Mexican teachers protest education reform after government weakens stance

Thousands of Mexican teachers protested on the streets of Mexico City on Monday against a crucial part of President Enrique Pena Nieto's education reform, sensing that government support for it was crumbling.

On Friday, the Education Ministry said it would suspend the planned teacher evaluations opposed by militant teaching unions in Mexico, which fear it will curb their power.

The decision followed months of agitation from union members, and sparked condemnation from opposition lawmakers and supporters of the law, who said it would gut the reform.

Buoyed by the retreat, 10,000 teachers and opponents of what Pena Nieto has argued is his most important piece of legislation massed on the Paseo de la Reforma, one of the capital's main boulevards, in an effort to kill off evaluations altogether.

"The evaluations are punitive," said Juan Carlos Lopez, 42, a primary school teacher. "It's a justification to fire teachers on a massive scale."

Supporters of the reform said it was urgently needed to improve flagging educational standards and root out corruption in teaching unions. Its critics argue that many poorer teachers lack the financial support to meet required standards.

Opposition to education reform has been strongest among teachers in the southwest of Mexico, where some surrounded a facility of state oil company Pemex in Oaxaca state with cargo trucks and burnt ballot papers in state capital Oaxaca City.

Some protesters have threatened to interfere with nationwide elections due to be held next Sunday, and opposition lawmakers accused the government of sacrificing the reform to protect the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

The need for improvement is clear, and only two weeks ago, Pena Nieto hailed the education reform as the one that would "without doubt" have the biggest impact on Mexico's future.

In the World Economic Forum's latest annual competitiveness survey, Mexico ranked 118th out of 144 countries in quality of primary education, behind many poorer countries, including Honduras, El Salvador, Bolivia, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone.

The government's reasons for suspending the teacher evaluations have not been clearly explained. The Education Ministry said only that it had "new elements to consider" and declined to comment further when contacted on Monday.

Its decision had sent out a "terrible message" about the government and was a betrayal of teachers backing reform, said Juan Carlos Romero, head of the Senate education committee and a member of the center-right National Action Party (PAN).

"We're going from illusion to disillusionment," he said. "Once you've lost confidence it's very hard to re-establish it."

(Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Richard Chang, Toni Reinhold)

PK (2014) - GNN Movies

(GNN Movies) - PK (2014)

P. K. is a comedy of ideas about a stranger in the city, who asks questions that no one has asked before. They are innocent, child-like questions, but they bring about catastrophic answers.

People who are set in their ways for generations, are forced to reappraise their world when they see it from PK’s innocent eyes. In the process PK makes loyal friends and powerful foes. Mends broken lives and angers the establishment. P. K.’s childlike curiosity transforms into a spiritual odyssey for him and millions of others.

The film is an ambitious and uniquely original exploration of complex philosophies. It is also a simple and humane tale of love, laughter and letting-go. Finally, it is a moving saga about a friendship between strangers from worlds apart.

Taliban survivor Malala, in Nigeria, pledges to help free girls

(GNN) - Pakistani rights activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, pledged while on a trip to Nigeria to help free a group of schoolgirls abducted by Islamist militants.

On Sunday, Malala met parents of the more than 200 girls who were kidnapped by the militant group Boko Haram from a school in the northeastern village of Chibok in April.

Boko Haram, inspired by the Taliban, say they are fighting to establish an Islamic state in religiously mixed Nigeria. The group, whose name means "Western education is sinful", has killed thousands and abducted hundreds since launching an uprising in 2009.

Some of the parents broke down in tears as Malala spoke at a hotel in the capital Abuja on Sunday.

"I can see those girls as my sisters ... and I'm going to speak up for them until they are released," said Malala, who was due to meet President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday, her 17th birthday.

"I'm going to participate actively in the 'Bring back our girls' campaign, to make sure that they return safely and they continue their education."

The girls' abduction drew unprecedented international attention to the war in Nigeria's northeast and the growing security risk that Boko Haram poses to Nigeria, Africa's leading energy producer.

A #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign supported by Michelle Obama and Angelina Jolie heaped pressure on authorities to act, and Jonathan pledged to save the girls, drawing promises of Western help to do so.

"I can feel ... the circumstances under which you are suffering," Malala said. "It's quite difficult for a parent to know that their daughter is in great danger. My birthday wish this year is ... bring back our girls now, and alive."

ABUJA PROTEST

Several weeks on, the hostages have not been freed and media interest has waned. Around 200 Nigerians gathered in the Unity Fountain park in central Abuja on Sunday to call on authorities to explain what they are doing to get the girls out.

