UN, World Bank urge schools to remain open amid pandemic

UNITED NATIONS, United States - The UN and World Bank pleaded in a new report Wednesday for schools to remain open despite Covid-19 risks, highlighting the damage the pandemic has inflicted on children's education, especially in poor nations. 

Children in impoverished countries have been deprived of close to four months of schooling since the pandemic began early this year, while pupils in rich nations benefiting from remote learning have lost six weeks, the report said. 

"Prioritizing reopening schools and providing much-needed catch-up classes are critical," said Robert Jenkins, education chief at the UN children's fund UNICEF. 

"We don't need to look far to see the devastation the pandemic has caused to children's learning across the world," he added in a statement.

The devastation has been magnified in low- and middle-income nations, where there has been a lack of access to distance learning, higher chances of delays for school reopenings and fewer resources to mitigate health risks.

UN cultural agency UNESCO and the World Bank also said it is essential for countries to invest immediately in school systems to reduce the widening gap between the education provided in poor and rich countries because of the pandemic.

The report from UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank was based on information collected from nearly 150 nations between June and October.

Agence France-Presse

10 million kids 'may never return to school' after virus

LONDON - The coronavirus pandemic has caused an "unprecedented education emergency" with up to 9.7 million children affected by school closures at risk of never going back to class, Save the Children warned Monday.

The British charity cited UNESCO data showing that in April, 1.6 billion young people were shut out of school and university due to measures to contain COVID-19 -- about 90 percent of the world's entire student population. 

"For the first time in human history, an entire generation of children globally have had their education disrupted," it said in a new report, Save our Education.

It said the economic fall-out of the crisis could force an extra 90 to 117 million children into poverty, with a knock-on effect on school admissions.

With many young people required to work or girls forced into early marriage to support their families, this could see between seven and 9.7 million children dropping out of school permanently.

At the same time, the charity warned the crisis could leave a shortfall of $77 billion in education budgets in low and middle income countries by the end of 2021.

"Around 10 million children may never return to school -- this is an unprecedented education emergency and governments must urgently invest in learning," Save the Children chief executive Inger Ashing said.

"Instead we are at risk of unparalleled budget cuts which will see existing inequality explode between the rich and the poor, and between boys and girls."

The charity urged governments and donors to invest more funds behind a new global education plan to help children back into school when it is safe and until then support distance learning.

"We know the poorest, most marginalized children who were already the furthest behind have suffered the greatest loss, with no access to distance learning -- or any kind of education -- for half an academic year," Ashing said.

Save the Children also urged commercial creditors to suspend debt repayments for low-income countries -- a move it said could free up $14 billion for education programs.

"If we allow this education crisis to unfold, the impact on children's futures will be long lasting," Ashing said.

"The promise the world has made to ensure all children have access to a quality education by 2030, will be set back by years, " she said, citing the United Nations goal.

The report listed 12 countries where children are most at risk of falling behind: Niger, Mali, Chad, Liberia, Afghanistan, Guinea, Mauritania, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Before the crisis, an estimated 258 million children and adolescents were already missing out on school, the charity said.

Agence France-Presse

Schools reopen in South Korea as virus fears ease

SEOUL- Hundreds of thousands of South Korean students returned to school on Wednesday as educational establishments started reopening after a coronavirus delay of more than two months.

Students lined up for temperature checks and were given sanitizers to wash their hands as they entered school premises while teachers greeted them with smiles and occasional elbow bumps.

"It's really exciting to meet my friends and teachers face to face, but we have to strictly follow the disinfection guidelines," said Oh Chang-hwa, student president of Kyungbock High School in Seoul.

"I am very worried but it's still nice to see them again," Oh told AFP.

South Korea endured one of the worst early outbreaks of the virus -- at one point the second-worst hit nation after mainland China -- prompting officials to delay the reopening of schools in early March.

But it appears to have brought its outbreak under control thanks to an extensive "trace, test and treat" program.

Around 440,000 final-year students, who will in December take the university entrance exam that is crucial in the education-obsessed country, are the first to return to schools, with other years following in stages over the next several weeks.

Inside the school buildings, students are asked to wipe their desks and sit apart according to social distancing guidelines, with some classes setting up partitions between desks.

"Concerns over small infection clusters still remain and no one can predict what kind of situation will arise at schools," education minister Yoo Eun-hae said.

The education ministry began operating a 24-hour emergency situation room this week, Yoo said, adding that any schools that report fresh infections will be shut immediately.

While final-year students are required to come to school every day, younger pupils will shift between online and offline classes to ensure school buildings are not overcrowded.

