By Kul Chandra Gautam The writer is a former UN assistant secretary general and deputy executive director of UNICEF. KATHMANDU | 26 September 2024 (IDN) — Ever since UNICEF’s legendary Executive Director Jim Grant passed away in January 1995, I have had a dream that UNICEF, ideally, or some other organization, would establish a prestigious […]
OECD Criticises Lack of Equality in Educational Opportunities and Employment
By Jaya Ramachandran PARIS | 10 September 2024 (IDN) — Women out-perform men in education, but this does not translate into corresponding job opportunities. The lack of equality of opportunity is reflected in students from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds performing worse in standardised assessments. Early childhood education is key for reducing the impact of family […]
Kazakhstan Proposes a Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development
By Aar Jay BERLIN | ASTANA | 6 September 2024 (IDN) — The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan has proposed the establishment of a Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development at a high-level conference organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Government of Kazakhstan. The […]
Youth-led Protests: The Start of an African Spring?
By Henrik Maihack, IPS-Journal.EU* BERLIN | 20 August 2024 (IDN) — People are taking to the streets in Africa. Following a wave of protests and an election, a millennial president has come to power in Senegal, who just a few weeks earlier was a political prisoner. In Kenya, street protests led by Gen Z students […]
Indigenous Peoples: An Antidote in A World of Crisis
Equator Prize winners announced By Jamison Ervin and Anna Giulia Medri* NEW YORK | 9 August 2024 (IDN) — This year’s Equator Prize winners are the antidote we need in a world of crisis. Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum released its annual Risk Report. The key findings highlighted the inescapable trend over the […]
Chinese University Leads with Innovative SDG Summer School
By Viliame Tawanakoro* WUHAN, China | 27 July 2024. (IDN | Wansolwara) — An innovative summer school program by China’s Wuhan University focusing on reporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) concluded on 26 July with its coordinator Professor Ji Li declaring “this will be the first of many more to come”. The Luojlia Global Summer School […]
Attacks on Students and Teachers on the Rise
By Rodney Reynolds NEW YORK | 28 June 2024 (IDN) — The world’s educational institutions, along with students, teachers and academics, have come under attack largely during military conflicts and civil wars. About 6,000 attacks on education took place in 2022 and 2023, a nearly 20 percent increase compared with the previous two years, according […]
Mobile Library, First of Its Kind, Launched in Democratic Republic of Congo
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 11 June 2024 (IDN) — If you don’t go to libraries, they will come to you. This is the concept behind Kitabus, a mobile library designed to promote reading to a wide audience. The name “Kitabus” is derived from “Kitabu,” which means book in Swahili, and […]
Sub-Saharan Africa’s Growth Requires Quality Education for Growing Population
By Michele Fornino and Andrew Tiffin WASHINGTON. DC | 1 May 2024 (IDN) — Demographic transition may be the biggest single opportunity for the economies of sub-Saharan Africa, but countries will only be able to enjoy the dividends if they make sufficient investment in education. The region’s population is poised to double to 2 billion […]
Renounced by the Vatican Yet the Repressive Force of 15th Century Persists
By William D. Sunderlin, Ph.D., and Robert J. Miller, J.D.* FAYETTEVILLE, New York | PHOENIX, Arizona | 16 April 2024 (IDN) — It seems ridiculous that a repudiated Catholic doctrine dating back to the 15th century should have legal standing anywhere in the world today. Yet the Onondaga, an Indigenous nation located in Central New […]