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At least 242 million children in 85 countries had their schooling interrupted last year because of heatwaves, cyclones, flooding and other extreme weather, the United Nations Children's Fund said in a new report Friday. UNICEF said it amounted to one in seven school-going children across the world being kept out of class at some point in 2024 because of climate hazards. The report also outlined how some countries saw hundreds of their schools destroyed by weather, with low-income nations in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa hit especially hard. But other regions weren't spared the extreme weather, as torrential rains and floods in Italy near the end of the year disrupted school for more than 900,000 children. Thousands had their classes halted after catastrophic flooding in Spain. While southern Europe dealt with deadly floods and Asia and Africa had flooding and cyclones, heatwaves were the predominant climate hazard shuttering schools last year, UNICEF said, as the earth recorded its .
Panic and fear gripped parents across Delhi on Monday morning after 40 schools reportedly received bomb threats via email, prompting immediate evacuations and emergency responses. As the alarming news spread, parents rushed to the schools, their faces etched with anxiety, to ensure the safety of their children. Vipin Bhatra, a parent, shared his distress, and said "I rushed to the school as soon as I received the message about the bomb threat. If situations like this persist, how can we send our children to school with peace of mind?" Another parent, Anuradha echoed similar fears saying that she took her child home but she is still tense. Education is important but incidents like these are terrifying to all parents. Schools should be safe, not a place of constant threats, she said. Scenes of chaos were witnessed at several schools as parents anxious parents led their children away from the school premises. Meanwhile, teachers and staff managed the crisis by gathering students to
Britannica Education, a global publisher of encyclopedias, on Friday launched 12-odd digital learning solutions in India targeting teachers, students and schools, officials said. Among the solutions unveiled were Britannica School, Britannica Library, Britannica Professional Learning, and Britannica Connect-Global Community for Collaborative Learning (GCCL). According to officials, each product is subscription-based, ensuring scalability, accessibility, and affordability. "Our mission is to inspire curiosity and the joy of learning, providing trusted, verified content that supports both teachers and students. By empowering educators and nurturing skill-based growth, we aim to ensure that every learner -- regardless of background -- can achieve their dreams," said Sal De Spirito, Global Executive Vice President, Britannica Education. Founded in 1768, Encyclopaedia Britannica is among the credible sources of knowledge worldwide. Having transitioned from print to digital, Britannica .
Eight persons were killed and 17 injured in a knife attack at a vocational school in east China's Jiangsu Province on Saturday, local police officials said. The attack took place at around 6:30 pm at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing City. The 21-year-old suspect, surnamed Xu, was caught at the scene and he confessed to his crime, according to a statement released by the public security bureau of Yixing, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. According to the police, Xu, a graduate of the school this year, returned to the school to vent his anger for not receiving his graduation certificate due to failing exams and for dissatisfaction with his internship pay. Rescue efforts are underway and police are further investigating the case, the report said. This is the second attack on civilians this week. On November 12, thirty-five people were killed and 43 injured when a man ploughed his car into a crowd of people at a sports centre in Zhuhai city. Po
At least 40 children were injured after a portion of the first-floor balcony of their school here collapsed on Friday, police said. The children are being treated at the district hospital. The condition of five students is stated to be critical, Barabanki Superintendent of Police (SP) Dinesh Kumar Singh said. Singh said the incident took place at the Awadh Academy School, a private institution, when a large number of children gathered on the first-floor balcony while going down to attend the morning assembly. The 40 injured children were rushed to the Jahangirabad Primary Health Centre, around 300 metres from the school, and after they were given first aid, they were referred to the district hospital, police said. Many of the students were pulled out from under the debris of the collapsed balcony, they said. At the hospital, the children are being treated for injuries to their face, neck, hands and legs.
There has been a rapid rise in the number of students cycling to school in rural areas and the "silent revolution" is being led by girls, especially in Bihar and West Bengal, new research has found. The scholars at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and the Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies also found strong evidence that bicycle distribution schemes (BDS) have helped increase cycling in states where these were implemented and the biggest beneficiaries were rural girls. According to Srishti Agrawal, a PhD scholar at IIT-Delhi's Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre, gender norms, affordability of bicycles, distance to school, and safety on roads are likely the major determinants of cycling to school in India. "Nationally, cycling to school levels increased from 6.6 per cent to 11.2 per cent over the decade (2007 to 2017). These levels nearly doubled in rural India (6.3 per cent to 12.3 per cent) while remaining stable (7.8 per cent to 8.3 per cent) i
In a case of food poisoning, around 80 students from the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Ashram Method Inter College in Mehroona village of this district fell ill with symptoms of stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea, officials said on Monday. The incident took place after the children had a dinner Sunday night, they said. District Magistrate Divya Mittal told reporters that the students are in stable condition while an investigation into the incident is underway. According to an official statement released Monday evening, some students at the government-run school were reported to have fallen ill due to food poisoning. Two students, Akash and Nitesh, are receiving treatment at Maharishi Devraha Baba Medical College. The remaining students received primary treatment from a team of doctors led by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at the school itself. All students are safe, and a medical team remains at the school as a precaution, the statement said. District Magistrate Mittal and ...
The Ministry of Education on Tuesday reviewed the NCERT guidelines for implementation of bagless days in schools and said they will be further fine-tuned, according to officials. PSS Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), a unit of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), had developed comprehensive guidelines for implementing bagless days and make learning in schools more joyful, experiential and stress-free for students. "Various suggestions were discussed during the meeting, including sensitising students about the local ecology, teaching them to test water purity, recognising local flora and fauna, and visiting local monuments. Based on this review, PSSCIVE will further fine-tune and finalise its guidelines," a senior MoE official said. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 had recommended that all students in grades 6-8 participate in a 10-day bagless period. During this time, students will intern with local skill experts and engage
The Bihar government will launch a programme in December for nearly 25 lakh children lagging woefully behind their peers in schools with some of them incapable of reading simple Hindi words despite having reached upper primary classes, officials said on Thursday. As part of the programme, 'Mission Daksh', the state Education Department has directed teachers to intensively mentor such students, in batches of not more than five, with the "warning" that any laxity will cause them to face action. Additional Chief Secretary of Education KK Pathak wrote to all the district magistrates (DMs) on November 21, requesting them to supervise the progress of the programme in their areas on a daily basis from December 1. District-wise monitoring committees, headed by DMs, would be formed for the effective execution of 'Mission Daksh', it said. During the regular inspection and monitoring by the DMs that started in July, it was found that there is a considerable number of academically weak student