"Nobody has told us anything about where the girls could be, what they are doing to try to rescue them. In three months, we've heard nothing," said Haruna Fetima, one of the parents at the gathering. "We live in Chibok, and we haven't seen any soldiers or police in the area since the attack."

Boko Haram, now considered the main security threat to Nigeria, is growing bolder. Police said on Saturday they had uncovered a plot to bomb the Abuja transport network using suicide bombers and devices concealed in luggage at major bus stations.

Pakistani Taliban militants shot Malala for her passionate advocacy of women's right to education. She survived after being airlifted to Britain for treatment, and has since become a symbol of defiance against the militants operating in the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

She has won the European Union's prestigious human rights award and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

Some see Nigeria's local #BringBackOurGirls campaign as a rare, albeit small, piece of civil activism in a nation famous for its shoulder-shrugging indifference in the face of atrocities or bad governance.

"The negative side of our resilience ... is that things that would compel other citizens to demand accountability, demand answers, wouldn't move the Nigerian," said Oby Ezekwesili, a chartered accountant who has spearheaded the campaign to get the girls freed.

"That has been broken ... People are saying 'We can't leave 219 girls and just get on with our lives'."

(Reuters)(AIP)(Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Google To Announce Finalists For Bay Area Impact Challenge

Tomorrow, Google will announce the 10 finalists for its Bay Area Impact Challenge, its latest effort to give back to communities in Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area. For the next 10 days, anyone can visit the website to vote for their favorite nonprofit among the group.

According to the Bay Area Impact Challenge site, finalists were selected based on four criteria: community impact, innovation, scalability, and feasibility. Here’s the list of nonprofits that you’ll be able to vote on starting tomorrow:

Beyond 12 - “By integrating personalized coaching with intelligent technology, Beyond 12 bridges the gap between K-12 and higher education to ensure that all students succeed in college.”

Hack the Hood - “Hack the Hood provides technical training in high in-demand multimedia and tech skills to youth who will then apply their learning through real-world consulting projects with locally-owned businesses and non-profits.”

Bring Me A Book - “By providing libraries of high quality children’s books and read aloud workshops to underserved communities, Bring Me A Book inspires reading aloud to children, the most important factor in determining a child’s future success in reading.”

Health Trust – “The vision of The Health Trust is to make Silicon Valley the healthiest region in America— for everyone. Our work includes direct services, grant making and policy advocacy. It organized under three initiatives: Healthy Eating, Healthy Aging and Healthy Living. Our work also includes Destination Home, a public-private partnership galvanizing our community to end chronic homelessness in Santa Clara County.”

BUILD - “Every year in the United States, half a million young people drop out of high school. Most of these young people drop out because they’re bored. Knowing this, BUILD addresses the crisis with a four-year, hands-on entrepreneurship training and college preparation program that makes school engaging and relevant—and consequently motivates students to succeed.”

Mission Asset Fund - “When hardworking families can’t get car loans or own homes, they turn to payday lenders and check cashers to make ends meet. High cost fringe financial services trap people in a cycle of debt, preventing hardworking families from realizing their true economic potential. The solution can be found in the hidden strengths of communities across the country. People come together to lend and borrow money with each other. We connect this practice with the financial system so that borrowers can build credit and a brighter future.“

Center for Employment Opportunities - “EO offers comprehensive employment services exclusively for people with criminal records. CEO’s model is based on a highly structured program of life skill education, short-term paid transitional employment, full-time job placement and post-placement services. “

Pogo Park - “In one of the Bay Area’s toughest inner-city neighborhoods, Richmond’s Iron Triangle, we are building great parks and playgrounds. By transforming broken city parks into safe and magical play spaces, we are improving the health and well-being of thousands of at-risk children.”

Community Music Center – “Community Music Center was founded in 1921 with the mission of making music accessible to all people, regardless of their financial means.”

SubArt – “SubArt will reinvent the experience of subway riders by transforming BART and MUNI metro stations into public art galleries.”

On June 3, the company will announce the top four nonprofits, who will each receive a $500,000 grant, support from Google, and access to a co-working space. In addition, 21 other nonprofits will receive smaller grants.

The Bay Area Impact Challenge follows Google’s recent efforts to improve its image in the region. Back in March, the company committed $600,000 to approximately 700 Bay Area projects on Donors Choose, a platform where teachers can list projects that they need funding for in their classrooms. Before that, Google promised $6.8 million to the city of San Francisco to let youth between the ages of 5 and 17 ride MUNI for free for two years. All told, the company has given nearly $60 million to nonprofits in the Bay Area over the last three years.