Agence France-Presse

Raising awareness vs COVID-19 in India

A policeman (right) wearing a coronavirus-themed outfit composed of helmet, mace and shield, gestures towards a vendor at a market to raise awareness about physical distancing, during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Chennai on Thursday. Global coronavirus cases surpassed the 1 million mark with more than 52,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University research.

Arun Sankar, AFP

290 million students out of school as global virus battle intensifies

ROME, Italy - Almost 300 million students worldwide faced weeks at home on Thursday with Italy the latest country to shut schools over the deadly new coronavirus, as the IMF urged an all-out, global offensive against the epidemic.

More than 95,000 people have been infected and over 3,200 have died worldwide from the virus, which has now reached some 80 countries and territories.

The vast majority of global deaths and infections are in China, where the virus first emerged late last year, prompting the country to quarantine entire cities, temporarily shut factories and close schools indefinitely.

As the virus spread, other countries have also implemented extraordinary measures, with UNESCO saying Wednesday that 13 countries have closed schools, affecting 290.5 million children, while nine others have implemented localized closures.

While temporary school closures during crises are not new, UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said, "the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled and, if prolonged, could threaten the right to education."

Italy on Wednesday ordered schools and universities shuttered until March 15, ramping up its response as the national death toll rose to 107, the deadliest outbreak outside China.

South Korea -- the country with the largest number of cases outside China with nearly 6,000 -- has postponed the start of the current term until March 23.

In Japan, nearly all schools are closed after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for classes to be cancelled through March and spring break, slated for late March through early April.

Some 120 schools closed in France this week in areas with the largest numbers of infections.

ECONOMIC THREAT

The German health minister said the outbreak was now a "global pandemic" -- a term the World Health Organization has stopped short of using, meaning the virus is spreading in several regions through local transmission.

Infections are now rising faster abroad than they are in China, where 31 more deaths and 139 new cases were reported Thursday. China's death toll now stands at 3,012, with over 80,000 infections.

From western Europe to eastern Asia, supermarket shelves have been stripped of supplies in recent weeks, including toilet paper and hand sanitizer. 

American businesses are increasingly concerned over access to goods and the overall economic outlook is more uncertain, the US Federal Reserve said in its beige book survey released on Wednesday.

With the US toll rising to 11 on Wednesday, lawmakers in Congress reached a deal to provide more than $8 billion to fight the outbreak.

The virus impact has spread beyond supply chains -- stock markets have rumbled as warnings from financial bodies mount that countries could be pushed into recession.

The IMF said the epidemic posed a "serious threat" and would slow global growth to below last year's 2.9 percent.

"At a time of uncertainty... it is better to do more than to do not enough," IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said. 

The epidemic "is a global problem calling for global response," she said.

Eurozone ministers agreed after a meeting that they were ready to "use all appropriate policy tools to achieve strong, sustainable growth".

NO KISSING

As the virus continues its march across the world, governments are scrambling to tighten prevention efforts.

Italy has seen its outbreak swell despite tough measures, including a quarantine of 11 towns with 50,000 people.

New measures include a month-long nationwide ban on fan attendance at sports events, as well as advising people to avoid greetings like kissing on the cheek or shaking hands. 

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conti said the country could tackle the outbreak as long as it remained contained. 

"But in case of exponential growth, not just Italy but any other country in the world would not be able to manage the situation," he said. 

In Iran, where 92 people have died from the disease, schools have been shut and major cultural and sporting events suspended.

Saudi Arabia has suspended the year-round "umrah" pilgrimage, an unprecedented move that raises fresh uncertainty over the annual hajj.

Countries also continue to crack down on international travel.

Israel extended its mandatory quarantine measures -- already in place for travelers from Italy and some Asian countries -- to cover people from France, Germany, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.

Even cinemagoers were not immune from the effects of the virus -- the producers of the latest James Bond film pushed back the release of the forthcoming "No Time To Die" from April to November.

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France shuts dozens of schools in bid to contain coronavirus

PARIS - French officials have closed down about 120 schools in areas that have reported the largest numbers of coronavirus infections, and more could be shuttered in the coming days, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said Tuesday.

Both primary and secondary schools have been shut in the Oise department north of Paris, where the main cluster of French cases has emerged, and where 2 people who have died of the virus lived. 

Officials have reported 191 coronavirus cases in France so far, and 3 deaths.

The Oise closures are affecting about 35,000 pupils, Blanquer told LCI television, while an additional 9,000 have been told to stay home in the Morbihan department of Brittany on the Atlantic coast.

One class of some 20 students has been suspended in Montreuil, a suburb just east of Paris, after a pupil tested positive for the virus, Blanquer said.

The Oise schools will remain closed until further notice, while Morbihan authorities have ordered doors shut until at least March 14.

