Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

Four Facts About Education in Luxembourg


Although a small country, Luxembourg has become more independent with its resources in recent years. One of the most successful aspects of the nation is its education system. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development program (OECD), the quality of education in Luxembourg surpasses many other nations.

According to reports made in 2011, 77% of people in Luxembourg have at least an upper secondary education. This is equivalent to a high school education. The number exceeds the OECD average of only 75%. The younger generation is excelling even further, with 83% of 25-34 year-olds having completed a high school education.

Teachers are well-paid. Teachers in Luxembourg earn the highest out of all the countries that are a part of the OECD. Their starting salary is an average of 73,700 euros. More experienced teachers earn an average of 128,200 euros. Compared to the United States’ teachers’ starting salary of 43,324 dollars and maximum salary of 66,054 dollars, the salaries in Luxembourg are considerably higher. Teachers in Luxembourg are also young; half of primary and secondary school teachers are under the age of 40.

Education in Luxembourg is trilingual. The languages that are mandatory are Luxembourgish, German and French. Students first learn Luxembourgish and then in primary schools, they learn German as a second language. When students advance to secondary education, they learn French. English is also an option as well if students choose to learn it. As a result, students in Luxembourg learn more languages than other students around the world.

Before the University of Luxembourg was founded in 2003, there were no four-year universities in the country. Students who wanted to go to a university had to travel abroad to do so. Although the University of Luxembourg is fairly small, 55% of students are international and the university offers multilingual courses.

The educational system in Luxembourg is one of the most successful in the world, and for good reason. With well-paid teachers and multiple languages incorporated into the curriculum, there is a high standard for success.

– Emma Majewski

Photo: Flickr

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VGEL Builds Vocational Education in Rajasthan

Education in Rajasthan
The Rajasthan government and the Rajasthan Skill and Livelihood Development Corporation (RSLDC) have agreed to partner with Virtual Global Education Ltd. (VGEL) in aiding unemployed youth by providing vocational education in Rajasthan, specifically in the cities of Gudha, Toonga, Reengus, Pipar City, Palsana, Kotputli, Bhopalgarh and Jodhpur.

The initial stages of the program are set to reach out to at least 6,000 unemployed youth in the first phase, but it is hoped to reach more than 25,000 by the end of this financial year. This first phase will offer training opportunities in business process outsourcing, nursing, telecommunications, accounting, renewable energy branches, business and finance.

RSLDC has partnered with career development programs similar to VGEL in the past. These programs include the Employment Linked Skill Training Program (ELSTP). The program provides students between the ages of 18 and 35 with a number of job training courses in the fashion, hospitality and marketing industries.

For years, school enrollment and child labor restrictions have been a contentious issue in India’s rural northwestern states, including Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. These states are the country’s largest producers of cotton and rank among the highest for the proportional share of children aged five to 14 engaged in child labor in India.

According to the most recent region-specific data collected in 2011, roughly 66% of Rajasthan citizens are literate. Of the population, 79% of men and 52% of women are able to read and write. While these rates show improvement from the 60% recorded in 2001, they are still short of India’s national literacy rate of 69%.

In response to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act passed in 2009, education in Rajasthan has undergone rigorous reform. Among initiatives to improve learning conditions for rural public schools, education officials have called for the implementation of vocational programs in order to increase students’ chances of finding employment in a variety of industries.

– Casie Wilson

Photo: Flickr

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The Importance of Education in Kilimanjaro: Inside Out Project

Education in Kilimanjaro
The Importance of Education in Kilimanjaro is a 24-portrait photography exhibition in Moshi, Tanzania that is advocacy-based. The exhibition premiered in 2014 and was led by the Inside Out Project. The exhibition traveled from a small village in France, Rogerville, to the school of Mbokumu in Tanzania, which is located in a village by Kilimanjaro.

The Inside Out Project was created by JR, a French artist and photographer, after he received the TED Prize in 2011. Speaking about the project, JR said, “I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we’ll turn the world…inside out.”

The goal of the project is to allow worldwide participation by taking people’s portraits and publicly displaying them in exhibitions to support certain ideas or experiences. Since 2011, Inside Out has had 260,000 participants across the globe in 129 different countries.

Each one of the 24 portraits in the Importance of Education in Kilimanjaro project is taken by a schoolchild of a different age. Additional photos in the exhibition picture the children putting the exhibition together. They are seen laughing, dancing and helping the Inside Out team paste the large-scale photographs throughout the streets.

In Moshi, Tanzania, there are many issues regarding education in the community. There are high drop-out rates, students miss school on a regular basis and there are low levels of progression. Most schools in the area face challenges such as a lack of reliable transportation, classrooms and teachers. The exhibition speaks to the necessity for children to be able to access quality education, despite their background. No matter where they are born, every child deserves equal access to education.

