälle lääkinnällisiä, koulutuksellisia sekä kaupankäynnillisiä palveluita.

09.10.2007 YouTube is all set to move beyond entertainment. The University of California (UC), Berkeley has become the first university to make its entire course lectures and special events available to viewers on YouTube. The universityÂ’s recently launched educational technology services (ETS) delivers course and event content as podcasts and streaming videos.

09.10.2007 Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, Sam Pitroda called for a 1,000 community radio stations in India in the next one year at a recent media workshop at Auroville, Puducherry. The workshop also stressed on the need for better radio laws to make technology accessible and affordable to all.

09.10.2007 YouTube is all set to move beyond entertainment. The University of California (UC), Berkeley has become the first university to make its entire course lectures and special events available to viewers on YouTube. The universityÂ’s recently launched educational technology services (ETS) delivers course and event content as podcasts and streaming videos.

09.10.2007 Greater decentralisation of ICT programmes with locally relevant, context specific and flexible content can boost literacy, says the 10 point charter of the two day international conference of E-9 countries on ICT for Literacy in Bangalore, India. The E-9 countries are Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, China and India.

08.10.2007 Girls living in slums who have to walk miles to fetch water for their families often miss school in India. Bangalore based NGO Association for Volunteer Action and Services (AVAS) has shown how slums with access to water can lead to a good attendance rate among girl students.

08.10.2007 To mark the World Teachers' Day on October 5, the Ministry of Education along with the UNICEF will train 16,000 more female teachers to tackle the shortage of trained teachers. Afghanistan has been on a drive to recruit and train female teachers to encourage girls continue their studies.

07.10.2007 Karnatakan osavaltio eteläisessä Intiassa on käynnistä laajan e-hallintohankkeen, jonka tarkoituksena on tarjota monipuolisia informaatiopalveluita alueen syrjäisille seuduille. Kaiken kaikkiaan hanke pitää sisällään yli 5500 informaatiokeskusta. Informaatiota on saatavilla terveydenhuollosta, maanviljelystä, koulunkäynnistä aina pankkipalveluihin.

07.10.2007 A recent national meet on the educational needs of out-of-school children has called for a database on migrant children and to develop strategies to enfold them into the schooling system. The two-day meeting was organized by Rajasthan UNICEF in alliance with Rajasthan Council for Elementary Education.

05.10.2007 Ahmednagar based NGO, Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), in Maharashtra, India, is training young men and women to report on local news. 'Rural Chronicle' will publish their efforts with the aim to engage the youth in local development issues.

05.10.2007 On October 3rd ,Delhi University joined the league of Indian universities with a community radio station. DU 90.4 FM will broadcast community related programmes as well as those dealing with students' issues.

03.10.2007 ‘India aspires to be a knowledge society but wants to engage poorest 250 million in menial tasks,’ says Professor Anil Gupta of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Vice Chairman of National Innovation Foundation. Here he speaks on the need to democratize the spirit of e-content and bring about a cultural revolution through digital technologies.

03.10.2007 The Sarojini Naidu Prize for best reporting on women in Panchayati Raj in the print medium was given away in New Delhi, India on October 2nd. The annual award, an initiative of The Hunger Project, this year focused on the role of elected women representatives in bringing education to every child. A book written by a Dalit woman leader giving an account of her struggles was also released at the function.

03.10.2007 One has an M.Phil thesis to her credit and is an emerging writer; another was illiterate till a few years back and has survived threats, a murder attempt, caste bias, yet has lived to tell her tale. These are a few of the women panchayat leaders from across India who gathered at New Delhi for the annual Sarojini Naidu Award, hosted by The Hunger Project. OWSA talks to some of them about their trials, tribulations and successes.