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 …
"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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
INFUSING public interest messages into soap operas, television's most popular programmes, requires a delicate balance between entertainment and education. The telenovellas of Mexico's Televisa and Brazil's Globe TV are regarded by communication specialists as models for development-oriented soap operas. Extending this approach, 3 of Sri Lanka's top cinematic storytellers have …
Villages around Calcutta are possibly the safest place in the country for toads. Villagers have virtually paralysed biology practical tests in several schools and colleges in the city by blockading toad-catching. With the board examinations coming up, educational authorities are panicking. Apparently the villagers have taken the government's recent ban …
ALL White student bodies in the state schools of South Africa are now liberally punctuated with Blacks. Starting January 11-17, these institutions opened their gates to Black children in their vicinity. A bitter controversy had marred the first "registration days" in model-c schools around Johannesburg, set up by the erstwhile …
Education in Bangladesh seems to be heading for a disaster because of a severe paper shortage. Irked by the crisis, students have taken to rallies and demonstrations. Given that the country, with a literacy rate of 23 per cent, can hardly afford this, the government's responses have been inadequate. Although …
IT IS 10.30 in the night and every villager from Kaphlana is all rapt attention on, say forest protection or alcoholism, legal rights or the drudgery of women. They have heard all this before, so why are they listening so eagerly and even shouting occasional comments? Is it some brilliant …
THE National Joy of Learning Festival for children opened on November 7, 1994, at New Delhi amidst much fanfare. The festival was jointly organised by the All India People's Science Network and the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS). Inaugurating the festival, Yashpal, former chairperson of the University Grants Commission, stressed, …
COMMENTS on the funding of education in India that feature in the Human Development Report 1994, prepared by the United- Nations Development Project (UNDP), have triggered a fracas between the Union ministry of external affairs (MEA) and the ministry of human resource development (MHRD). The UNDP report had mentioned that …
Under a project expected to commence later this year, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will utilise a permanent satellite facility for beaming programmes and lectures to students throughout the country. This project, which follows a successful experiment conducted in October 1993 by the Staff Training and Research Institute …
