Category Archives: Education

Turning grief into hope: one Afghan terror victim’s legacy of learning

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When his sister Rahila was killed by a bomber, Hamid Rafi was inspired by her diaries to set up an education centre in her name

The night before she died, Rahila Rafi felt too tired for homework; uncharacteristic for the studious 17-year-old. When her brother Hamid asked what was wrong, she told him she had a strange feeling in her heart and couldn’t bring herself to look at her books.

Hamid kissed his sister’s forehead and asked her what she wanted to do after she passed the Kankor exam – Afghanistan’s standard university admissions test. 

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‘Many girls have been cut’: how global school closures left children at risk

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Covid-19 lockdown made children vulnerable to abuses including FGM and child marriage say NGOs, as schools in England prepare to reopen

Covid-19 school closures have exposed children around the world to human rights abuses such as forced genital mutilation, early marriage and sexual violence, child protection experts say.

Globally, the World Bank estimates that 1.6 billion children were locked out of education by Covid-19. As schools in England and around the world prepare to reopen this week, NGOs warn that millions of the world’s most vulnerable children may never return to the classroom, and say that after decades fighting for girls’ education the pandemic could cause gender equality in education to be set back decades.

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UK behind Yemen and Sudan in global index of children’s rights, report finds

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Report also warns of ‘dire impact’ of pandemic worldwide with large number of children failing to return to school after lockdowns ease

The suspension of vaccination programmes, school closures and a surge in domestic violence during coronavirus lockdowns are likely to derail a decade’s worth of progress for children, according to new global research.

The Kidsrights Foundation on Tuesday published its annual rankings of children’s rights in 182 countries with Iceland scoring top for the second year running followed by Switzerland, Finland and Sweden.

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Cambridge University moves all lectures online until summer 2021

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Institution first to announce virtual teaching for next academic year

Cambridge has become the first university to set out measures for the full 2020-21 academic year, announcing that it will move all “face-to-face lectures” online for the duration. The institution added that it was “likely” social distancing would continue to be required.

The university said lectures would continue virtually until summer 2021, while it may be possible for smaller teaching groups to take place in person if it “conforms to social-distancing requirements”.

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Gove ‘confident’ pupils and teachers will be safe at school – video

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The Cabinet Office minister has said he is confident children and teachers will be safe if they return to the classroom, but admitted the risk remained of contracting Covid-19. Appearing on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, Michael Gove said: ‘The only way ever to ensure that you never catch coronavirus is to stay at home completely. There’s always, always, always in any loosening of these restrictions a risk of people catching the coronavirus’

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Thousands of UK students caught in rent trap by private landlords

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While campuses are shut by Covid-19, students are still being forced to pay for unused accommodation

Notttingham Trent University students Eleanora Brown and her boyfriend Nizar Ruiz are in lockdown at home in Norwich, with no prospect of returning to campus any time soon. The teaching buildings are closed and the university has released all of its tenants from paying rent this term. Yet their hall of residence, run by Collegiate, a private developer, is demanding £1,700 from each of its residents to cover the summer term.

While students at most university-owned accommodation do not have to pay rent for the third term, Brown and Ruiz are among thousands of students trapped in expensive contracts with private hall operators.

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Half of Oakland students lack access to computers. Jack Dorsey is stepping in

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Twitter CEO’s $10m pledge will immediately help ‘put a device in the hand of every single kid’ in Oakland’s public schools

Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and Square, has announced that he will donate $10m toward computers and internet access for public schools in Oakland, a city where half of students lack reliable access to either.

Dorsey dropped the news after the Oakland mayor, Libby Schaaf, tweeted a video of one those 25,000 students without access to the technology. “Every student deserves the ability to learn from home,” wrote Schaaf.

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Microplastics discovered blowing ashore in sea breezes

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Finding could help solve mystery of where plastic goes after it leaks into the sea

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of mismanaged waste could be blowing ashore on the ocean breeze every year, according to scientists who have discovered microplastics in sea spray.

The study, by researchers at the University of Strathclyde and the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées at the University of Toulouse, found tiny plastic fragments in sea spray, suggesting they are being ejected by the sea in bubbles. The findings, published in the journal Plos One, cast doubt on the assumption that once in the ocean, plastic stays put, as well as on the widespread belief in the restorative power of sea breeze.

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‘I feel I’ve come home’: can forest schools help heal refugee children?

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They have a middle-class reputation, but one outdoor school near Nottingham is reconnecting disadvantaged 10-year-olds with nature and a sense of freedom

When Kate Milman was 21, she paused her English degree at the University of East Anglia to join protests against the Newbury bypass. It was 1996, and the road was being carved out through idyllic wooded countryside in Berkshire. She took up residence in a treehouse, in the path of the bulldozers, and lived there for months. It was a revelation. She lived intimately with the catkins, the calling birds, the slow-slow-fast change in the seasons. Despite being in a precarious position as a protester, she felt completely safe and her brain was calmed.

“You know when you go camping and go back to your house, and everything feels wrong? The lighting is harsh and everything seems complicated indoors. It just got under my skin, this feeling – that [living in the woods] is like being at home.”

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Harvard to donate remainder of Jeffrey Epstein gift to victim groups

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$200,000 that remained unspent from $9.1m donation will be given to groups focusing on victims of sex trafficking and assault

Harvard University announced on Friday that it will donate the remaining $210,000 of a $9.1m gift from the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to groups that support victims of sex trafficking and assault.

Lawrence Bacow, Harvard’s president, confirmed the decision in a statement, saying a full review of Epstein’s donations determined that money he gave between 1998 and 2008 was spent “to support a variety of research and faculty activities”.

