What's New
Free college for victims' families?
albany - New York Gov. George Pataki last week announced a proposal under which families of victims of the terrorist attacks would get free tuition to New York's public colleges. "These families should not have to worry about how they are going to pay for college, and with this measure, they will never have to," he said. Families of New York victims who died or were seriously injured in the attacks would be eligible. Scholarships for families of victims from other states and countries would be limited to those whose relatives died. The scholarships, worth about $12,000 a year, would cover tuition, fees, room, board, and transportation.
PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan - As Kabul braces for US strikes, new arrivals are joining the desperate masses already living in the Anoba refugee camp, located in a section of Afghanistan controlled by rebels. For the past two years, an estimated 6,000 people who fled the Taliban militia have been living there. The camp gets almost no support from international aid organizations; about 800 families live there in tents, and many more in makeshift shelters. Despite staggering poverty, they have organized a school for 660 children. "Although we don't have enough food, medicine, and clothes, we encourage education because ignorance and lack of knowledge is worse than lack of food," the camp's manager, Mohammad Tareq, says. Classes are segregated by gender. Under the Taliban, schooling for girls over 8 is banned.
singapore - A Singapore high school caned 41 boys for skipping tests last month, reigniting a debate over corporal punishment. An enraged parent, whose son was reluctant to go to school after being caned, told a local newspaper: "I believe the school's counseling program is a complete failure if the principal has to resort to caning." But another parent, whose 16-year-old son overslept and missed five tests, said he backed the policy. "Missing tests is ridiculous," he said. "He should be caned and, if he misbehaves again, he should be caned again." The principal stood by his decision. Last month, each boy received two strokes of a cane, and was sent for counseling later. Seventeen girls were assigned community work for skipping the tests.
