-The World Bank Press Release WASHINGTON- The number of people living in extreme poverty around the world has sharply declined over the past three decades, but in 2010 it still included roughly 400 million children, or one -third of those living in such abysmal conditions, according to a new World Bank analysis released today that for the first time gives an in-depth profile of the poorest people in the world. The report...

-The Telegraph The human resource development ministry today rejected a demand by two state Education ministers that the Centre frame a national policy prescribing a uniform salary structure for schoolteachers in states and rules for recruiting them. At a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education, the highest advisory body on Education that has state Education ministers as members, Chhattisgarh's Brijmohana Agrawal and Bihar's P.K. Shahi said the HRD ministry should...

-The Times of India BANGALORE: Karnataka, often called a "progressive state", has the highest dropout rate among Muslim students. On an average, 50,000 students from the community dropout of school each year, a majority of them at the high school level, according to a survey done by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The average dropout rate is 6.2% compared to the national average of less than 5%. "The statistics show a worrisome trend,"...

-The Hindu After a long and painful period of neglect, India promises to devote attention to the issue of preparing all children for primary schooling. The draft National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy aims to end the "current laissez faire situation" that has led to the mushrooming of expensive crèches, play schools, nursery schools and so on that adhere to no particular standard. On the other hand, there is...

-The United Nations A United Nations report released today projects that by the end of the year, 40 per cent of the world's population - 2.7 billion people - will be online, as mobile broadband has become the fastest growing segment of the global information and communication technology (ICT) market. The annual report of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) also estimates that by the end of 2013, there will be some 6.8...