Today’s post is written by Rudolf Van der Berg of the OECD’s Science, Technology and Industry Directorate.
In 2012 the only submarine fibre optic cable that then connected Benin with global telecommunication networks and the Internet was cut for two weeks. International payments were not possible and the equivalent of 150,000 weekly salaries were not available in a country of 10 million people. The influence was particularly severe because most servers are located outside the country due to a lack of data centres and local-hosting facilities. Though similar cable cuts happen on average twice a week, their effects are generally less. This is due to the fact that most countries are connected to multiple submarine fibre-cables, connect overland to neighbouring countries, and have domestic data centres. More...
International Women's Day 2014 - March 8
By Terri Macdonald. The NTEU joins other unions and progressive organisations around the world in celebrating International Women's Day (IWD) this year, whilst warning we face a new battle to improve Gender Equity in the Workplace.
Since 1911, this day has been a global event, celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past, present and future, and mobilising to address the challenges. Around the globe, unions organise rallies, marches, fairs and debates, and reflect on the progress made to advance women’s equality, assess the challenges facing girls and women, look at ways to improve the quality of life and to actualize rights, and to empower girls and women in all spheres of human endeavour. More...
IMF agrees: more investment needed in education
By Courtney Sloane. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief, Christine Lagarde, used last night’s QandA program to underscore the importance of investing in education.
Christine Lagarde: “Clearly, investing in health, investing in education, making sure there are equal opportunities for all is something where public money is needed. And it is not a question of - what did you call it? Vested rights? No, entitlements…”
Tony Jones: “The age of entitlements is over is Joe Hockey's phrase.”
Christine Lagarde: “I'd respond by [saying] investing in health and education is a priority.” More...
Beyond the first mile: where your Internet comes from
Rules of the road
By Brian Keeley. Visitors to Paris may have noticed that it can be hard to find a taxi. Lately, there have been days when it was impossible. The explanation? A strike.
Before you roll your eyes, it’s worth taking a moment to hear what’s riling the taxi-drivers. Yes, in many ways this feels like the sort of dispute we’re used to around here – shouting, blocked streets, frustrated travellers. But it also reflects issues that are playing out in many other parts of the world and that can be summed up in a word: regulation.
The roots of the dispute date back to 2009, when France licensed a new sort of taxi, a “passenger vehicle with chauffeur,” or VTC. These VTCs operate under rules similar to those covering “mini-cabs” in the United Kingdom: You can call one to pick you up at home, but – unlike a regular taxi – you can’t hail one in the street. More...
What do your parents do for a living? (and should it matter?)
By Marilyn Achiron Editor, Directorate for Education and Skills. Does where you come from really tell you anything about where you’re going? When it comes to parents’ occupations and students’ performance, the answer is a qualified ‘yes’ – but it also depends on where, geographically, you go to school.
Intrigued? PISA is unveiling a web-based, interactive tool (occupations@pisa2012) that allows anyone to explore and compare the relationship between student performance in reading, mathematics and science and parents’ occupations in PISA-participating countries and economies. Read more...
Hiroshima – from symbol of human destruction to leader in educational reform
By Andreas Schleicher, Deputy Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD's Secretary General. I spent two days in Hiroshima, discussing education reform and global policy trends with prefectural leaders and the academic community. This city, target of a simply unimaginable attack on human mankind 59 years ago, is now the birthplace of some of the World’s most innovative education policies and practices. More...
Inclusive educational innovations in India
By Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin and Alfonso Echazarra, CERI Innovation Strategy, Directorate for Education and Skills. India has been hailed for being a laboratory of frugal and inclusive innovations. The Tata Nano, the cheapest car in the world, the Aravind Eye Care Hospitals, which fight “avoidable blindness” by giving cheap or free state-of-the-art eye surgery to poor Indians, or the Bharti Airtel, which offers low-rate phone calls, thanks to an innovative business model, are often-cited examples of innovations that make valuable products and services affordable to deprived populations. Just glance at the Honey Bee Network database and you will find a plethora of interesting initiatives targeted to the Indian poor: from the Mitticool, a natural refrigerator made entirely from clay that requires no energy, to the Washing and Exercise Machine, a mechanical, semi-automated, pedal operated washing machine for clothes, the jugaad spirit is ubiquitous. More...
Education for well-being: Online discussion
We know that education is a key component of individual well-being. Developing skills is valuable for people as it responds to their aspiration to learn and to their need to respond to the changing environment. With most people aged 25-64 in OECD countries now holding at least an upper secondary degree and today’s 5-year-olds expected to notch up at least 17 years of study, it is perhaps a good time to ask: What makes an education that promotes well-being?
Join an online discussion on:
Education that promotes well-being
Experiences in Latin America: kindergarten, primary, secondary/technical and university
Finishes at 22:00, 25 February 2014
The discussion will focus on the following questions:
- In Latin America, what does it mean to have an education that promotes well-being and improves quality of life? Do we need to go beyond the concept of human capital?
- What are the characteristics of an education model that promotes well-being?
- What community programmes, social experiments and public policies are currently being conducted in Latin America that help foster education models which promote well-being?
- What extra efforts are needed in order to construct education models that promote well-being? Who should be responsible for designing and implementing them?
Leave your comments in Spanish, Portuguese, English or French under the section entitled “Contribuye” on the discussion webpage. To participate, click here.
This is the link to the page: bit.ly/1fohFHx and the hashtags in Twitter are #teachlearn and #EducaciónDeCalidad.
11 ways to rethink open data and make it relevant to the public
This blog is by ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow Miguel Paz a Chilean journalist and founder and CEO of Poderopedia, a data journalism website that highlights links among Chile’s business and political elites. This post is part of the Wikiprogress series on Data and Statistics in the lead up to Open Data Day on 22 February.1. Improve access to data
Open Data Day - get involved!
This post is part of the Wikiprogress series on Data and Statistics in the lead up to Open Data Day on 22 February."
