Ongoing Pandemic Push Africa's Children Out of School
By Joyce Chimbi
Kenya's secondary schools' administration has been in the eye of a storm since schools reopened in October 2021. Since then, students have set on fire 35 schools and counting, forcing the government to announce an unscheduled break from school – ahead of the planned December 23 closing.
Education Cannot Wait Urges Urgent Action for World's Biggest Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan
By Naureen Hossain
Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif urged the world to support their efforts to provide education to children living in Afghanistan – in what she called the "biggest humanitarian crisis" on earth.
Pacific Community Warns of Threat to Education Retention in the Wake of COVID-19
By Catherine Wilson
Before the pandemic, many Pacific Island countries grappled with low numbers of students completing secondary education. Now experts in the region are concerned that the closure of schools to contain the spread of COVID-19, and the economic downturn, will lead to even more students dropping out of education early.
Power of Creative Expression during Lockdown
By Fairuz Ahmed
Screens, devices, and smartphones replaced the human touch and day-to-day interactions as COVID-19 protocols forced millions of people into harsh lockdowns and prolonged isolation.
COVID-19 – Some 23.8 Million More Children Will Drop out of School
By Samira Sadeque
Countries with low human development are facing the brunt of school lockdowns, with more than 85 percent of their students effectively out of school by the second quarter of 2020, according to a United Nations policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on education.
Providing an Education in Favour of Senegal's Girls
By Mantoe Phakathi
When Fatima* became pregnant in the middle of the school year and dropped out, she was disowned by her parents. Hers is a story that could have ended as another statistic of dropout rates among female learners in Senegal.
Online Education Moved to Top of Agenda by Indian State after IPS Reports Risks of Unequal Access
By Manipadma Jena
High up at an altitude of between 1,500 to 4,000 feet in India's eastern Odisha state, live the Bonda people — one of this country's most ancient tribes, who have barely altered their lifestyle in over a thousand years.
Q&A: Honouring Women of Africa and the Diaspora
By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
This year, the African Union and the Diaspora African forum are honouring the first woman minister for education in Kenya for her long and outstanding work in girls' education and governance.
Tanzania: Girls Struggle to Avoid Forced Marriage, Yearn to Learn
Maria was barely 16 when her father removed her from school to marry her off to a man 20 years older than she was just so that the family could receive eleven cows as her dowry.
Afghan Refugees' Right To Stay in Pakistan May Expire
By Ashfaq Yusufzai
"We aren't happy here but cannot go back to our country because the situation there was extremely bad," Ghareeb Gul, Afghan refugees told IPS.
Opinion: Ending Child Marriage – What Difference Can a Summit Make?
By Samuel Musyoki
The long-awaited African Girls' Summit on Ending Child Marriage is here.
From Bangladesh to Bihar
By N Chandra Mohan
Times are a-changing for Bihar, a state popularly described as a state of mind. The recent elections have brought back Nitish Kumar as the chief minister for the fifth time. Since his first innings as a developmental CM from 2005, he has transformed Bihar from being an archetype of India's backwardness to one of its fastest growing states. Besides improving governance, he has also politically empowered women in that benighted state. Not surprisingly, the women's vote was decisive for his electoral success. He now has the historic opportunity to shift gears towards sustainable gender-based development.
Analysis: Is Empowerment of Women a Will-o'-the-Wisp?
By Vani S. Kulkarni and Raghav Gaiha
Few dispute that women's autonomy and betterment of their lives are moral imperatives. But whether these are also key to economic development is contested.
Opinion: Integrating Water, Sanitation and Health are Key to the Promise of the UN Global Goals
By H.R.H. Princess Sarah Zeid
The 193 member states of the United Nations have adopted an ambitious 15-year sustainable development agenda, the 2030 Global Goals.
Disarmament Conference Ends with Ambitious Goal – But How to Get There?
By Ramesh Jaura
A three-day landmark U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues has ended here – one day ahead of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests – stressing the need for ushering in a world free of nuclear weapons, but without a consensus on how to move towards that goal.
South Sudanese Girls Given Away As 'Blood Money'
By Miriam Gathigah
So extreme are gender inequalities in South Sudan that a young girl is three times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than to reach the eighth grade – the last grade before high school – according to Plan International, one of the oldest and largest children's development organisations in the world.
Opinion: Journey Towards an African Taxation Renaissance
By Sipho Mthathi
Africa is known as the 'paradox of plenty'. How can a continent so rich in natural resources be so poor?
Why ACP Countries Matter for the EU Post-2015 Development Agenda
By Valentina Gasbarri
We are witnessing a shift in the original rationale behind the unique relationship between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries of the ACP group, which goes beyond the logic of "unilateral aid transfer", "donor-recipient approach" and "North-South dialogue".
Ceuta, An Enclave For Migrating Birds Not Humans
By Andrea Pettrachin
A few kilometres before the border between the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and Morocco, a sign informs passers-by that this outpost of Spain on African soil stands in a privileged position for those who wish to observe the annual migration of birds across the Strait of Gibraltar, their shortest route from Africa to Europe.
Slum-Dwelling Still a Continental Trend in Africa
By Jeffrey Moyo
Nompumelelo Tshabalala, 41, emerges from her dwarf 'shack' made up of rusty metal sheets and falls short of bumping into this reporter as she bends down to avoid knocking her head against the top part of her makeshift door frame.
EU Calls for Paradigm Shift in Development Cooperation
In the run-up to the international Conference on Financing for Development from Jul. 13 to 16 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the European Union has called for a "true paradigm shift" in global development cooperation.
Commonwealth For Climate COP26
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