"These figures are evolving quickly," Blanquer said, adding: "There could be similar measures taken in the coming days" at other schools.

Authorities have already halted all class trips outside the country, and prohibited any gatherings of more than 5,000 people in enclosed spaces.

Schools are increasing stocks of soap for washing hands, but Blanquer said there were no plans to order a nationwide school shutdown, for now.

"It wouldn't make sense to confine everyone, to paralyze the country, it would be counter-productive," he said.

President Emmanuel Macron, who is scheduled to visit the health ministry's crisis management center on Tuesday, has called off several events this week as France scrambles to contain the outbreak.

Contagion fears have led to shortages of sanitizing hand gels and face masks, with suppliers racing to replenish stocks even though much of the production is in China, where authorities have closed thousands of factories after the coronavirus emerged there in December.

Demand for thermometers has also soared, with one French producer, STIL, relaunching production at its factory south of Paris for the first time in 15 years after having moved manufacturing to Chinese partners.

"We can't do without China completely, but with this coronavirus the balance could shift for French companies to not be completely reliant" on Chinese producers, STIL's president Gerard Lux told AFP.

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Hong Kong extends school suspension until Apr 20 to control spread of virus

HONG KONG - Hong Kong has further extended the suspension of schools until at least April 20 to contain the spread of the coronavirus, authorities in the Asian financial hub said on Tuesday as cases of the disease surged outside China.

The city's Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said classes would be suspended until after the Easter holiday with April 20 being the earliest date to return. Students had previously been due to return to lessons on March 16.

"As the coronavirus has not shown any sign of dying down, the Education Bureau has decided that all schools in Hong Kong will further extend the suspension," Yeung said, adding that the exact date of resumption would be evaluated later.

The news comes as the disease has now killed almost 2,700 people in China and spread to more countries around the globe including Italy, Iran and South Korea.

Many schools in Hong Kong have already switched to online learning and lessons by conference call, with assignments given out on a daily or weekly basis.

Secondary students will continue to take most of their exams as per schedule from March 27, Yeung said, with some subjects including music and physical education postponed until May.

The Chinese territory has 81 confirmed cases of the virus and reported 2 deaths so far.

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Coronavirus could cost Australian universities 'billions'

SYDNEY - The coronavirus outbreak could deliver a painful multi-billion-dollar hit to Australian universities, as high-paying Chinese students are forced to defer their studies, economists warned Thursday.

Top universities stand to lose around US$2 billion (Aus$3 billion) in fees alone, according to preliminary estimates from analysts at Standard & Poor's.

Under open-ended travel restrictions imposed by the government in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, non-Australian citizens or permanent residents who have been in China since Feb. 1 are not allowed into Australia.

The virus's outbreak came in between Australia's academic years -- which begin in February -- and as many of the country's roughly 165,000 Chinese university students had returned home for the Lunar New Year.

"Our calculation is one of higher-education fee revenues only, and excludes the broader economic contribution from students to accommodation, tourism, and domestic consumption of goods and services," S&P said in a report.

Foreign students are a vital income stream for Australian universities and one that has grown exponentially in recent years.

Australia is now 1 of the top 3 destinations for foreign students worldwide.

Student representatives told AFP that many of those students have not been able to return in time to start this semester and fear missing the whole year because of the way courses are constructed.

Universities have offered to defer placements and reimburse tuition fees, but many are also trying to buy time.

The University of Sydney has extended the last date students have to be on campus to March 30 -- more than a month after classes were due to begin -- and is trying to arrange for remote teaching.

Australia's top universities are expected to be disproportionately hit, but they should be able to absorb the blow, at least temporarily.

"We believe they have some buffer in free cash, leverage, and operating margin ratios to absorb a temporary shock to revenues," S&P said. 

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Ivanka Trump says developing countries must do more to empower women to get US aid

WASHINGTON - Developing countries that want to do business with the United States must do more to empower women and give them better access to the workforce, education and legal protections, White House adviser Ivanka Trump said on Friday.

Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, outlined initiatives to bolster the economic status of women at a panel during the IMF/World Bank annual meetings. She appeared to tie future US development aid and trading relations to improvements on these issues by developing countries.

"We in the United States think about our development assistance through the lens of achieving the goal for countries of self-reliance," she told an audience of hundreds.

"And you cannot achieve self-reliance and the ability of a country to become a trading partner if you are not fully realizing the potential of 50 percent of your population, and in fact have barriers against them to realizing that potential."

Trump in 2017 launched a women's entrepreneurship fund with the World Bank and 13 other countries, followed this year by a $50 million project that aims to reach 50 million women by 2025. It is urging countries to change laws that bar women from owning property, using transportation, accessing legal structures and gaining access to credit.

