Christina Schools to Continue with Reforms

The Christina School District is continuing to move forward with its plans to restructure two low-performing schools, despite the state's decision to freeze grant money intended to pay for that work, the district superintendent said Wednesday in an email to the staff.

"I want to communicate that we are moving forward with the belief that the issues we are currently facing will be resolved," Superintendent Marcia V. Lyles said in the email. "We are continuing to plan for our two Partnership Zone schools. We know we have strong plans for both Glasgow High School and Stubbs Elementary School that were developed collaboratively over many months. We believe that these plans will significantly transform these two schools and accelerate student achievement."

But some district activities would be postponed until more is known about the funding. A staff information session on Race to the Top and a parent and student "Academy Showcase" meeting -- both scheduled for May 5 -- have been put on hold.

The district's Board of Education and state government are embroiled in a dispute over a local choice to retain 19 educators at Glasgow High School and Stubbs Elementary who were to be transferred -- retaining full pay and benefits -- to new schools. The two schools are part of the state's Partnership Zone, a program that makes intensive changes at failing schools.

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Dubai Cares launches school project in Indonesia

Dubai Cares, the UAE-based philanthropic establishment launched a programme in Jakarta, Indonesia which aims at improving current hygiene education activities in 450 schools in the Indonesian provinces of Nusa Tenggara Timor, Papua, West Papua and South Sulawesi.

In total, 90,000 schoolchildren in Indonesia will benefit from the programme, launched by Dubai Cares in partnership with the Government of Indonesia, UNICEF, Care International and Save the Children.

Dubai Cares was founded in 2007 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Known as WISE - ‘water, sanitation and hygiene in support of school empowerment' - the programme will construct new sanitation, hand washing and water facilities, helping reduce a child's risk of disease and death, and support community-led initiatives to better manage water and sanitation activities in the selected areas.

Dubai Cares contributed approximately Dh20 million (US$5.5 million) to the programme as part of its commitment to UN Millennium Development Goal 2 of attaining universal primary education. By helping safeguard the health of school children through better sanitation and hygiene education and infrastructure development, Dubai Cares is helping eliminate barriers to children's access to quality primary education.

"There are numerous factors which prevent children from going to school - poor water and sanitation is a critical one," said Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares. "In addition, the lack of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools threatens the wellbeing of those who do reach the classroom."

Al Gurg added: "Under the direction of Sheikh Mohammad, Dubai Cares is proactively focusing on the underlying factors that create barriers to learning. We believe this initiative is an example of how we can systematically remove such obstacles and create opportunities for better education and health."

The ‘WISE' programme is seen as a model for future development across Indonesia, strengthening integration of water, sanitation and hygiene education activities in schools and improving sustainability through a focus on low-cost approaches, community leadership and technical capacity development of local school committees.

Physical construction of water and sanitation facilities will be complemented by training of teachers and community representatives on delivering effective hygiene education. School committees will be supported to better manage available budgets to include water, sanitation and hygiene components, while the government's national Healthy Schools Program (UKS) will also be revitalised.More