21 Things You (Maybe) Didn’t Know About Justin Bieber

They grow up so fast

Justin Bieber turns 21 years old today, but it seems like he’s been around forever. But how well do you really know the Biebs? (If you’re a responsible grownup, we’re betting, not as well as you think you do.) Read these 21 facts about the Canadian pop sensation, and you’ll be a Belieber in no time.
1. He’s the first solo artist to have four Top 40 singles before even releasing an album.
2. He is the youngest artist to have five number-one albums in the U.S.
3. He delayed the start of his Jan. 7, 2013 concert in Salt Lake City, Utah, because he was visiting a 7-year-old girl with leukemia in the hospital.

4. He likes the movie The Notebook.
5. In its review of Bieber’s 3D concert film and documentary, Never Say Never (2011), New York Magazine described him as “a bland, pious, profoundly unthreatening little Furby of a pop idol.” The film grossed nearly $100 million worldwide.
(MORE: How the Internet Made Justin Bieber a Star)
6. Smallville and Friends are his favorite TV shows.
7. He loves Disneyland, and has visited it on a romantic Valentine’s Day date with former main squeeze (and Disney star) Selena Gomez and to perform at the 2011 Disney Christmas Parade.
8. Jeremy Bieber, his father, is a former MMA fighter.
9. T.G.I. Friday’s is Justin’s favorite restaurant. Sorry, Tim Hortons.
10. He likes the cereals Cap’n Crunch Berries and Frosted Mini-Wheats.
11. His haircuts have cost up to $750, one gossip publication claims. That’s one thing he and John Edwards have in common.
12. While R&B singer Usher famously helped launch Bieber’s career, he did initially turn him down, which meant the youngster was free to consider a partnership with another singer — Justin Timberlake — until Usher watched his videos and had a change of heart.

13. He and Kanye West are bros. Kanye teamed up with Wu Tang’s Raekwon for a surprisingly palatable version of Justin’s hit “Runaway Love.”
14. With more than 35.1 million followers, Justin became the most-followed person on Twitter on Jan. 21, 2013 — beating Lady Gaga. Now he boasts more than 60 million, but Katy Perry now holds that title with over 65 million. He still has more Twitter followers than the population of his native Canada. We can see why:
15. If he could do any other job, he would be an architect.
16. His favorite word is #swag. Or at least we think so because he uses it constantly.
17. His favorite website is FreeTypingGame.net
18. He has a fair number of tattoos for a 21-year-old, including: an owl and the word “Believe” on his left arm, a crown and Roman numerals on his chest, a bird on his hip and Jesus tattoos on ribcage and his left calf.
19. Before he hosted Saturday Night Live in 2013 (and apologized for smoking pot), his first appearance on the show involved performing in a “Church Lady” sketch with comedian Dana Carvey. Carvey debuted the character on SNL in 1986 — eight years before Bieber was even born.
20. In his backstage dressing room, he has been said to request three packages of white lo-rise tube socks—one in size XS and two in size L—as well as one XS mens white crew neck T-shirt and one in size L, according to The Smoking Gun.
21. His favorite sandwich is tomato and mayo on Wonder Bread.

Justin Bieber Busts His Eardrum Before His 2015 MTV EMAs Performance

Justin Bieber performed beautifully at the 2015 MTV European Music Awards despite nursing a pretty serious injury! The singer performed "What Do You Mean?" even though he suffered from a popped eardrum. Ouch.
"You know I popped my eardrum? I was wake boarding and I smashed my ear against the water so now I gotta like plug my ear against the screaming," he said.
And yet, he still managed to give an amazing performance. The pop star had a similar injury last year, when he hurt his ear while cliff-diving — and said it was so bad that he might need surgery! Thankfully, he seems to have everything under control this time.

Chris Brown's Daughter Royalty Shows Off Her Moves With Daddy At A Photo Shoot! WATCH HERE!

She got it from her momma daddy!

On Tuesday, Chris Brown did a photo shoot with Lana Del Rey's boyfriend Francesco Carrozzini, however, the real star was his daughter Royalty!
Related: Chris Brown & Nia Guzman Settle Their Custody War!
After the Ayo singer was done taking snaps, the one-year-old totally stole the show by getting her groove on!

In the video

, the cute tot is seen bouncing around to music! The 26-year-old was so impressed, he joined in on the fun as well!

In case you didn't know, the Virginia-native is naming his new album Royalty! It drops November 27!

