Muara Teweh!

China is now exporting half of its auto products and Tata Industries of India has just announced that it will be producing a $2,500 car. China and India are now flexing their manufacturing muscles in autos, putting this bedrock of Ontario’s economy under pressure as never before.

There are many things that the government of Ontario can do to help manufacturing, but the most important long-term policy response is almost invisible in the public policy agenda – the necessity of creating the best-educated workforce in the world. The challenges of the 21st century will be met only by encouraging Canadians that the best single investment they can make is investing in their own brains.

Higher education was barely mentioned in the recent Ontario election. But the rest of the world notices what we do not notice. The Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University publishes the academic ranking of world universities. » Read more after the jump →

Chinese government officials struggled Friday to answer questions from angry citizens on why so many schools collapsed in this week’s deadly earthquake and vowed to punish anyone responsible for shoddy construction in the buildings.

In a rare, real-time online exchange with ordinary Chinese, the first measure of the number of destroyed school-rooms — 6,898 — emerged, with figures still to come from the hardest-hit areas of Wenchuan and Beichuan.

Education officials in provinces across China also started making promises to tear down and rebuild school houses if they were not quake-safe to avoid another disaster.

“If quality problems do exist in the school buildings, we will punish those responsible severely and give the public a satisfactory answer,” Han Jin, head of the Ministry of Education’s development and planning department, said on Friday’s state-run forum.
» Read more after the jump →

A state appellate court ruled Thursday that two voucher programs for foster and disabled children attending private schools violate the Arizona Constitution by using public money to help private and religious schools.

The 3-0 ruling Thursday by a Court of Appeals panel in Tucson reverses a trial judge’s ruling that upheld the programs enacted in 2006 at the urging of “school choice” supporters.

The programs provide grants worth thousands of dollars for students, with the money paid in checks to parents who must endorse them over to the schools involved.

The ruling is the first major ruling by an Arizona court on a school-choice issue since the Arizona Supreme Court in 1999 upheld allowing state income tax credits for donations for scholarships for private school students.
» Read more after the jump →

For more than three years, members of the Texas state board of education have been directing an effort to revise the state’s standards for English-language arts and reading—a document that will apply to $626 million in instructional materials due to hit Texas classrooms in fall 2010.

But in the lead-up to next week’s scheduled meeting and vote on those standards, participants in the process were scrambling to provide copies of the final proposal to all board members and the public, a measure of just how complex and controversial the process has been.

“Usually, the document is pretty well finalized after first reading, nearly two months before the vote,” Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, which provides staff for the board, said in an interview last week. “For whatever reason, English is always the more difficult subject for us to adopt standards on, even more than science.” » Read more after the jump →

The Scholarship Committee has announced the three recipients of scholarships for 2008. USA FREE is a non-profit charitable foundation established by R-CALF USA.

The scholarship fund was established in 2006 and is funded through private donations. Contributions are tax deductible under USA FREE’s not-profit status. This year, there were 18 applicants who were required to write a research paper on a topic of major importance to the U.S. live cattle industry. Applicants also must have immediate family who are members in good standing with R-CALF USA. The funds will be distributed to each student’s school.

First-place recipient, with a $2,000 scholarship, is Alison Baue, daughter of J. Allen and Ruth Baue, of Hysham, Mont. Alison will start to attend the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology this fall, and her field of study will be industrial engineering. Alison presented her research paper, titled “Country-of-Origin Labeling: A COOL Solution for the U.S. Cattle Industry,” during the 9th Annual R-CALF USA Convention, Feb. 21-23, 2008, in Omaha, Neb.
» Read more after the jump →

The Educational Foundation of the International Furnishings & Design Assn. announced a new grant and a new scholarship program in honor of dedicated IFDA members during the recent IFDA Conference here.

Muriani also said that the foundation is adding to its roster of grants and scholarships, which award over $30,000 annually. Six scholarships are available for students, and eight grants benefit specific projects and programs. New to the mix are:

- The IFDA Georgia Chapter Commemorative Student Scholarship, established to honor Georgia Chapter members, past and present, who have exhibited exemplary leadership skills. The first one will be awarded in the name of the late John C. Camp, who was chapter president, IFDA president and EF chair.
» Read more after the jump →

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The lackluster face of Indonesia’s education system has led many private parties to take on more active roles in developing the sector. With national elections around the corner, the House of Representatives has limited time to meet its legislation target.

Trimedya Panjaitan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said Tuesday all lawmakers in the House would shift their focus to preparations for the legislative election, scheduled for April 5, 2009.

“I predict lawmakers will be busier in the months to come as the political tension increases ahead of the 2009 election,” Trimedya said.

The current House has 280 bills on the table before it completes its five-year term in August next year. In the last four years, the lawmakers have passed just 104 bills. » Read more after the jump →