You can see the advisors Google brought in the evaluate submissions to the challenge below:

Promoting education: Punjab enhances funds to cut unemployment

The endowment fund of the government is helping about 60,000 students across universities in the country. PHOTO: FILE

FAISALABAD: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, while underlining the importance of education, has said the size of endowment fund, created by the PML-N, has been increased to provide assistance to the needy and talented students and reduce the ranks of poor and unemployed.

“The government is fully aware of the importance of education in rooting out illiteracy, poverty and unemployment from the society and shift in the approach of NGOs to education is commendable,” he said.

He was speaking at a seminar organised by the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) and Saylani Welfare International Trust on “Empowering youth as IT entrepreneurs for progressive Pakistan” at the FCCI on Monday.

Sanaullah said the PML-N promoted education during its first tenure by creating an endowment fund for the talented students belonging to the poor strata of society. The fund, which was launched with Rs5 million, has recorded a significant jump and now stands at Rs12 billion, which is helping about 60,000 students get best education in renowned universities of the country.

Earlier, FCCI President Suhail bin Rashid said information technology was a key industry that could bring revolution in the country and the government should recognise and give due status to this field.

He underscored the need for setting up an IT park, a campus of IT University and an office of the Punjab IT Board in Faisalabad. The city required a place for 88 local software companies to sit and work round the clock and the IT park would provide that space, he said.

Published in GNN & Tribune, May 6th, 2014.

Facebook Launches Open Academy To Give Kids College Credit For Open Source Contributions

A perfect GPA isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Advancing an open source project. To help computer science students prepare for jobs (and boost its own recruiting efforts) Facebook today publicly launched Open Academy.

The partnership with premier CS universities sets up a special class where students get college credit for contributing to open source projects.

After a successful pilot at Stanford last year, Open Academy is expanding to a total of 22 universities.

Open Academy students get paired with mentors and an open source project to which they’ll add code. At the start of the semester, all the mentors and students come to Facebook’s Menlo Park HQ for an intensive kick-off weekend.

Then they work in virtual teams from their schools. Mentors teach students about open source, review students’ code and may give lectures too. The winter 2014 session will begin in February.

Through the pilot and ‘private beta’ with other universities including Waterloo and MIT, students worked on MongoDB, Mozilla Open Badge, Ruby On Rails and more Open Source projects. The expansion brings the program to schools including UPenn, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon.

The program could turn kids from theoretical students working on canned classroom coding challenges into real-world engineers building systems people actually use.

“Software development as a profession has many features that are distinct from computer science as an academic subject,” Facebook explains. “Projects are often larger than the people who participate in them; project management and interpersonal relationships can have as much impact on software design as technical issues; and systems are ultimately evaluated by user satisfaction rather than technical merit.”

To be clear, Open Academy isn’t entirely altruistic. Surely, the top-tier computer science students admitted to the program will be given a nudge towards working at Facebook after college.

Facebook is in a constant battle with other tech giants for top engineering talent, and programs from computer science grants to college hackathons to the Open Academy seek to seduce young code ninjas as well as aid them.

Google Launches Virtual Field Trips Via New Google+ Connected Classrooms Feature

Field trips generally venture only as far afield as the local heritage village, where you’re likely to catch pilgrim ‘Ezekial’ behind the butter churning hut sneaking a modern day cigarette.

Google wants to offer a more far-reaching experience, with a new Connected Classrooms initiative that lets classes take “virtual field trips” using Google+ Hangouts.

So instead of learning about pioneer times from a local drama student who has to keep the goat stables clean in addition to infotaining the kids, you’ll check out the Seattle Aquarium, Minnesota Zoo or the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Google says that teachers already employ its social network in classrooms, but the Connected Classrooms program is designed to make it easier for more of them to do so.

It offers not only those virtual excursions mentioned above (along with a number of other destinations), but also provides teachers a chance to work together on class plans and learning experiences for use both in the classroom and out.

Field trips take place at specific times, since they’re actually live hosted events that offer interactive learning experiences, and teachers can check out Google’s calendar to find out more.

The first three are happening today, where Seattle Aquarium staff will take classes participating underwater; the Minnesota Zoo explores the Black Bear and their habit of sleeping through the colder seasons; and Solar Impulse, a long-range solar plane project, offers a chance to speak with the founders and learn about the design of its wing and cockpit.

Upcoming trips over the rest of the month include virtual photo walks and museum tours provided by National Geographic and others.

Google clearly wants to encourage education to adopt Hangouts, and by extension, Google+. It’s one of the many markets Google is pursuing with its social strategy, but it’s one that could have the biggest future impact, when viewed in tandem with its low cost Nexus device and Chrome OS initiatives.

Both of those have the potential to get cheap Google hardware in schools, from which students would naturally benefit by complimentary content experiences.