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European schools get ready to reopen despite concern about pupils spreading Covid-19

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Germany’s top coronavirus expert says children play as big a role as adults in spread

More countries across Europe are preparing to reopen schools in the coming weeks despite conflicting advice from scientifist, some of whom caution against underestimating children’s potential to spread the coronavirus.

Some schools and nurseries in Denmark and Norway have already reopened, and grandparents in Switzerland are allowed to hug grandchildren under 10, following a ruling by the health ministry’s head of infectious diseases that it is safe to do so.

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The key areas to look at in easing the UK coronavirus lockdown

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From schools to shops, with jobs at risk, the government must balance the interests of economy and public safety

As the prime minister, Boris Johnson, heads back to Downing Street, he faces calls from Labour to be clearer about how Britain might start lifting the coronavirus lockdown, now entering its fifth week. On Sunday, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, Dominic Raab, warned the outbreak remained at a “delicate and dangerous” stage and said it was irresponsible to speculate about steps to modify the rules underpinning government’s “stay home, protect the NHS, save lives” strategy.

More than 20,000 people have died from Covid-19 in NHS hospitals and thousands more in care homes. But there are growing concerns about the economic impact of lockdown. Gerard Lyons, Johnson’s economics adviser when he was London mayor, warned on Sunday the UK could be the hardest-hit western economy if it does not unlock soon. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, also called on ministers to start talking to teachers, businesses, trade unions and town hall leaders and open “honest conversations with the public about what new arrangements might look like”. Unions insist worker safety must not be compromised by any changes and questions remain about public appetite for risking a new peak of contagion, but plans to modify restrictions are starting to emerge.

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Call for schools to open in the summer after lockdown

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Children’s commissioner says schools will play an important role, but teachers and parents may oppose loss of six-week break

Schools should consider opening in some form over the six-week summer holidays to help children catch up with the curriculum – and to provide childcare for families who need to get back to work, the children’s commissioner has said.

Anne Longfield said that when schools are allowed to reopen, they could be vital during the long summer holidays. “Whether they are open to all or not, schools do have a really important role, especially for vulnerable children over the coming months.”

She added: “It would be really valuable, if the scientific advice says they can, to have schools consider opening in some form over the summer holidays to help children learn and catch up but also to offer them a safe place to play and socialise with friends. It would also provide vital childcare for families who need to get their incomes back up as they, hopefully, return to work.”

Longfield said schools could bring in play, sports and youth workers to help supervise pupils.

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Universities brace for huge losses as foreign students drop out

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Call for a government bailout worth billions to help sector survive the crisis

Some universities are already expecting to lose more than £100m as foreign students cancel their studies, with warnings that the impact of coronavirus will be “like a tsunami hitting the sector”.

Several organisations are now planning for a 80-100% reduction in their foreign student numbers this year, with prestigious names said to be among those most affected. The sector is already making a plea to the government for a cash injection amounting to billions of pounds to help it through the crisis, as it is hit by a drop in international student numbers, accommodation deals and conference income.

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French reality show seeks to turn around lives of ‘dunce’ pupils

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Les Cancres (The Dunces) features pupils coached by celebrities who also struggled at school

French schoolchildren learn an early lesson that failure in the classroom is likely to mean failure in life.

Pupils are encouraged to compete for the best marks and grades that will allow them to study at prestigious grandes écoles and subsequently become part of France’s professional or political elite.

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Narnia to Wonderland: Oxford’s Story Museum brings kids’ books to life

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In a district once ranked bottom for reading, the revamped attraction aims to awaken children to the joy of storytelling

For fans of children’s literature, it is an unmissable sight: Philip Pullman’s own alethiometer, a detailed realisation of the magical symbol reader described in Northern Lights, gleaming with secrets – or possibly even particles of “Dust” – on display at the new Story Museum in Oxford.

An unforgettable peek at the mysterious compass-like device is just one of the unique literary experiences on offer when the children’s museum reopens next month, after a £6m redevelopment.

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The Dance: the South Africans who finish high school against all odds

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Many South African youths fail to graduate from high school. For the few who do, the ‘Matric’ celebrations are prodigious

In the Cape Flats, the townships and countryside in and around Cape Town, most students drop out of high school due to pregnancy, substance abuse or being recruited by gangs. Many have to leave school to support their families. School fees are a steep price to pay in an area where most families struggle to put food on the table.

Matric dances are held to celebrate those who graduate (matriculate). For months beforehand, families who live in poverty-stricken areas save to buy extravagant ballgowns and tuxedos, and to hire limousines for the big night. If a family is lucky enough to have a student graduate from high school, no effort is spared to give them the night of their dreams. For many, this is the first family member to graduate.

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‘No school, no skating’: the Indian skate park bringing children together

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Bringing skateboards to children in Madhya Pradesh gives them enthusiasm to go to school and gives girls a confidence in themselves

The children skid into the dusty courtyard at breakfast time, grabbing skateboards from a stack near a tethered brown cow.

Boards jammed under arms, they sprint barefoot past a large well pump, the main water supply for many families here. They slap their wheels on to the still-clean concrete of Janwaar Castle – India’s newest skateboard park.

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UK government’s coronavirus advice – and why it gave it

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The action plan’s recommendations differed significantly from measures imposed in other countries

Coronavirus – all the developments

Boris Johnson delivered the government’s coronavirus action plan under the new “delay” phase, flanked by the UK’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, on Thursday. Here are the next steps in different areas, and the justifications they gave for them.

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