Justin Bieber was Hospitalized With Ebola

Singer Justin Bieber was hospitalized with the ebola virus.
According to local reports, the teen heartthrob contracted the disease while visiting a fan with cancer at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the same facility where two American ebola patients are being treated.
“Basically it’s all his own fault,” says John Anderson, the hospital administrator who chaperoned Bieber’s visit. “On our way to oncology, we walked past the isolation ward. He asked me ‘What’s behind this door?’ and I told him ‘That’s the isolation ward. We can’t go in there.’
“And then he was like ‘What do you mean I can’t go in there? Do you know who I am? I can go wherever I want.’
“He demanded that I open the door, but I refused. So instead he waited until a nurse came through and snuck past her into the ward. Only then did he realize that the room housed our two ebola patients from Africa.
“The room locks automatically, so he was stuck in there for about an hour. After we got him out he tested positive for ebola. It’s probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen anybody do.”
Experts call the infection an isolated incident, and there is no danger to the public.
The ebola virus arrived in the U.S. this month after two American healthcare workers who contracted the illness in Africa returned home for care.
The deadly disease causes a vicious hemorrhagic fever and carries a 50% - 90% mortality rate.
“We seriously considered not treating him,”says Dr. Lance Gibbons, head of infectious disease research at the hospital. “On the one hand we had a moral obligation to provide care. On the other hand, his music is arguably a public health hazard.
“Ultimately we decided to give him treatment. But it was a tough call.”
Bieber has maintained a home near Atlanta since early this year and is known for his charity work.

Scientist Invent A new water Sachet that You Can Chew and swallow..After Drinking Your Water from it

 

 It's no secret that plastic water bottles are a detriment to the environment -- Americans alone use approximately 50 billion plastic water bottles each year, only 23% of which are recycled. Thus, an additional 38 billion plastic bottles begin a centuries-long decomposition journey annually.
What if we could replace those plastic bottles with something more environmentally friendly -- edible, even?
Enter Ooho!, a completely biodegradable water "bottle" that eschews plastic packaging altogether for a biodegradable seaweed- and calcium chloride-based membrane that is safe for human consumption. Vaguely reminiscent of a silicone implant, Ooho! is essentially an edible water balloon. When you're ready to hydrate, you simply pierce the membrane and slurp away:
         To create the bottles, spheres of ice are treated with a liquid form of the seaweed-derived membrane. When the membrane solidifies and the water melts, a portable, eco-friendly serving of packaged water remains. Each orb costs only 2 cents to construct.
"The most clear inspiration is the way nature encapsulate liquids using membranes. Made of lipids and proteins, the membrane enclose, limit and give a shape, keeping the balance between the interior and the exterior," the product's designers write.
Ooho! is the brainchild of London-based Skipping Rocks Lab, which just received a sizable sustainability grant from the European Union to hopefully introduce its novel concept on a large scale. The product also won the Lexus Design Award last year.

Pandemonium As Teacher Flogs Student To Death In Ibadan

 

 

Riot erupted at IMG Secondary School, Oke Ado, Ibadan, on Wednesday, as students went on rampage following the death of one of their colleagues allegedly flogged to death by a teacher.
The student reportedly slumped and gave up the ghost as a result of the severe punishment from a teacher for arriving late to school.
An eyewitness who remained anonymous while narrating the incident said that trouble started when the student arrived school after classes had commenced for the day, he reportedly told the teacher he came late due to illness.
At that point the principal, who was passing by asked the teacher to flog the student for coming late and in the process, the student slumped and died.
While confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Oyo State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu said the Police is investigating the matter.
Destroyed by the protesting students were furniture-chairs and tables, cabinets, students files and registers,windows and doors of the staff room.

Two Total Strangers Find Their ‘Identical Twin’ While Studying In Germany

Two total strangers have discovered they are lookalikes while studying abroad in Germany.

Doppelgängers Ciara Murphy, from Wexford in Ireland, and Cordelia Roberts, from Britain, met on a study programme in Bremem and the resemblance is uncanny.

The pair are not related yet look almost exactly alike, causing them to be dubbed “the twins” among their fellow students

The girls’ story has been recorded by Twin Strangers, a website which puts people together who aren’t related but look identical.

Each suspected they had a lookalike shortly after arriving in Bremen.

“When I was going on nights out, people were starting to ask me did I come here with a sister, or a twin,” Ciara told Twin Strangers.