In addition to The Importance of Education in Kilimanjaro, many of the Inside Out Project’s exhibits speak to the significance of education across the globe

– Shannon Elder

Photo: Flickr

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UWC to Offer Scholarships to Further Education for Refugees

Education for Refugees
United World Colleges (UWC) has committed to raising funds for 100 scholarships per year for refugee students to attend UWC schools worldwide as a part of its UWC Refugee Initiative. Established as a response to the challenges many refugees face due to their politically insecure status, the scholarship program is intended to provide greater access to tertiary education for refugees.

The UWC values each scholarship at $75,000 and says it will cover the full education program, board and lodging, travel and visa support, co-curricular activities, educational materials and student welfare for two years. The UWC plans to finance the $7.5 million needed to support the 100 scholarships with donations from foundations and private donors.

Following the recent executive order restricting refugee access to the United States, UWC released a public statement urging U.S. authorities to ensure that students can safely continue their education in the U.S. regardless of their nationality or their refugee status. UWC’s United States campus also plans to increase its admission of refugee scholars in the fall semester of 2017. Other campuses, such as UWC Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, committed to providing additional places at their campuses for Muslim and refugee students.

“In light of the dramatic escalation in the number of young refugees, there is an urgent need for refugee talent to gain access to world-class education helping them to become tomorrow’s leaders of their communities,” UWC International Executive Director Jens Waltermann said. “UWC schools, with their emphasis on education for peace, must set an example and inspire others to open their gates to this underserved group.”

A number of other colleges and higher education programs have begun offering scholarships specifically to refugees in recent months, including Wheaton College in Massachusetts, the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and Bard College in Berlin.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees outlined access to tertiary, higher education as a developmental goal in its 2012-2016 education strategy, and listed greater access to scholarships as a potential solution for providing a better education for refugees.

– Casie Wilson

Photo: Flickr

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Ten Reforms in the Last Decade to Improve Education in Taiwan


Students coming out of Taiwan have routinely placed high on international test scores. However, a common concern about this region of the world is that there is too much emphasis on memorization and examination, stifling students’ creativity to create graduates who can test well but lack the critical thinking necessary for many of the world’s jobs.

The Ministry of Education in Taiwan has tackled this concern with a variety of reforms. Here are 10 reforms that have been implemented in the past decade to improve education in Taiwan:

  1. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, which oversees education in Taiwan, stated that their goal is to replace the right to an education with the right to learn, to place focus on citizens and to make education “learner-centered.”
  2. As a response to the country’s low birth rate, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education announced in 2015 that they would be merging universities to better accommodate students who pursue higher education in the country.
  3. In 2009, Taiwan introduced a new reading program called “Happy Reading 101,” which increased the amount of time allocated for reading in schools, expanded elementary and junior high libraries and encouraged schools to promote reading-friendly activities. After the implementation, Taiwan improved its reading performance on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), jumping from 23rd in 2009 to 4th in 2012.
  4. To place less pressure on students hoping to continue their education, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education began promoting an “exam-free pathway” to high school. This pathway encourages high schools to look at residency status, civic involvement, extracurricular activities and other factors when accepting students, rather than on test scores alone.
  5. Education in Taiwan now focuses on implementing decentralized curricula to better serve students, with many schools developing Curriculum Development Education Committees to make education student-centered.
  6. In 2014, the Ministry of Education added three years of mandatory schooling to be completed after junior high. The implementation of compulsory secondary education ensures that each student is prepared for their next step in life, be it the vocational or academic track.
  7. According to World Education News and Reviews, arts education in Taiwan is now available to all students, with classes such as music and fine arts being added to the curriculum.
  8. Taiwan has made improvements to schools’ vocational education and training (VET) programs, which help prepare students who choose the vocational track in high school for their career goals.
  9. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education supported e-learning and began encouraging schools to prepare students for a technological world in 2014.
  10. In 2015, the Ministry of Education cut the application process for high school in half and began requiring high schools to admit at least 50% of students based on results of the Comprehensive Assessment Program. The Ministry hopes this reform will place less stress on students as they apply to secondary schooling.

Though these reforms are relatively new to the system of education in Taiwan, the country has already seen improvement. More students have become enrolled in higher education institutions and been given more opportunities to continue their education. In fact, the Ministry of Education reports that the college acceptance rate has steadily risen from 20 percent in the 1970s to over 90 percent as of 2012. Also, according to World Education News and Reviews, the literacy rate in Taiwan has steadily increased throughout the years, going from 86 percent in 1998 to 98.5 percent as of 2014.

Taiwan only hopes to improve the country’s education with goals “to re-orient education toward positive social values, to reshape the education system into an effective model, to reset reasonable resources, to reconstruct partnerships and to solidify learning scholarship” between now and 2023.

