-IPS News ROME: Thirty-eight countries were recognised for the first time on Sunday by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation for cutting in half the prevalence of people suffering from undernourishment, one of three targets under the first Millennium Development Goal. Of those countries, 18 also achieved the tougher World Food Summit Goal of halving the absolute numbers of hungry people: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Djibouti, Georgia, Ghana, Guyana, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Peru,...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: After an embarrassing show in 2009, India has backed out of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) slated for 2015. The programme is a global evaluation process by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) secretariat that gauges where schoolchildren stand alongside their peers from other countries. This academic Olympics measures the performance of 15 year olds in reading, math and science. Indians were put...

-Live Mint CBSE ties up with Pearson Education India, the local arm of British education company Pearson Plc, to conduct assessments New Delhi: Schools that follow the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) system are moving to better assess students' ability to grasp what they are taught in class and their readiness to move to the next level, at least partly out of concern over reports questioning the quality of India's...

-The Hindu     Focus attention on pregnancy and first two years of child's life Stunting can be contained by focussing attention on pregnancy and the first two years of a child's life, a new UNICEF report has said. Stunting is not only about a child being too short for his or her age. It can also mean suffering from stunted development of the brain and cognitive capacity. The report offers evidence that real progress is...

-PTI Six Indian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working for the uplift of women, Dalits and poor have been approved for consultative status with the United Nations. The approval came by the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, which is a part of the UN's Economic and Social Council, during the annual ongoing session of the world body panel this week. NGOs enjoying general and special status can attend meetings of the Council and issue statements. Prominent among...