Global

A small cut in the pupil-teacher ratio and the creation of 2,260 additional teaching posts are the key education measures of Budget 2016.The Department of Education and Skills is to receive an extra €144 million next year, bringing its budget to €8.5 billion.From next September, the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level will fall from 28:1 to 27:1. This will require about 300 extra teaching posts. Some 810 mainstream teaching posts are also being created to address demographic demand.

When we think of education technology, we often imagine large-scale impact and reach. But it’s not that straightforward.Stacked amidst temporary shelters, tents and thatched huts in Burundi’s Kavumu refugee camp are a pile of bright blue, green and yellow boxes. Stowed away in these 800 kg metal palette-size boxes are countless ideas to educate, entertain and foster creativity among refugees. The self-contained watertight boxes are packed with e-readers, tablets, cameras, e-books, paperbacks, board games and e-learning tools to offer educational and training opportunities to refugee children and adults and prepare them to reintegrate the world. In less than 20 minutes, the boxes are unfolded into interactive media centres with tables and chairs.

More than half of the world’s countries have failed to achieve gender parity in education for girls in primary and secondary schools, according to a new U.N. report.

Photo Credit: WonderlaneBy Matt PicklesWhen considering the effects of the debt crisis on Greece, most people probably think of long queues outside banks and protests in the streets.A less visible but perhaps further reaching outcome is that Greece’s education system has become one of the most unequal in the developed world.Read the rest of the story at BBC.com.

World leaders and education activists met at the United Nations today for a high-level event to mark the inclusion of education as a transformative stand-alone goal in the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This week, leaders from around the world will convene in New York at the United Nations to launch the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an ambitious plan to end poverty that includes 17 goals from eliminating hunger to building more sustainable cities to providing a quality education for every child.

By Sean Coughlan, Education CorrespondentInvesting heavily in school computers and classroom technology does not improve pupils’ performance, says a global study from the OECD.Read the rest of the story at BBC News. 

S eptember 8 is International Literacy Day. Literacy in its various forms (financial literacy, civic literacy, etc.) has always been a personal cause of mine. A few years ago, I served on the board of a local literacy organization, Literacy Action in Atlanta, Georgia. This great organization has as its mission “To build better futures for undereducated adults by teaching literacy, life and work skills that empower them to reach their highest potential.”

The UN has said that conflicts in the Middle East are depriving more than 13 million children of an education.The UN children’s fund, Unicef, says in a new report that the hopes of a generation across the Middle East and North Africa are being shattered.Read the rest of the story at BBC News.