Blindness in Children

China View reports that the NGO Sight Saver cites child blindness as a major impediment to development. In Uganda, they report that 0.1% of children are blind, figuring to almost 25,000 children total. To this, Sight Saver provides resources to schools in meeting the needs of these children.

The wording is ambiguous, but they report that "over 1.4 million children are blind yearly" (do they mean "blinded" or that the number of blind children is fairly consistent?), and that 3/4 of blind children live in the poorest regions of Africa and Asia.

Inclusion is Good, But Not Happening

The UK's Guardian reports that generally inclusion is supported in schools, but it's just not happening. The actual PDF file of the Ofsted report is here.

Education and Budgetary Conditions in Mexico

Reuters has a good story on the demands of keeping a conservative fiscal policy and the effects on the educational system in Mexico.

"When her son Miguel turned 5, Juana Gutierrez faced a stark choice: Send him to public school or move into a smaller apartment to be able to afford a private English-language academy. ...

Given the sad state of Mexico's chronically underfunded public schools, her decision was as easy as A-B-C.

'I would have sold everything I owned to get him in here,' Juana said as Miguel held her hand on his way to school on a recent morning. 'If you want your child to have a future, public schools aren't the answer.'"

President Fox is juggling IMF and global market pressures to "prove" and improve Mexico's credit ratings and the need to fund goals such as education, which also may lure foreign investment, as it did in parts of Asia. Fox is also considering an income tax increase--currently taxes account for 12% of GDP, compared with 20% and 36% for Argentina and Brazil, respectively.

International Students in the US

The Washington Times has a brief Q&A with Cathryn Cotten, director of the International Office at Duke University, about US visa restrictions on international students.

I don't know the context regarding how the US is or is not discouraging international students, but Cotten stresses the need to keep international exchange of students open.