Morocco: teachers strike after violent protests

Teacher unionists in Morocco have staged a two-day nationwide strike after recent demonstrations for better benefits ended in violence.

One of EI’s national affiliates, the Syndicat national de l'enseignement (SNE-FDT), together with the Fédération nationale des fonctionnaires de l'enseignement (UNTM) and the Fédération nationale de l'enseignement (UMT), called on members to protest in the capital Rabat, from 29-29 March, the outcome of an earlier demonstration, in which they claim 165 people were hurt, 65 seriously, including people with broken limbs or gashes from beatings by police. Unions said 50 were taken to hospital. Interior Ministry and police officials declined to comment on the violence.

In a joint statement, unions say that “to show their solidarity with the teachers and condemn the barbarous way the peaceful demonstration of teachers was suppressed, they will stage a 48-hour strike.” They also demand that an investigation be opened into the police’s violent repression against teachers, who were voicing their concern about the national education system’s reform and demanding increased status and salaries depending on diplomas for teachers.

According to SNE-FDT, the strike participation’s rate on 29 March was 95%. Thousands of teachers were expected to take part in a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Education on 30 March.

EI urges Moroccan authorities to respect teachers’ trade union rights and ensure that investigations will be undertaken into the recent clash between police forces and teachers.

source:http://www.ei-ie.org/news/news_details/1760

Mobile phone exam cheat shocks Japanese meritocracy

If found guilty, student who used phone in university entrance exams will be first in Japan to earn criminal record for cheating.

The 19-year-old student is driven away from a police station in Sendai, where he was arrested on suspicion of cheating on an entrance exam at Kyoto University by posting test questions online with his mobile phone. 

For a few brief days he was the most wanted person in Japan.

Police launched a manhunt, while newspaper editorials decried an age of lost innocence. Warnings were issued that the perpetrator might not have acted alone.

The crime: using mobile technology to cheat during entrance examinations to some of Japan's most prestigious seats of learning.

On Thursday night police arrested a 19-year-old preparatory school student after tracing the mobile phone he used to its subscriber, his mother. The student, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, has admitted soliciting help online during entrance exams for four universities.

Using the name "aicezuki", he posted mathematics and English questions on Yahoo! Japan's chiebukuro (pearls of wisdom) bulletin board during exams at Kyoto and three other universities last month, reports said.

Answers appeared within minutes from more than 20 of the estimated 27 million people who use the site in Japan every month. Police found several answers on the site that closely matched those written on the student's exam papers.

Given the speed with which he posted a complex maths problem, investigators believe he photographed the questions using a model of mobile phone that enables users to disable the shutter sound.

Yahoo! Japan, an affiliate of the US internet company, said it would co-operate fully with the police investigation.

Police closed in on the suspect days after tracing the user to Sendai in northern Japan. He was arrested near the city's main railway station after his parents told police he had failed to return home the previous evening.

As well as being disqualified from the exam process, he now faces charges of fraudulent obstruction of business, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison or a maximum fine of 500,000 yen (£3,700).

If found guilty the teenager would be the first person in Japan to earn a criminal record for cheating.

Japanese media quoted him as saying he had acted alone. "I just wanted to pass the exam," he said.

While some said the case highlighted the pressures of the "exam hell" Japanese students must endure to enter higher education, the student, for all his resourcefulness and reported contrition, is unlikely to gain much sympathy.

The education minister, Yoshiaki Takaki, said his behaviour was unforgivable. "This deed has greatly damaged the credibility of university entrance exams, which should be fair and just. It is truly regrettable," he said.

The episode has dominated TV news since the allegations came to light last weekend. Newspaper editorials bristled at the thought that the meritocratic values – whether real or imagined – on which Japan's top universities pride themselves had been compromised.