– Jacqueline Artz

Photo: Flickr

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Global Education: The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation


In one year, more than 15 million child marriages occur, leaving one in 10 women married before age 15. There are 168 million children in the labor force, 85 million of whom are working in hazardous environments. More than one million children are trafficked, and 140 million children are sexually abused.

Kailash Satyarthi, Indian Nobel Peace Laureate, has advocated for ending global violence against children for more than 30 years. With his organization, The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), he hopes to end child exploitation. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his “struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”

Satyarthi founded and chaired seven different organizations, including the KSCF. All of the organizations focus on rehabilitating children from different forms of slavery and exploitation. Satyarthi has successfully liberated more than 85,000 children.

The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation has two working locations — one in New Delhi, India and the other in Washington, D.C. While both locations work toward the same goals, the India location focuses more on direct action while the U.S. location provides outreach and engagement.

The organization bases its mission on two goals. First, governments, businesses and societies should create policies to ensure that children remain unharmed. Second, child labor and poverty should be permanently eradicated by providing good education. The KSCF specifies that, “An education cannot be considered a quality education unless it emphasizes children’s rights and empowerment.” By prioritizing prevention, protection and policy change, the KSCF works to end child exploitation.

Satyarthi speaks to the necessity for action in terms of laws and policies. He maintains that we have the power to end child exploitation, and that we can provide the world’s children with better lives and education.

In an article published by UNICEF last year, he wrote, “All children deserve a fair and equal start in life. They deserve freedom and a childhood. They deserve comprehensive, well-rounded, quality education. These have to be viewed not just as basic rights but as a means towards a more inclusive and sustainable society.” The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation works toward just that.

– Shannon Elder

Photo: Flickr

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Seven Facts About Refugees from Sudan

Refugees from Sudan
For decades Sudan has faced prolonged civil war, violence between ethnic and political factions, droughts and famine as well as an inefficient distribution of international aid. This has resulted in the displacement of significant portions of the population. Here are seven facts about refugees from Sudan that highlight current hindrances and initiatives to improve their quality of life.

  1. According to a 2016 report from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), approximately 3.2 million Sudanese are classified as internally displaced persons (IDP). There are 78,000 people who are in IDP-like situations while 355,000 are considered refugees, asylum-seekers and others of concern. Sudan also hosts an estimated 350,000 Southern Sudanese individuals due to the separation of South Sudan from Sudan in 2012.
  2. Of the nations with significant populations of Sudanese refugees, most flee to Chad, which currently hosts nearly 305,000 refugees. Egypt currently hosts 30,000 Sudanese refugees, Ethiopia hosts 38,000 and Kenya hosts 3,500.
  3. While earlier waves of Sudanese refugees first found asylum in neighboring countries, refugees from Sudan have recently begun using these border nations as a medium for resettlement in a third country. Some refugees move between different countries in the region to increase chances for resettlement.
  4. Fleeing civil unrest and food insecurity in their home country, many refugees turn to bordering host countries with varying degrees of success. Egypt, for example, allows refugees to seek employment but requires employers to prove that no Egyptian national is available to work before issuing a work permit to a refugee.
  5. In contrast, Seeds for Solutions, a Chad-based agricultural program developed by UNHCR and the Lutheran World Federation, provides Sudanese refugees with resources to live sustainably while growing and selling their own crops.
  6. Sudanese refugee women are rarely literate, rarely take on community leadership roles and are more likely to become mothers at an early age. Although equal numbers of girls and boys attend primary schools in eastern Chad refugee camps, the pass rate for girls taking public exams at the end of grade eight is 25%, compared to 75% for boys.
  7. In response to gender inequities, the international Catholic organization Jesuit Refugee Service offers literacy classes to young Sudanese women in eastern Chad refugee camps. This organization also offers leadership training and support classes for young mothers and survivors of sexual violence.

Although the displacement of vulnerable populations has been a persistent issue in Sudanese history for decades, international initiatives and foreign aid are working to improve the lives of refugees from Sudan.

– Casie Wilson

Photo: Flickr

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Three Ways People Are Improving Education in Guinea

Education in GuineaAs one of the poorest countries in the world, Guinea struggles with primary school enrollment and inferior education quality. The average classroom hosts 80 children with only one teacher. The number of youth aged 15-24 who have no formal education totals 49 percent. Girls only stay in school an average of eight years. However, even with the failing education in Guinea, there are organizations which work to improve the quality of teaching and educational outreach to youth.

