The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
A watchful eyeParents would soon be able to use the Internet to keep an eye on their children at nursery school. A new system called Kindercam can send a colour video image twice a second from a video camera in the nursery school to the Kindercam web site, where parents …
the Union government recently tabled a discussion paper for reducing subsidies. The proposals seek to make considerable savings by making substantial cuts in the cost of goods such as electricity and higher education. The white paper based on a detailed study by the National Institute of Public Finance Policy says …
A M SHARAFUDDIN BANGLADESH mohammed Zafar Mian passed his senior school certificate (ssc) examination last year and wants to be a banker after finishing his higher studies. The other members of his family are, however, illiterate. Zafar has four brothers and three sisters. Two of his brothers are rickshaw-pullers and …
sunny prospects: In a bid to boost the sale of solar energy for residential purposes, Kyocera, the Japanese producer of high-performance ceramics and electronic compo-nents, has split its solar energy business to form a separate company, Kyocera Solar Corporation. This would allow the parent company to concentrate on research and …
India s education policy has only sought to alienate the students and also deepen the urban rural dividethe education system in India has faced a basic dilemma ever since its introduction by the British. The essence of the problem was summed up by Mahatma Gandhi in his historic statement at …
"WE SHALL overcome" sing the children of Chamtagora village in Bankura district at six in the morning. It may be an unlikely song to hear in a remote tribal hamlet but their choral prelude heralds each day. Chamtagora in Bankura district has become a haven for many tribal children whose …
THE World Education Report, 1995, compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently been released. The third edition of a biennial series, the report aims at presenting a broad but concise analysis of major trends and policy issues in present day education systems in different …
A three-day training-cum- workshop for disseminating information on AIDS control was organised by Disha, an NGC, at the New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The aim was to strengthen governmental efforts at arresting the disease and dispelling doubts and correcting half truths about it through its puppet ensemble. …
"IF you give a person a fish, he will have food for one day. But if you teach him to fish, he will have food for the rest of his life." This ancient Chinese proverb serves as the motto for a group called Tear Fund - a UK-based NGO. The …
THEY invaded the panchayat offices in several parts of Kerala... teeming crowds of noisy school students demanding, of all things, panchayat maps! This sudden interest in their respective local geographies was sparked off by the Vigyanotsavam - meaning a 'festival of sciences' - conducted by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad …
THE crisis which faces the natural environment has had to wait a long time for recognition from modern socio-political institutions. The case for institutional reform in the relationship between man and nature has been made countless number of times, but callous exploitation of nature"s resources continues; still, a change in …
• "Diseases in crop plants are caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses. Some of these diseases are transmitted through seeds while others are soil-borne or air-borne. Special chemicals are now available which when sprayed on plants, specifically kill these microbes without adversely affecting the plants or human beings who consume …
While applauding the steps taken by indigenous peoples for the recognition of their rights over their territories, Dianne Rocheleau, Barbara Thomas Slayter and David Edmonds, researchers at Clark University, USA, have drawn attention to the need for a gender-based analysis of how spaces are used, valued and struggled over in …
MAPS are no longer the exclusive forte of cartographers. Ordinary tribals the world over have begun using mapping techniques to emphasise that they exist. "More indigenous territory has been claimed by maps than by guns. As a corollary, more indigenous territory can be reclaimed and defended by maps than by …
PROGRAMME for Technological Careers (Protec), a South African educational charity is hellbent on nullifying the myth created by the erstwhile apartheid regime: Blacks can't do science. It is now determined to rekindle Black children's enthusiasm for technology by introducing special school lessons. For the first time, technology is brought into …
Are men and women really different? This issue has been examined umpteen times by researchers hailing from various disciplines -- biologists, sociologists, anthropologists, medical practioners, behavioralists, psychologists -- and each has something new, different and invariably controversial to say on biological differences existing between the 2 sexes. Most researchers agree …
The 5 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are easily among the most pampered of this country's academic institutions. Used to fund-guzzling in the name of quality technological education, it is suspicious of recent government attempts to force them to raise a portion of their funding through contracts with industry. This …
The New Science Journalists is packed with the kind of science reporting that is intelligent, well-written, entertaining and educative. The editors of the book, like the participants of the Blinding with Science conference, feel that the general public lacks understand- ing and appreciation ofscience. A few people have suggested that …
The Platform for Action is an agenda for women’s empowerment. It aims at accelerating the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and at removing all the obstacles to women’s active participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full and equal share …
Cultural pressures are slowly decimating Mexico's rich heritage of indigenous languages. The 200 languages and dialects spoken in Mexico when it was overrun by Spanish colonisers 5 centuries ago have been throttled to 70, although the indigenous population has more than doubled. Bilingual education is offered to only 7.5 per …