“I didn’t know what they were talking about in the beginning.”

However, the two students finally crossed each other paths and took a selfie for the occasion. The photo was shared widely across Facebook and Twin Strangers got in touch.

The pair have become close friends and are known on campus as “the twins”.

Ciara’s friend Jessica said: “They’re always together now, they’re like a package deal. They have this bond now, just because they look the same.”

Big Brother Africa 2015 cancelled

This is not good news for African viewers as the biggest reality TV show in Africa, Big Brother Africa (BBA) may not take place this year as expected.
This is due to lack of sponsorship. The organizers of the show, Africa Magic and Endemol were unable to get sponsorship for this year’s edition of the show.
The Manager of Multichoice Ghana, Anne Sackey confirmed to peganews that they at Multichoice Ghana have received notice from MNET that this year’s edition of Big Brother Africa will not hold.
She explained that MNET did not give them any reasons as to why they will not be doing the Big Brother this year, but then, she personally thinks it’s due to sponsorship constraints.

Why South Africa's born-free generation is not happy

 

                            A new black consciousness movement is emerging in South Africa 21 years after its first democratic elections - most recently seen in nationwide student protests. The BBC's Alastair Leithead considers if this marks the end of the idea of the "rainbow nation".

The trendy bars and clubs of Braamfontein in downtown Johannesburg are not the melting pots of race and culture you might have expected.
Most places are all white or all black.
The coming together of the nation Nelson Mandela worked so hard for appears to have stalled.
The "rainbow nation" he spoke so much about is being seen as a failed project by many young, particularly black, South Africans.
The voices are loud and while not all are predicting doom, they are demanding change.
More change than South Africa has given them in its first 21 years of democracy.

Born free, pay later

Why now?
Perhaps it is because the first generation of those black South Africans who were "born free" - after the end of apartheid in 1994 - are coming of age.
They know the story of the struggle but they do not see what history has given them.
They mock the idea of a rainbow nation, scoff at any suggestion they need white friends, and rightly ask why is there more wealth in the hands of the whites now than there was back then.
Mr Mandela is dead, a new black consciousness is alive and well. And it is angry. 

           The loudest voices are of the students, who earlier this year began pulling down statues commemorating colonialism. "Rhodes Must Fall," they said, and the University of Cape Town duly removed the statue of the British imperialist and mining magnate.

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The born-free generation:

• #FeesMustFall: Student struggles

• Meet the born frees

• Does race matter in the 'rainbow nation'?

• Mixed-race marriage in South Africa

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They are now demanding more black professors - still very much in a minority - and have been demonstrating about the proposed rise in tuition fees, storming parliament and converging in a mass demonstration outside the president's office.
And they want more than "I'm sorry" from the young generation of whites who so obviously, if unintentionally, have benefitted from apartheid.
But their voices are only being heard, their anger only being shared, because of what was achieved by Mr Mandela and his generation before they were born.

'Chocolate sprinklings'

They are the first generation of a new, educated, young, black middle-class, but they are still angry and that anger cannot be ignored.
"South Africa is a cappuccino society," Panashe Chigumadzi said as we sat in a cafe in what was once a whites-only neighbourhood of Johannesburg.

 

"A vast, huge, black majority at the bottom with a layer of white cream and a few chocolate sprinklings at the top of it," she says, referring to the small black elite who have gained great riches from the post-apartheid years - from a failed attempt to rebalance the wealth among the many.
"The 'add blacks and stir' model of society here hasn't worked," she tells me.
"There's a generational shift and a lot of young blacks are saying this is not enough."
There is maybe some unease or guilt in there - she is not one of the millions still living in the slums of sprawling townships, without clean water, with poor sanitation, and without a job, in what is among the most unequal societies in the world. 

Naive?

Those people are angry too - they are doing what they can to demand change and as ever, loud, vocal street protest is one way to pressure a government increasingly seen as corrupt and out of touch with the needs of the people it once promised to help.
Fingers are being pointed at the party of liberation, the African National Congress (ANC), and the president whose extravagant home improvements were paid for by the state.
Radical leftists are drumming up support, reviving socialist ideas based on Venezuela or Cuba, looking to Russia and China, and basing their land reform proposals on Zimbabwe, ignoring its disastrous economy.
The government has also stalled - not quite sure which route to take as the economy stutters and the voices for more grow louder. 