  1. Actress and spokesperson Mia Farrow worked with UNICEF to help fund schools. In 2010, Farrow visited Guinea to focus on education since the government was lacking in investment on education. Farrow and UNICEF worked on a multi-donor trust fund called the Education for All Fast Track Initiative’s Catalytic Fund. The World Bank managed this fund to allow UNICEF to build 1,000 schools and invest in properly training teachers and improving curricula.
  2. Save the Children, one of the biggest organizations improving education in developing countries, has had the aim of improving education in Guinea since 1997. The organization built elementary schools and improved community participation in school management. Their work has reached almost 570 communities.
  3. Communities of mothers are working to keep their daughters in school. There is a gap between boys and girls when it comes to getting an education. Girls don’t go to school because of poverty, physical and sexual violence as well as early marriage and pregnancy. But if they were able to get an education, it could decrease the likelihood of an early marriage and child mortality. The name of these associations of mothers helping their daughters get access to education in Guinea is “Comités des mères et des élèves filles” (COMEF). COMEFs work within schools to allow safety for girls from sexual violence and to be ‘first responders’ when problems arise.

Even though Guinea still struggles with its educational system, there are still organizations to help young children reach their full potential.

– Emma Majewski

Photo: Flickr

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UNESCO Rebuilds Refugee Girls Confidence with Education

Girls Through Education
While 91% of children around the world go to primary school, only 50% of refugee children are as lucky. These odds are startling, especially considering that 69 million girls remain out of school worldwide and that this number is expected to increase due to the refugee crisis. UNESCO plans to change that.

“Changing the World of Refugee Girls Through Education” is the aim of UNESCO’s new partnership with Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Save the Children, showcased in late January. Its main goal is to raise awareness of the extreme vulnerability of refugee girls and to secure solutions for their future through education and skills development.

The project is geared toward Syrian and Jordanian women who struggle to continue basic education or pursue work opportunities. The partners are working to help develop the life, business and vocational skills of these women, all while encouraging them to share their experiences.

The program, which is based in Jordan, offers refugee girls innovative job search techniques and helps them develop skills required to gain employment. In addition to all this, UNESCO helps them find opportunities in today’s global marketplace. If needed, one-on-one psychological counseling is also provided.

Schools also play an important role in identifying refugee children at risk of abuse, sexual and gender-based violence as well as forced recruitment. Even more so, they can help connect them with appropriate services, according to a recent UNESCO report.

Classrooms can also act as a place of transformation for many kids. Becoming educated can help one become a well-rounded person and gain a foundation of learning, which is a big step in helping one stand on his or her own feet.

This is even more important for refugee girls. Educating these girls empowers them and reduces the number of girls getting married at a very young age. This is a massive problem for girls in developing countries, where one in three girls is married before the age of 18.

Solving such a problem requires commitment, time and effort. This is just what the UNESCO partnership is hoping to accomplish by supporting refugee girls, raising their confidence and shaping their future.

– Mayan Derhy

Photo: Flickr

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Transcendental Meditation is Improving Global Education

Global Education_Meditation
More and more schools around the world are employing Transcendental Meditation techniques to improve student performance and well-being.

What is Transcendental Meditation?

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi brought Transcendental Meditation to the U.S. in the 1960s. The technique involves sitting comfortably, twice a day for 20 minutes, with the eyes closed in a relaxed state of consciousness.

Transcendental Meditation is not a religion. It is a daily practice that helps students develop naturally and remain alert during the school day.

Benefits of Transcendental Meditation

Harvard Medical School, Stanford Medical School, and Yale Medical School have researched the technique’s effects. Benefits of Transcendental Meditation include improved intelligence and creativity, improved academic performance, improved memory and lower stress levels.

Students who practiced meditation were also healthier and more confident. They showed greater appreciation for reflective and academic activities, as well as improved mathematical skills.

The David Lynch Foundation

The David Lynch Foundation was founded in 2005 to ensure that any child in the world who wanted to meditate could do so. The foundation focuses its efforts on underserved inner-city students, veterans with PTSD and their families as well as women and children who are survivors of violence and abuse.

Thanks to the foundation, students in more than 700 public and private schools around the world have been able to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique. In the U.S alone, there are more than 1,000 schools waiting to implement the program.

Success Stories

The Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (MSAE), a small school in Iowa, is one of the most successful examples of an institution using the Transcendental Meditation technique. MSAE students rank on average in the top one percent of standardized academic tests in the U.S. Ninety-five percent of these students also enroll in a university.

Similarly, university students in Cambodia that practiced Transcendental Meditation showed improved general health after three months. A separate statistic shows that secondary school students who practiced the technique also demonstrated increased creativity after 14 weeks, in comparison to control students.

Education is one of the most powerful tools in reducing global poverty and inequality. Thanks to Transcendental Meditation, both teachers and students are enjoying lower stress levels and increased efficiency in the classroom. As the technique continues to proliferate, the quality of global education will also rise, ultimately laying the foundation for sustained economic growth and social cohesion.

– Liliana Rehorn

Photo: Flickr