Quality Education

Image: Building on the traditions of the past, UCD is a university of the future, connected and connecting, engaged and engaging, committed to a sustainable future built on a healthy biosphere. Credit: UCD

Of Joyce, Univ. College Dublin and Sustainable Development

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), an initiative that aligns institutions of higher education with the UN. The following article was published on the UNAI website.

NEW YORK (IDN) – An old college friend, Pramesh Ratnakar, shared with me William Butler Yeats’s recollection of his first meeting, at the age of 37, with James Joyce, who was 20. Yeats felt the meeting had gone off well and he had “conquered” Joyce until the younger writer asked him how old he was. When told, Joyce replied “it’s too late now. I wish we had met when you were younger.”

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 11 September 2020

Photo: Eritrean asylum seekers in Tunisia, in search of a better life ©MorganeWirtz

Migrants Prefer Returning to Libya Than Staying in Tunisia

By Morgane Wirtz*

This year, hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers settled in Tunisia have packed up to risk their lives again in Libya. For them, "It is better to die for something than to live for nothing".

BRUSSELS (IDN) – It is a large white house with blue shutters in Al-Maharas, a small town in central Tunisia. The ground is immaculate. The rooms are empty. Through the open windows, we hear the sea. The scent of seaweed and sea salt tickles our nostrils. If we close our eyes, it feels like we are on vacation. If we close our eyes.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 September 2020

Photo: Patrón cortando caña (Patrón cuts the cane), Colombia, 2015. Credit: Pablo Fierro.

Colombian Sports Hero Patrón's Assassination Targets Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Communities

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad and Zoe PC

This article was produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – Not much, apart from football, unites the Colombian people. If a 2014 Interior Ministry survey called “The Power of Football” is to be believed, then 94 percent of the Colombian population say that football is either important or very important. Patrocinio Bonilla—called Patrón—was on the side of those who believed that football was very important, indeed essential. Patrón was murdered on August 11, 2020.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 20 August 2020

Photo: Shefuka (9) studies at home with support from her mother and teacher, while her learning centre remains closed in the Rohingya refugee camp. Credit: UNICEF | UNI340770

World Leaders Call for Funds to Stop COVID-19 Generation from Being Locked Out of the Classroom

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – As country lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic come to an end, an immediate priority is the fate of 30 million children who may never return to school, warns a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report.

With this in view, former world leaders, economists and educationalists say in a letter to the Group of Twenty (G20) nations and other countries: "We cannot stand by and allow these young people to be robbed of their education and a fair chance in life." They urge them to take action to prevent the global health crisis creating a "COVID generation" – leaving tens of millions of children with no hope of education.

: Caroline Mwanga; SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 20 August 2020

Photo: With the lockdown to fend off the spread of COVID-19, many Southern Africans, have lost their jobs and switched to vending on the streets where they engage in cat and mouse games with police enforcing lockdown rules. Consequently, the game to survive still remains tough for most Africans as they battle to support their children amid schools closure. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo | INPS-IDN

COVID-19 Derails Education in Southern Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

MUSINA, South Africa (IDN) – His three teenage children play home-made paper ball on the dusty streets of Musina, exercise books scattered on the veranda of their rented home in the South African border town with Zimbabwe. Yet Gerald Gava, the children's 47-year old father, lies on a reed mat spread on the veranda, apparently with nothing to do after he stopped working three months ago as the lockdown took toll on the construction company that employed him.

Gava, who is a migrant from Zimbabwe, said even his children have had to remain home as schools also shut down, thanks to the coronavirus that has pounded the entire globe.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 August 2020

Feminism in The Spotlight at South African Book Fair 2020

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – “Feminism: Our Bodies, Our Truths” will take centre stage at the upcoming South African Book Fair taking place virtually from September 11-13 at the culmination of South Africa’s National Book Week.

Featured speakers include Mishumo Maduma, Terry-Ann Adams, Jen Thorpe and Anelile Gibixego in discussion with Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele on how women’s bodies filter their life experiences and can be tools for conformity or resistance.

: SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 18 August 2020

The Path Forward for Higher Education After COVID-19

UN Academic Impact Talks to Students from Several Countries

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – COVID-19 pandemic has forced more than 1.5 billion students in 165 countries out of school, enforcing the global academic community to explore new ways of teaching and learning, including distance and online education, according to UNESCO estimates.

This has proven challenging for both students and educators, who have to deal with the emotional, physical and economic difficulties posed by the illness while doing their part to help curb the spread of the virus, notes United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI).

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 10 July 2020

Photo: Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace laureate, Gloria Steinem, author activist and Carol Jenkins, CEO of the ERA Coalition at the War No More conference Feb 28, 2020 UN and an overview of the conference. Credit: CTAUN/Don Carlson

Committee on Teaching About the UN Demands 'War No More'

By Narin B. Stassis

The writer currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Teaching About the UN. She is a former Director of Curriculum and Instruction, a lifelong Educator, and holds a Master's degree in International Education from Lesley University.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations was created with a determination "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". As the world body celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, the Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN), convened a conference, "War No More", co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Korea to the United Nations.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 March 2020

Photo: Zimbabwe school children | UNICEF/UN050424/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

New Laws Allow Zimbabwe to Fine or Jail to Keep Kids in School

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Zimbabwe is experimenting with a bold attempt to make parents prioritize education and bring down drop-out rates.

Harare has amended its laws to make the first 12 years of schooling compulsory. Children are now required by law to stay in school for an extra five years to 16 years of age.

It is also now an offence to expel children on the grounds of pregnancy or non-payment of fees.

: THE WORLD; Africa; 10 March 2020

Photo: Mijikenda Cultural Village meeting, Rabai, coastal Kenya. Credit: © Krystyna Swiderska

Protecting Indigenous Cultures for Saving Global Biodiversity

Viewpoint by Krystyna Swiderska*

COVENTRY (IDN) – Species are being lost at about a thousand times the natural rate of extinction. This is faster than at any other period in human history. Ecosystems – the vital systems on which all life depends – are being degraded across the globe.

This crisis of biodiversity loss is finally receiving some attention. But its connection to another loss – that of indigenous cultures – is rarely mentioned. From animals to insects and plants, biodiversity loss cannot be effectively addressed without tackling the rapid disappearance of indigenous cultures. The two are inextricably linked.