And, with their vast and conspicuous wealth, the finger is also firmly being pointed at white South Africans.
If it really is the end of the rainbow nation, that is indeed a concern - the end of that wonderful idea of forgiveness, the working towards peace and reconciliation; of all races and ethnicities coming together for the good of the country.

 

Perhaps it is the older generation, not the young, who are naive about that ideal.
Their biggest legacy is perhaps the constitution - the checks and the balances so smartly woven into the fabric of South Africa's democracy.
That freedom of speech - the independent bodies charged with holding government to account, and the brave people standing up for those ideals.
A white liberal journalist and commentator from the days of the struggle against apartheid, Max Du Preez, is not perhaps the person you'd go to for optimism, but he still believes in South Africa's future.
"We're facing a second transition in our society," he says.
"We had one in 1994 and now the game's up - we're having another one. But it's got to be peaceful. And it cannot destroy the economy."

How to enhance your memory

by amos.chalie



GATE is one of the most prestigious exam in the country and thus a huge number of aspirants appear every year for the exam. So, the competition to crack GATE with a good AIR is pretty tough. Also, the number of seats in PSUs and top post-graduate colleges is limited so it is quite necessary to attain a decent AIR. As you very well know that most of the subjects at the undergraduate level form a part of GATE curriculum so it becomes quite difficult to retain such a huge database of concepts. It is no surprise that students with a better memory power tend to perform better at it and thus, stand a better chance to get selected. In this article, I discuss certain methods that you can follow to improve your memory.


1) Avoiding stress:

The stress or anxiety is a major enemy of the brain. This reduces the concentration level of the student and it causes the student to lose focus. If you are stressed during the preparation then your mind is mostly diverted and you will not be able to gain anything from whatever you study. This is not very helpful for the students who are trying to remember different concepts and formulae for the exams.
So, whenever you are studying don't be bogged down by the lack of time or vastness of the course but rather study with a cool head so that your efficiency will increase by leaps and bounds.


2) Visualization:

Understanding the concepts behind the method used for solving has a much greater retention in the mind rather than just mugging up the whole method. Creating a physical picture in the mind helps in remembering how to approach the questions.
Suppose you forget some formula in the examination then you may not be able to solve the question. But if you remember the logical derivation of the formula then you can derive it and also it boosts up your confidence as your concepts are deep rooted and not just limited to formulas.


3) Repetition:

For building up a memory for a long term, this method seems to be the most efficient. Even after understanding the concept properly, people tend to forget it after some time as memory is a limited resource. The thing we never forget a concept completely but it goes deep into the memory and is not on top of the mind. So, if you face a question it may take a long time to recall the concept and solve the problem. The recent memories tend to remain clearer than a concept learnt a year ago. Therefore, it is needed that we keep revising the old concepts too after a specific interval of time which may vary according to individual capacity.
For this specific aspect we have introduced "K-Notes" which are targeted for quick revision of the concepts in each subject required for GATE. These are a part of Krash 2016 Program


4) Breaking into parts:

It can be easier to remember a problem as a combination of different smaller problems which require relatively simple concepts to solve rather than looking at it as a huge complicated question. Not only does it help in crossing a psychological barrier that is formed, but it also helps in better absorption and thus helps in creating a long-lasting memory.
This technique is especially helpful for core subjects where the problem is lengthier. So, while reading a problem you need to break the problem into smaller parts and try to form an algorithm as to how to approach the problem. This will save your time and increase your confidence as well as accuracy.


5) The method of loci:


This ancient method is also known as the memory palace. It is essentially an art of attaching the new information to the previous facts which we won’t forget easily and building up the new concepts upon them. For example, when reading out a list, we can associate the places they have been allotted to the articles in the list for forming up a chronological sequence in which they should logically occur.

