MANILA, Philippines—The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is taking action to help end violence against women and children. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines moved to eighth among the Top 10 countries in terms of gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s 2011 Global Gender Gap Report. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK—The world has made great progress in eliminating inequality between men and women in health and education, but not in economic participation and political empowerment, according to a survey of 135 nations released Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear PAO,
My mother died of stroke last January 2010. She spent two months in a public hospital and suffered a lot. We could not bring her to a private hospital because my brother and I did not have money. Read the rest of this entry »

THE Philippines is one of the best places for women, according to Newsweek magazine.

A survey done by the American publication showed the Philippines as among the 20 best countries for women, ranking 17th out of 165 countries. Read the rest of this entry »

ISLAMIC education is perceived by many, often in ignorance, as narrowly traditionalist and reactionary.

What is ignored is that, over the past century, traditional Islamic schools have to respond to modernizing influences in many positive ways.

This is shown in Indonesia where such changes are of enormous consequence.

Indonesia is not only the world’s largest Muslim country, it is also one where 50,000 Islamic schools are major streams of the national educational system.

A sterling example of a modern and socially-innovative Islamic school is Nurul Haramain Putri Narmada in west Lombok, a peripheral region where a conservative society, deforestation and poverty are major challenges.

A pesantren, the oldest type of school in Indonesia, was established in Lombok in 1996 by a young progressive Muslim cleric named Hasanain Juaini, who is Indonesia’s second awardee of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awards.

He is a living example of the kind of education that he preaches.

Against the tradition that reserves education for boys, Hasanain decided to open a girls’ school with only 50 students and develop a learner-centered program that aims to develop each student’s full potential.

Now he is running a school of 500 students and 60 teachers, half of them women.

The school offers a government accredited five-year secondary education program.

It is the first in Lombok to achieve 100-percent computer-based learning, where students are provided with personal computers and teaching assistants, even at night.

While religion is at the core of its program, as in the traditional pesantren, the school is pluralist in orientation and stresses secular subjects like the sciences.

Students are exposed to diverse learning opportunities, encouraged to think critically and motivated to pursue higher studies.

It is not just academic excellence that makes Hasanain’s school a different one—he has deliberately integrated school learning into the life of the community.

Hasanain has also built a model of community ownership through a membership system.
Moreover, he has turned his school into an axis for community development.

His integrated approach to education gets students and teachers involved in issues such as environmental quality, livelihood enhancement and good governance.

Hasanain also initiated a social forestry project that involves the community in conserving the environment while increasing their household incomes.

Believing that schools have a role in promoting citizen participation in local governance, he organized representatives from 130 pesantren in his district into a “Coalition of Pesantren against Corruption,”
mainly to lobby for reforms and management of public funds.

His vision explains that there should be no division between teaching religion and calling public officials to account, or between running a school and getting the community to plant trees.

“Everything starts with a seed. Those who take must give. It is a big sin if you take and not give.” Hasanain said.

The Board of Trustees of 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awards has recognized his holistic, community-based approach to pesantren education, creatively promoting values and gender equality, religious harmony, environmental preservation, individual achievement and civic engagement among young Indonesian students and their communities. –Raffy S. Ayeng, Manila Times

As the world awaits what happens in Libya and seeks diversion from gloomy predictions about the global economy, it preoccupies itself with the most recent development in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn saga. This week, prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office moved to drop rape charges against the former chief of the International Monetary Fund. Read the rest of this entry »

hen I first received the letter of “Furious Teacher” in my e-mail (published Aug. 14), what I wanted was to help a single, unwed, pregnant woman who I felt was being given a raw deal by her unenlightened superior. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, 1 August 2011-Intimate partner and sexual violence against women is a major public health problem.

Many women suffer a wide range of physical, mental and reproductive health problems as a result of such violence. Moreover, a massive burden is placed on national economies due to increased expenditure on health care, law enforcement and lost productivity. Read the rest of this entry »

What can drive a wife to such a gruesome act as cutting off her husband’s penis? In the news last week, 48-year old Catherine Kieu Becker reportedly drugged her husband’s food. And when he had lost consciousness, she tied him up to the bed and, with the use of a kitchen knife, proceeded to sever his sexual organ and shred it at the garbage disposal of their kitchen sink. She then called up 911 and the police. Was Becker in a jealous rage? Or was she a battered wife who thought she had to kill him first or get herself killed? Read the rest of this entry »