School

The Chief Minister of the Borneo state, Abang Johari, has praised the work of Unifor, the department for non-Islamic communities, which since 2017 has allocated 685 million ringgit to places of worship and support for schools founded by missionaries. This is a unique model for a region of Malaysia where Christians make up over 40 per cent of the population.

According to UNICEF, schooling for over 100,000 children is at risk for the coming year. The displacement of people in the south has become permanent. Even Christian schools are on the brink of collapse due to a lack of funds. A “solidarity fund” has been set up to stem the bleeding, but donors are growing weary.

The national pass rate has fallen to 58.83%, the lowest in 21 years. Over half a million students failed, while 77,000 fewer than last year achieved the highest marks (GPA-5). Scholars and educators are questioning the reasons for the crisis. Catholic schools are spared, although they too have recorded a (minimal) decline in results.

Five kilometres from the border with Israel, the institute founded under the Ottoman Empire in 1881 for Christian girls is fighting for survival. Fr Youssef Nasr: Catholic schools welcome around 190,000 students, 20% of the total and 30% of private schools. Non-Christians account for 30%, although in some areas the figure exceeds 60%. The economic challenge for survival and post-war ethnic tensions.

New guidelines from the state education department are designed to curb marginalisation and discrimination based on ethnicity and caste. Strict confidentiality regarding caste affiliation is required, especially for scholarship recipients. For Fr Devasagaya Raj, Catholic schools should do more to promote the Gospel values of equality.

In the Holy Year of Hope, such a deed is designed to provide relief and comfort to the many families experiencing financial hardship. This crisis has been ongoing for some time, partly due to Israeli government cuts, and exacerbated by the recent years of war. For Cardinal Pizzaballa, “This was not an easy decision” because it means loss of revenues, but it is a sign of “grace” in “a context of violence”.

Public schools at all levels, from kindergartens to universities, are growing in the countries of the region. And in several cases it is the state itself that is stimulating investors with the aim of modernising the education and training system.

According to CCTV, they will be introduced next week, with the start of the year. first to seventh grade, then extended to all nine grades of compulsory education. Extensive coverage of the war with India and Vietnam. Specific sections also for ancient Chinese literature and the years of the communist revolution.

The government in Dushanbe has launched a programme against the phenomenon, which, according to some surveys, has reached 60% of children. But the explosion is also linked to the problem of school organisation, with serious shortages among headmasters and in the teaching staff due to inadequate salaries.