THE IDEAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

BY  IYARE RUKEVWE FAVOUR Education in simple terms is the process of imparting general knowledge or ideas into a person formally engaged in learning. The misconception of education contributes to harming students and teachers when policy makers keep setting units of standards for students to reach up to on tests. Instructional bookkeeping drives administrators to compel teachers behavior, which is directly linked to increasing symptoms of anxiety, depression and other forms of diminished psychological well being in some students. For most students, learning in bits is what their brains can cope with while some seem to be more mastery to books. Making them to pass through a series of tough work and book keeping scheme becomes a failure even before the harm it causes is taken into consideration. An ideal educational system is one that places value on the provision of space, culture and environment that supports and advocates for students’ thoughts, ideas, feelings, and opinion through different mediums for the creation of high performing students, classrooms and schools. An ideal educational system forms the attitude and intelligence of individuals. But how should governments proceed to educate their country's children in an optimum way ?. The first and foremost is by working along with the students opinion. Students always have something to say, and not until they are been paid some fair hearing, running an ideal educational system is almost impossible. In an ideal educational system, learning in the classroom shifts from teacher-centered learning to a student-centered one. Students will be able to work with the teacher to facilitate a learning environment that supports their individual learning needs. At the same time, a culture of student participation in the formulation of academic scheme allows students to be in charge of their own learning, which in turn increases critical thinking, synthesizing, sense of innovation, improved academic performance and leadership. Standardized testing, high-stakes national assessments. school ranking and no ability streaming are not just attributes of an imaginary ideal system, but features of an actual education system. I think the best system should have a minimum requirement for major subjects such as math, history, geography, sciences and maybe even economics (e.g. like how to manage one's money or how to pay one's taxes) or psychology (e.g. how to study more effectively or analyze one's personality). In addition, people should choose some options or more hours of the compulsory subjects. One great advantage of this process is the meta-cognitive feedback that the teacher is able to receive on her own pedagogical strategies and teaching in the classroom. When students are able to take charge in facilitating and giving feedback on their own learning, the teacher is able to use that as feedback to tailor her teaching to meet their needs. Teaching will be a constant process of facilitation and collaboration to achieve learning goals. What an ideal Educational System  actually looks like is complicated with that fact that there is not a clear consensus on the importance of being or becoming educated. While for many, education is necessary to attain their future prospects for others it is to gain affluence or titles, and yet some just want critical thinking, literacy or sharpened skill for creativity. Education still remains one of the most important things needed for a society to prosper and be safe, so therefore an educational system cannot be ideal if it lacks the attributes to form the intelligence as well as the character of the individuals. Research often indicates that student achievement is directly linked to student engagement, i.e relational connection with teachers, opportunities for identity experimentation experienced through play and socialization, and structured time and encouragement. This makes student interaction very necessary when it comes student success in the classroom. Now the question that many teachers ask is how do we engage students in the classroom in order for them to succeed in learning? Student voice holds the key for many of those questions. A classroom and a school that supports students sovereignty and voice often also works to engage students in learning. In a school where students know they have the right to speak out and be heard, to express their views and to become actively involved, the right to make a choice and to be involved decision-making it goes a long way to. This system is already the norm in most English-speaking countries, but is much less developed in continental Europe, where all students must learn all subjects, and can usually only choose to have a few more or less hours a week of some subjects (like math, sciences or languages). But they are almost always allowed to choose at least their foreign languages (the number of choices vary depending on the school itself) and some options not in the curriculum (e.g. psychology, economy. arts, electricity...). From my personal experience most recent research, I have come to the conclusion that the division of classes by ability is a more efficient way of learning. But this should be done only on that ground that the administrative bodies meets with the students and work alongside with their acknowledgement since their own voice matters too.

Education cannot wait, and yet it always does

Posted on 23 October 2015 by Kate Redman

 

For many years now there have been calls for greater attention to education in crisis situations from a multitude of advocacy organisations and influential spokespeople. Despite this noise, although there have been some indications of progress, there have been no major improvements for children’s education chances in emergencies. It was exciting to hear at the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) annual meetings that have been taking place this week in Geneva, therefore, that 2016 might be a break-through year for the sector. Might this finally be the year that statements get turned into commitments?

A Syrian refugee looks out of a window at Zahi Alsameen school serving as a refugee camp for students and women in Jaramana district, southeast of Damascus, Syria, 2014 (Xinhua/Pan Chaoyue)

The global momentum built up this year at the Oslo Education Summit, World Education Forum and the UN General Assembly has created a real urgency to finally position education up on the list of priorities in emergencies. This has resulted in a large amount of activity on the issue planned for 2016:

