| Official cautions country may miss UN's key literacy goal
Lahore: The number of illiterate people in Pakistan has crossed 54 million and the illiteracy rate is fast increasing, a government official said yesterday. Addressing a seminar on the education system, Punjab Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education secretary Rai Ijaz Ali Zaigham said there were 19 million illiterate people in Pakistan in 1991. "The number has now risen to 54 million." The secretary said the literacy rate in Pakistan in 1961 was 17 per cent and in 2005, this rate rose to 53 per cent. According to him, till 1998, the literacy rate increased every year by 0.65 per cent; while, from 1998 to 2005, it went up by 1.28 per cent every year. "That is insufficient," he added. Based on the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey, a World Bank report said literacy rates of population of 10 years and older have increased to 53 per cent as compared to 45 per cent in 2001-02.
Agency, organization partner with youth clubs to teach angling
The Future Fisherman Foundation is taking dramatic steps to grow angling participation through a unique new partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Boys and Girls Clubs located throughout the United States. The Future Fisherman Foundation is the fishing recruitment and education arm of the American Sportfishing Association, the sportfishing industry's trade association. .
San Marcos schools to get physical about programs
SAN MARCOS -- Teachers in the San Marcos Unified School District will be working to revamp their physical education programs this spring.New physical education standards set by the California Department of Education in January were adopted by trustees at their board meeting this week to demonstrate the district's commitment to improving physical education, officials said. The district's 17 schools will now be encouraged to use the standards, which specifically outline what students should know and be able to do physically at each grade level. .
Florida Autism Center of Excellence Establishes Enrollment Hotline
TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Parents who want information on how to enroll their child in the Florida Autism Center of Excellence (FACE) can call (866) 951-FACE (3223), FACE announced today. The charter for the Florida Autism Center of Excellence was approved by the Hillsborough County School Board on Feb. 13. FACE will serve students in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Manatee and Polk counties. Last December, the program was awarded a $700,000 grant from the Florida Department of Education to help cover developmental and start-up expenses. The program is scheduled to open in August 2007 and will serve students ages three to 22. .
Education turned honoree’s life around
Sasaki began to turn her life around in 1981 when, at age 26, she secured some government student loans and entered Washington State University. In three years, the former school dropout earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in adult education. Then, she set out to help others. First, Sasaki launched HOME (Helping Ourselves Means Education) a grass-roots organization that helped hundreds of poor women in Washington get into school and off welfare. Next, an interest in the plight of poor women and children in Third World countries led Sasaki to start the International Humanity Foundation, which today offers many programs to help needy people in many nations, all built around education. "Once, I thought of myself, not just as being stupid, but as having something innately wrong with me, that I was not a winner and there was nothing I could do about it," Sasaki said.
Ministry denies owing money to fired teacher
The Ministry of Education maintains it owes nothing to Jennifer Elliot, the special education teacher from the United Kingdom who was fired a short time after her arrival, and Acting Director of Education Cecil Thompson believes she is now on a campaign to have The Bahamas blacklisted. "This campaign she's waging is meant to blacklist The Bahamas," he told The Freeport News yesterday, recalling Elliot's promise to him when he met her in 2005. Elliot was contracted for three years and spent all of five months and insists the ministry treated her unfairly and owes her money. She recently contacted The Freeport News to complain about her financial neglect and wrongful termination. But according to ministry records, the special education teacher, who has since returned to the U.K., violated the terms of the contract, was terminated and paid in full as of January 21, 2006.
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