School lunch important for health and education

Educators in low-income areas everywhere struggle with one of the most basic barriers to teaching children -- hungry students. The United Nations World Food Program says in its 2013 State of School Feeding Worldwide report that supplying meals and snacks to students has proven valuable. Researchers in Dakar, Senegal agree. They found that supplying free lunches to students in rural primary schools not only made them healthier, it raised their test scores. Avi Arditti has more.

During the 2009-2010 academic year, researchers in Senegal did an experiment. They selected 120 rural primary schools in four of the poorest areas of the country. Students at half the schools received free, daily lunches -- a local dish of rice with vegetables and either fish or meat, cooked in oil. Students at the other 60 schools did not receive meals.

Abdoulaye Diagne is the director of the Consortium for Social Economic Research in Dakar. He led the study.

 He says students who received school meals were better able to...

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Here is a reminder about the connection between eating well and learning. We learn more and better when we are well nourished. This is especially important for children to develop both mentally and physically.

The mighty Zambezi

The mighty Zambezi was calling our name so we ventured up river to see The Falls from a different perspective. Our tented camp was right on the edge of the river. We spent our days listening to the one million liters of water thundering each second and watching the smoke it created hover over our heads.

One afternoon we went into town and visited a school. It is hard to imagine 60 students in one class with just one teacher, but in Africa there are often larger classes. Even though the school was built of four simple walls, all the kids were happy and learning. We wanted to do our part to help so we went to the school supply store and bought tons of paint sets, pencils, colored pencils, exercise books, erasers, and glue sticks. They all seemed so incredibly happy about our small contribution.

While we were in town we also went to the craft market. At every stop in Africa we have seen extraordinary crafts, but in Zambia the collection of artists and crafts was outstanding. To our right there were vibrant fabrics, to our left there were...

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Eleven-year old Aubrey is traveling through Africa with her family. Although she not attending a traditional school, she is getting an unique education. What an experience she seems to be having!

Government set to dump school laptops scheme

The Federal Government has indicated it will not continue funding the high school laptop program for years 9 to 12 students.

Almost 1 million computers have been issued since 2008 as part of Labor's Digital Education Revolution, but funding for the scheme is set to run out in June 2013.

Year 9 students will still receive their laptops at the start of the school year.

Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett says the Government provided the upfront investment and the states must now pay their fair share.

"The Commonwealth always said we would get this going by providing the opportunity for high school students to have access to a laptop. We've delivered on that commitment," he said.

"We'll negotiate with the states on where that can be taken, but...

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The Australian government has been providing high school students with laptop computers since 2008. From 2013, it will be up to the schools to devise a plan regarding the technology students use. What are the advantages of students using their own devices at school?

Learning teamwork in a kids band

A summer camp in Washington D.C. in the U.S. is teaching kids how to play, write, and produce music in just one week. If you were going to write a song, what kind of song would it be?

Malaysia, Australia launch young Muslim exchange programme

Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr has held talks on a wide range of issues with his Malaysian counterpart.

Senator Carr and his Malaysian counterpart, Anifah Aman, signed off on the Australia-Malaysia Young Muslim Exchange Programme after recent talks in the Malaysian state of Sabah.

Under the programme - which is based on a model Australia has run with Indonesia and Thailand - participants from Malaysia will also travel to Australia.

Senator Carr says fostering cultural understanding is important for the future of both countries.

"I think it's one of the most important challenges we face today - getting a dialogue with the...

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A student exchange program between Australia and Malaysia aims at promoting cultural understanding. Australia has similar programs with Thailand and Indonesia. What do you think Japan can learn from this model?

Georgia launches 'Future Classes' around the country

The shape of things to come? Georgia, a country in Euroasia, is exploring the potential of computers in education - no book, pens, pencils or paper and all students are connected by a network. Do you think you would enjoy studying like this? 

Foreign varsities still a big draw for students

More students from Singapore have been heading to universities in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia in recent years, despite the growing plaudits for the Republic's education system and changes made to jazz up the tertiary sector here.

From 2008 to last year, the number of students from Singapore studying in the UK has grown by between 10 and 18 per cent each year.

This could be due to rising affluence coupled with smaller family sizes, the high quality of education of other countries, the strong Singapore dollar and students growing up in a globalised world, observers say.

The number of students who applied to study at a university in the US rose to 4,316 last year, from 3,039 in 2006.

Students TODAY spoke to said they chose to study abroad as they...

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The number of Singaporean students who study abroad is increasing. In Japan, the tendency is the opposite: fewer students are going abroad. What do you think might cause the difference between students in the two countries?

Vietnamese restaurants turn philanthropy into business

Among the countless street children Jimmy Pham has met over the decades, the one who comes to mind most often is a young girl whose mother slammed her head against a wall 16 years ago.