• The World Humanitarian Summit offers a great opportunity to have education’s voice heard with a different audience, and to position education centrally in any outcome document produced. Hidden within the synthesis report of the Summit’s global consultation is a target saying that “No one should miss a month of schooling due to conflict or disaster”. This is a target many in the sector would have formulated differently, no doubt, but it is a target nonetheless, and an ambitious one at that. This should be seen as good news for our sector, which has been singled out by having a target assigned to it in the text.
• The new Sustainable Development Document, Transforming our World, names refugees among those vulnerable populations needing to be addressed. The Education 2030: Framework for Action due to be adopted in early November underscores the need to address education in emergency situations. Both policy priorities give rallying calls for us all to use in our work.
• There is a vast amount of continuing media attention on Syria, and the resulting refugee crisis, within which education is more frequently mentioned than in many emergencies that have hit the press in the past. The convergence between the complexities of this crisis and the scope of the new SDG 4 could open up a conversation where the voices of advocates might finally be heard.
• There are also three important publications or pieces of research that will help build the arguments for education in crisis, notably the International Commission on Financing of Global Education Opportunity, the work being done by the Overseas Development Institute on the platform for education in crises, and the GEM Report 2016. It will be important for these publications to make the argument for investing in education early – either when conflicts are on the horizon, or immediately after a crisis, rather than waiting for the costly repercussions that arise from leaving it until the development stage.

Combined, these multiple dates on the calendar in 2016 make it a year full of opportunities that our sector must seize upon.
However, there are persistent, almost insulting remaining challenges that show this will not be easy. Only 2% of humanitarian aid is allocated to education. The proportion of out of school children living in conflict-affected areas is on the rise. Frustrations were aired by different INEE members present in Geneva about how deep the problem lies at the country level. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, education is excluded from pooled funds. In Iraq there are significant funding gaps still for education. Education is still not a priority sector in Yemen and there is no money for the sector in the humanitarian envelope in Afghanistan.
As a member of the INEE network said at the meeting, ‘Education is not only broke, but it is also broken’. Finding funds is not the only problem. We need to make sure they are not then assigned according to political priorities but are going to those people and those projects which need them the most. We need practical solutions to stop the artificial divide between development and humanitarian work from pulling the rug from any effectively delivery of aid to the sector.
The advocacy work of INEE used to be under the title of ‘Education Cannot Wait’. While this branding may change in the future, the sense of the title lives on. We must do all we can to come together as a sector next year to make a solid case for education as a vital part of preventing, and resolving crises.

The 2015 Engineering Exploration Challenge

The Engineering Exploration Challenge is back! National Geographic wants you to solve up to three big challenges that explorers often face when they are out in the field by using your own robot-like design. Your solution must collect information about its immediate environment and use that information to decide an action to take, the way a robot might. The resulting action can be as big or as small as you can imagine!

Choose one or more of the challenges below to work on. When you are satisfied with your solution, submit it to National Geographic by midnight, EST on August 1, 2015. National Geographic staff will review every solution submitted to the Challenge, and we will also look at submissions in consideration of using them in a Google Hangout or for publication in a new National Geographic book, ​Everything Robotics​ . Everyone who is qualified and submits a solution to National Geographic will receive a certificate of accomplishment and a free movie ticket to the new National Geogrpahic film, ​ROBOTS 3D ​(while supplies last).

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Pick One of the 2015 Challenges

Animal Migrations

How do you study an animal that can't sit still? Design, build, and test a way to study an animal as it migrates.

Telling the Story

How do you prove a place is special? Design, build, and test a way to collect data about a place.

Extreme Environments

How do you explore an extreme place that you cannot or should not go? Design, build, and test a way to study an extreme place that you'd like to explore but cannot go to because of extreme conditions.

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The Fine Print

The Engineering Exploration (NGX) Challenge is open to children ages 6-18 worldwide. Participants may develop solutions as individuals or in groups. Adults may submit solution forms on behalf of their children or students. Children 12 and under will need a parent, guardian, or educator to submit for them. Students between the ages of 13 and 18 may submit their own solutions but will need to provide a parent or guardian's email address. Solutions are due by midnight, EST on August 1, 2015.

National Georaphic staff will review every solution submitted for the Challenge, and we will also look at submissions in consideration of using them in a Google+ Hangout or for publication in the new National Geographic book, ​Everything Robotics​. We will send you or your parent/guardian an email to reach our for further discussion is we are interested in using your solution.

By submitting a solution to the Challenge, you agree (on behalf of yourself and the child(ren) for whom you are submitting) to release, discharge, and hold harmless National Geographic from any and all liability, loss, damage, or injury resulting from participating in the Challenge.