"This is a heinous act that undermines the fairness that should be the basis of the university entrance exam system," the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

With another round of university entrance exams later this month, education authorities are considering a ban on mobile phones at exam sites, a measure South Korea introduced in 2004 in response to widespread cheating.

source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/japan-mobile-phone-exam-cheat

Five Maoists among 82 prisoners writing Bengal board exams

Kolkata: Eighty two prisoners, including five Maoists, lodged in various correctional homes in West Bengal appeared in the state's secondary board examination that started Wednesday, an official said.

"Altogether, 82 prison inmates have appeared in the West Bengal Board of Secondary Examination - Madhyamik examination. This is a record in the history of correctional home services department of the state. Last year, only eight prison inmates appeared for the secondary examination," said Additional Director General and Inspector General of Police (correctional services) B.D. Sharma.

The written examination of Madhyamik will continue till March 7. Around 10.04 lakh examinees, of whom more than 50 percent are girls, Wednesday appeared in the first language paper.convict

Of the 82 inmates, five were Maoists.

"Maoist leader Santosh Debnath (55), arrested six years ago, is appearing in the exam from Presidency Correctional Home, while Sukhshanti Baskey, the treasurer of the pro-Maoist tribal body - PCAPA (People's Committee Against Police Atrocities), and his three associates Prasanto Mahato, Dhritiranjan Mahato and Bikash Mahato lodged in Midnapore Central Correctional Home are also appearing for the exam," Sharma told the sources over phone.

"Of the 82 inmates, 11 are women. Most of the inmates are aged life convicts. The convicts and the undertrials wanted to study and they were provided with books by the correctional home authorities," he added

source:http://indiaedunews.net/West_Bengal/Five_Maoists_among_82_prisoners_writing_Bengal_board_exams_13580/

IGNOU to train cops in human rights

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) School of Law (SOL), in collaboration with the National Human RightsCommission (NHRC), has launched an online training programme to sensitize police personnel onhuman rights.

The five-day programme was inaugurated for the police academy personnel of Delhi, Haryana andUttar Pradesh by NHRC Chairperson Justice K.G. Balakrishnan at the IGNOU Convention Centre on February 1.

"This activity is an outcome of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between IGNOU and NHRC a few months ago. The main aim of this programme is to sensitize and spread awareness about human rights. With such a programme,IGNOU aims to bring down the rate of conflicts and crime in the society by creating awareness among police personnel," said IGNOU Vice Chancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai.

While delivering the inaugural address, Justice Balakrishnan said, "It is our basic duty to sensitize people and protect their human rights, and the police play a very important role in the society in maintaining the law and order. NHRC appreciatesIGNOU's efforts in this field. We have launched a basic programme for lower level police personnel in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi andHaryana. The programme is currently available in Hindi and shall be translated into regional languages soon."

Keeping in view the tight schedule of the police personnel, the five-day tailor-made programme aims to equip them with the knowledge of human rights and it can be applied while dealing with the public, said SOL Director Prof K. Elumalai.

The first basic programme was attended by the police personnel in three police academies in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. They had an online interaction with the chairperson and other members of the commission on human rights related issues.

Giving details about the programme, Prof Elumalai said, "On the first three days, participants will be taught six units through interactive lectures using multimedia tools. On the fourth and fifth day, interactive counseling sessions will be held, wherein all the participants and the programme coordinators will interact through web-conferencing."

"Almost 60 to 80 percent of the police personnel are constables and sub-constables and nearly 80 percent of them are just 10th pass. There is a need to make them aware about all the penal laws in the country, along with the legal knowledge," he added.

NHRC member P.C. Sharma said, "The huge number of complaints against police personnel received in the commission compels us to think about the needful steps to be taken to train them, to make them realize their responsibility towards prevention and detection of crime."

Others present at the event included Sunil Krishna, DG, NHRC; Satyabrat Pal, Member, NHRC; K.S. Money, Secretary General, NHRC; and Prof Uma Kanjilal, Director, School of Social Sciences, IGNOU.

SOURCE:http://indiaedunews.net/Delhi/IGNOU_to_train_cops_in_human_rights_13464/