Full coverage: Children

28.07.2006 The document makes recommendations for improving access to primary education of good quality for all children, especially the poorest. It compiles the outcomes of the several experts’ meeting on Primary Education for All Children.

28.07.2006 Following the government’s decision to throw out the Right to Education Bill and pass the responsibility on to the states, activists and educationists are planning a people’s campaign for a common school system, and a nationwide protest on the eve of Independence Day, when thousands of volunteers will court arrest.

27.07.2006 Twenty-five percent of teachers were absent from school, and only about half were teaching, during unannounced visits to a nationally representative sample of government primary schools in India. Absence rates varied from 15 percent in Maharashtra to 42 percent in Jharkhand, with higher rates concentrated in the poorer states.

26.07.2006 The UN has called for greater efforts to protect nearly 250,000 boys who are exploited as child soldiers and tens of thousands of girls who are subject to sexual violence in war zones across the world.

25.07.2006 La situazione dei bambini della Repubblica democratica del Congo fotografata dal rapporto dell'Unicef presentato oggi a Londra è allarmante: in 6 mesi conflitti e violenze hanno fatto oltre 4 milioni di morti. Il 30 luglio si terranno le prime elezioni democratiche dopo oltre 40 anni di attesa con le quali la popolazione congolese cerca di lasciarsi alle spalle una drammatica guerra. Ieri con un aereo messo a disposizione dal Governo italiano sono partiti da Ciampino, assieme al Viceministro degli Esteri Patrizia Sentinelli, i 61 volontari italiani di "Beati i costruttori di Pace" che svolgeranno la funzione di osservatori internazionali nei seggi del Nord e Sud Kivu. Ma la situazione pre-elettorale è tesa e la Chiesa congolese denuncia che "non sono ancora state raggiunte tutte le condizioni per lo svolgimento di un voto davvero trasparente, libero e democratico. Al contrario, un insieme di elementi conferma le accuse di manipolazione, di inganno se non addirittura di frode”.

24.07.2006 A survey on infrastructure in elementary education in India, carried out by the National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA), found that 13,857 schools in Madhya Pradesh do not have a school building. Two decades after the launch of a nationwide initiative to ensure that government-run schools have more classrooms and teachers, over 100,000, or nearly 10% of the country’s elementary schools, have only one classroom.

24.07.2006 The study, undertaken by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and supported by the National AIDS Control Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme, has found that not only enrolment of children from HIV households is lower than those from non-HIV households but also the dropout rates are higher and attendance is lower.

24.07.2006 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the private sector that it has to contribute more than just investment in spreading education.The private institutions should have the freedom to play a proper role in providing education. But, the private sector should contribute more than investment in the field, he said, addressing the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Vidya Bhavan Trust.

21.07.2006 Save the Children esprime apprezzamento per l’operazione della squadra mobile di Roma che ha portato alla luce un grave fenomeno di tratta e sfruttamento ai danni di minori rumeni e rom. “Il quadro di abusi, violenze fino alla riduzione in schiavitù che emerge dall’operazione delle forze di sicurezza di Roma, conferma un quadro a noi noto” - commenta Valerio Neri Direttore Generale di Save the Children Italia. “Esiste una fascia di minori stranieri, bambini e adolescenti, per lo più rumeni e rom, che è particolarmente esposta al rischio di subire violenze, cadere vittima di reti di trafficanti, a scopo di sfruttamento sessuale, di mendicità, di piccola delinquenza”. Minori che vivono situazioni di grave emarginazione, degrado e difficoltà già nei paesi di provenienza e che, spesso da lì, vengono venduti, talvolta dalle stesse famiglie, a reti di trafficanti. In altri casi questi minori vittime di tratta vivono e provengono dai campi nomadi della capitale.

20.07.2006 Gjashtë runde të bisedimeve mbi të ardhmen e Kosovës në Vjenë, dhe duket që fëmijët dhe çështjet që kanë të bëjnë me të drejtat e fëmijëve nuk kanë qenë dhe nuk do të kanë gjasa për të hyrë në agjendën e bisedimeve për statusin e Kosovës. Në bisedimet në Vjenë, të udhëhequra nga Zëvendësi i të Dërguarit Special i Sekretarit të Përgjithshëm Kofi Annan për statusin e ardhshëm të Kosovës, Albert Rohan, fokusoi diskutimin mbi financat lokale, decentralizimin, bashkëpunimin ndër-komunal dhe bashkëpunimin ndërkufitar. Edhe pse bisedimet shihen si një fillim i rëndësishëm i procesit të përcaktimit të statusit përfundimtar të Kosovës, çështjet që kanë të bëjnë me përfshirjen shoqërore, e posaçërisht ato çështje që kanë të bëjnë me të drejtat e fëmijëve nuk ishin pjesë e agjendës.

20.07.2006 Save the Children për Evropën Juglindore i ka përkujtuar bashkësisë ndërkombëtare dhe politik-bërësve nga dy grupet negociatore dhe i ka ftuar ata të mos i harrojnë dhe të lënë anash fëmijët në negociatat e tanishme për Statusin e Kosovës.

19.07.2006 Six rounds into the talks on Kosovo’s future in Vienna, it seems that children and children rights’ issues were not and are not likely to be put onto the agenda of the Kosovo Status Talks. Save the Children reminds and urges the international community not to neglect children and education during the negotiations.

19.07.2006 Save the Children in SEE reminded the International community and the policymakers from the two negotiation teams and urged them not to forget and neglect the children in the current Kosovo Status talks.

19.07.2006 While the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act - if it is effectively implemented - is likely to have many positive consequences, one of the potential benefits that has been inadequately recognised is how it may improve the welfare of around 60 million children.

19.07.2006 The stand off between education officials and Intermediate Teachers Association continued on the fourth consecutive day. Normal working in the Education department remained affected and the employees continued boycott of their duties to mount pressure on the district administration to arrest the accused teachers for manhandling the joint director.

19.07.2006 Organizacija Save The Children zatražila je od učesnika u pregovorima o budućem statusu Kosovo, vlada Srbije i Kosova kao i medjunarodne zajednice, da uključe pitanja položaja dece na Kosovu u pregovore o statusu. Ova organizacija podseća da se, nakon šest rundi razgovora o budućnosti Kosova u Beču, čini da deca i prava deteta nisu bili – a i malo je verovatno da će biti – na dnevnom redu pregovora. Mada se ovi pregovori smatraju važnim početkom procesa utvrđivanja konačnog statusa Kosova, pitanja socijalne inkluzije, a pogotovo prava deteta, nisu bila na dnevnom redu.

18.07.2006 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) a indian name of Universalisation of primary education (UEE) has been conceived as a government of India national educational movement to achieve the target of UEE among all children. Distance education with the advent of digital technologies, has become an alternate or supplement to the conventional education

18.07.2006 Parents cribbing about their kids resorting to junk food is common today. But there are more than 50 million children in the country who fail to secure proper meals every single day, something that India needs to ponder upon very seriously. According to a recent UN report, 10 children die from malnutrition in the developing countries every minute. About three quarters of the undernourished children come from just 10 countries of which 57 million are from India and 8 million each in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

17.07.2006 The Velikimali organization from Pancevo invites all organization that work with children with disabilities, or are interested to development programmes for support of this population, to join them as partners in the implementation of Network for promotion of rights of children with disabilities in Serbia, which includes creation of strong and effective services for disabled children in the local communities.

17.07.2006 The two-day Model United Nations Session 2006 on 'Quality Education and Millennium Development Goals' ended in the city with a call for working together to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).