Gender equality – it can’t yet be counted but it most certainly counts

  24 October 2015 by  EFA Report

 

By Aaron Benavot, Director of the EFA Global Monitoring Report, and Nicole Bella, Senior Statistician and Policy Analyst at the EFA Global Monitoring Report.
This week, we launched the 2015 EFA GMR Gender Summary in time for International Day of the Girl Child. As we noted in a previous blog this week, it showed that despite significant progress made, fewer than half of countries have achieved gender parity in both primary and secondary education. What it couldn’t show in such an easy headline is where we are, or are not, in achieving gender equality in education – the other half of the EFA gender goal. This blog explains why, and what’s being done about it.

There is a limited understanding of the meaning of gender equality, and a dearth of data to measure it. A few weeks ago, a workshop on this issue, organized by UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) together with the MacArthur Foundation, was held at the London International Development Centre (LIDC).

The workshop was informed by a well-developed concept note that proposed a working definition of gender equality in and through education. It identified seven areas that reproduce gender inequality, such as teaching and learning practices and resource distribution, but that, on the flip side, could instead be used to support gender equality in education.
DFID’s project on the girls’ education challenge (GEC) which includes a focus on gender differences in access to instructional materials, as well as learning and teaching practices, can inform this work. Similarly of importance are recent studies by USAID into what gender equality means for teachers in their training, teaching and practices.
We should say upfront that there is no consensus on all these issues. Many analysts continue to see gender equality through a parity lens in part because of a lack of data to measure and monitor it.   We are concerned that the mention of data limitations, while true, risks bringing us back yet again to a narrow definition of gender equality.
How is gender equality addressed in the SDG agenda?
It is a shame that even the gender target 4.5 is mainly parity oriented, underlining having equal numbers of boys to girls, or women to men. We must ensure that we broaden the scope of this target to incorporate gender equality by linking it with target 4.7 (which mentions gender equality), the means of implementation 4.a (which focuses on having gender-sensitive facilities and safe learning environments) and the fifth SDG goal on gender equality and empowerment.
Furthermore, since gender is invariably tied up with other drivers of disadvantage such as poverty and place of residence, we should link the monitoring of gender equality in education to the tenth SDG goal on reducing inequality within and between countries. The GMR’s Worldwide Inequalities Database on Education (WIDE) is an important tool for doing this.





















         Putting on gender-tinted glasses
To understand gender equality in its entirety and achieve it, we must look at all those elements in society and in education systems that reflect gender norms, values and practices within which gender equalities are deeply rooted.
Addressing these norms will require us to be brave and bold. As the CEO of Plan said at the launch event for our Gender Report this week, “We will need to tackle issues such as sexual abuse and incest if we’re to get to grips with gender equality in its entirety”. As Chelsea Clinton said “If girls don’t see strong, competent female teachers, engineers, and film stars, they won’t imagine themselves as that.”
The GMR has made some inroads identifying some areas needing attention, as reflected in the 2015 Gender Summary, and as presented at this workshop a few weeks ago:

1. The most well known manifestation of gender inequality is child marriage and early pregnancy, on which some data exist. We can also track legislation on the issue that needs to be strengthened. If existing laws on age of marriage were enforced, this would result in an overall 15% increase in years of schooling in South and West Asia and a 39% increase in sub-Saharan Africa.

2. The GMR penned a policy paper on the complex definition of school-related gender based violence and the need for better data on the issue. In the future we plan to track where countries are including policies to address this issue in their education plans, as all members of UNESCO’s Executive Board signed up to do last year.

3. It is also important to track where there are direct or hidden costs for education that can disadvantage girls in particular where families’ resources are limited. The GMR found that among 50 countries with data, households are covering on average almost a third of the cost of education.

4. We can analyse the state of school infrastructure, such as access to schools and to water and sanitation. A one-hour reduction in the time spent walking to a water source increases girls’ enrolment by 18-19% in Pakistan and 8-9% in Yemen. The construction of single-sex toilets also has been found a positive impact on the share of female teachers at schools, which may indirectly benefit girls.

5. We can include data on the persistence of a gendered division of child labour. Girls are more likely to combine schooling and household work. In many countries, this increases the possibility of dropping out or repeating grades, and often puts them at particular risk of early marriage.

6. Also important is increasing the number of female teachers, and training all teachers in gender-sensitive teaching, both policies can have an important influence on girls’ education. A study in 30 developing countries found that increasing the proportion of female teachers in a district increased girls’ access and retention in education, particularly in rural areas.