“It’s Uncle Tuan!” he remembers the five-year-old greeting him on the street. The girl’s mother, who was beside her, then suggested beg for money from Pham, a stranger who lately had become a kind of casual benefactor to the local children. When the girl refused to beg, her mother punished her with a beating.

The memory of that girl, and others like her, played a key role in the origin of KOTO, the restaurant chain Pham went on to found in 1999. KOTO uses its eateries to take young people off the street and...

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Many people say they want to help poor children but they don't know what they can do. Jimmy Pham had an idea and the determination to see it through. He has created a system that helps educate and train needy children in Vietnam.

United Nations report urges “putting education to work”

A new United Nations report says over two hundred million young people in developing countries have not completed primary school. The UN says almost one hundred thirty million are in school. But they cannot read or write -- skills they need to escape from poverty. The report urges donors and governments to support ways for young people to get the skills they need for success.

The findings are from the Education for All Global Monitoring Report by UNESCO -- the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Educators say young people need at least a primary school education and some secondary school to get secure, good-paying jobs. But the report says that is not happening in most developing countries, including ones south of the Sahara Desert. It says about...

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A recent UNESCO report indicates that many young people around the world are not completing even primary school.

Voices of America: Urban dancer Junious Brickhouse

Junious Brickhous, an urban dancer, talks about his experience mentoring new dancers and traveling around the world to teach people about house dance.

Using art to make summer school more interesting

June, July and August are vacation months for most American school children. But some young students pay a high price for that long summer break. They may forget much of what they learned over the past year by the time they start the next grade.

This problem is often called the summer learning gap. A growing effort across the country aims to deal with it by offering more interesting summer school programs. Some students already attend summer school, but often because they received poor grades during the regular school year.

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A reminder that the more deeply we experience something, the better we remember it...

Sunday's election key in movement toward universal suffrage in Hong Kong

Hong Kong voters go to the polls Sunday with their government mired in controversy, not least for the attempt this week to force “national education classes” on school children. With more seats in the legislature being decided on the basis of one-person-one-vote, the city’s pro-Beijing administration faces a challenging future as democrats look to make electoral gains before the anticipated introduction of universal suffrage in 2017.

Sunday’s election in Hong Kong will see over half of the legislature’s 70 seats returned by universal suffrage, the remainder by generally pro-Beijing groups.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying attends a news conference at the government headquarters in Hong Kong, September 7, 2012. ​​The vote is likely to prove a...

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Hong Kong officials struggle with educational issues....

Team from Ukraine wins top honors at Microsoft's Imagine Cup Finals

This is a great opportunity to visit other countries and meet interesting people. All it takes is hard work, curiosity, and initiative.

Second chances for prisoners, horses and the unemployed; Dogs help children learn to read

Steve Ember: And I’m Steve Ember. This week on our show, we tell you about a program that gives prisoners and retired racehorses a second chance at life. Then, we learn about an organization called Second Chance. It gives men with troubled pasts a way to learn new job skills by taking buildings apart to reuse the materials. And, later, we visit a school where dogs are helping children learn to read.

 Carolyn Presutti: Many prisons have programs to help prisoners develop job skills. But a program at the James River Work Center, a prison in the state of Virginia, is a little unusual. It teaches inmates to care for retired racehorses. The horses are retrained for new lives, while the inmates learn job skills for their life after release.

Steve Ember: The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is a nonprofit group that works with the prison. The group tries to save former racehorses from the possibility of...

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IB program aims to form 'students of the world'

The International Baccalaureate Organization was founded in nineteen sixty-eight. It works with schools in one hundred forty-three countries to offer programs for students age three to nineteen. These programs, it says, "help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world."

The organization says IB programs are in more than three thousand schools. The majority of these schools offer IB diploma programs.

High school students have to complete six courses, pass exams and write a twenty-page paper to earn an IB diploma. The courses are in humanities, science, arts, math, a second language and their own language.

Students can also attend special events. Recently more than three hundred...

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Young, and training for a good job -- at sea

My university had a swimming pool.

National Elective Tamil Language Programme launched

A new programme called the National Elective Tamil Language Programme has been launched to boost teaching and learning of the language.

Higher Tamil Language students in secondary schools and Junior College who study Tamil as a H2 subject can now opt to join the programme.

The programme, offered by the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre also aims to help students get a deeper understanding of Tamil literature and culture.

Original article

Cambodians get lessons in skateboarding, life

Everything is possible... if you practice.

Saving money for college

A good education is expensive but well worth it. Smart young people study as hard and as much as possible while in school. It is an issue of personal responsibility to take advantage of the opportunity... if you are lucky to have it.

Today's phrase: To have your eye on the ball

If you have your eye on the ball, you are very focused and alert.

For example:

I've got my driving test this afternoon. I really need to keep my eye on the ball if I'm going to pass.

I'm going on safari today. If I keep my eye on the ball, I might be lucky and see a lion!

Keep your eye on the ball with this project – we need to make sure we deliver it on time!

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