These efforts come amid criticism by civil rights groups that the Trump administration is disempowering women at home and abroad. The administration has backed curtailing abortion rights for women in the United States and limiting contraception requirements in health insurance, and it refuses to fund agencies globally that even mention abortion.

Trump, the highest ranking US administration official to speak publicly at the annual IMF/World Bank meetings, was joined on stage by Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon, whose bank has also launched a women's initiative called "10,000 Women" and Ana Botin, executive chairman of Banco Santander.

World Bank President David Malpass, appointed by Trump, and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, have pledged to focus more intensely on women's issues as they structure the future work of the two large multilateral institutions, citing the huge potential for economic gains for all countries.

Georgieva on Tuesday vowed to fight for greater gender equality at the IMF and around the world, telling a packed audience: "Buckle up. It's going to come." 

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California becomes first US state to push back school start time

LOS ANGELES - California has become the first state in the country to push back start times at most public schools in the hope the measure will help adolescents perform better in class.

The new law signed on Sunday by Governor Gavin Newsom calls for middle schools to ring in classes no earlier than 8:00 am and high schools no earlier than 8:30 am.

The measure would become effective by July 1, 2022 or when a school district’s three-year bargaining agreement that is operative on January 1, 2020, expires.

Most California schools currently start the day around 8:00 am and some require students to be in class before 7:30 a.m.

"The science shows that teenage students who start their day later increase their academic performance, attendance and overall health," Newsom said in a statement.

"Importantly, the law allows three years for schools and school districts to plan and implement these changes."

While the measure has received backing from several medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the California Medical Association, the bill has run into opposition by some lawmakers and school districts.

"We can all agree that our students need a sufficient amount of sleep, and that sleep time is a significant and important factor in overall health, but improving sleep time for students requires more than just later start times," state senator Connie Leyva told the Sacramento Bee.

"I believe that school start times should continue to be determined at the local level, because it is inappropriate to say that a one-size-fits-all approach should guide all schools or all communities."

Leyva and other critics also noted that the time change will prove to be a hardship for many working parents who may not be able to adjust their schedules.

Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California, said the state would do better to carry out a pilot study on later start times before imposing it on school districts.

"As much as I sympathize with sleepy students, we must also carefully consider how the change would affect families and schools," she said.

According to numerous studies, there is a link between the amount of sleep adolescents get and school performance.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says it "recognizes insufficient sleep in adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation's middle and high school students."

jz/to

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2 million children out of school in war-torn Yemen: UN

SANAA, Yemen - Two million children are out of school in war-torn Yemen, a fourth of whom have dropped out since the conflict escalated in March 2015, the United Nations children's agency said Wednesday.

The education of a further 3.7 million children is at risk as teachers' salaries have not been paid in more than two years, UNICEF said in a statement.

"Violence, displacement and attacks on schools are preventing many children from accessing school," said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, UNICEF representative in Yemen.

One in five schools in the country can no longer be used as a direct result of the conflict that has devastated Yemen's already fragile education system, the UN agency says.

"Children out of school face increased risks of all forms of exploitation including being forced to join the fighting, child labor and early marriage," Nyanti said.

"They lose the opportunity to develop and grow in a caring and stimulating environment, ultimately becoming trapped in a life of poverty and hardship."

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed since Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in March 2015 in support of the beleaguered government after the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured the capital Sanaa.

The fighting has displaced millions and left 24.1 million -- more than two-thirds of the population -- in need of aid.

According to UNICEF, 1.8 million children under the age of five are suffering from severe malnutrition.

The United Nations has described Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

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Student debt a 'life sentence' for millions of Americans

LOS ANGELES, United States—Haley Walters is 5 years away from earning her law degree. If everything goes according to plan, she will be under a mountain of $100,000 in student debt by the time she enters the workforce.

Like millions of Americans, Walters is paying a steep price for an education that will likely weigh her down financially for much of her adult life.

"I think the student debt crisis is truly a life sentence," the 19-year-old Californian told AFP.

With 45 million borrowers owing some $1.6 trillion, the debt burden of American college graduates has exploded in recent years.

It has emerged as a key issue in the 2020 presidential campaign, with candidate Bernie Sanders unveiling an ambitious plan Monday to erase all student loan debt.

"Somebody who graduates from a public university this year is expected to have over $35,000 in student loan debt on average," said Cody Hounanian, program director of Student Debt Crisis, a California non-profit that assists students and fights for reforms.

According to official statistics, 71 percent of US students are burdened by such debt, with minorities the hardest hit.

"Black women particularly are the most impacted group with the highest student debt total per graduate," Hounanian said.

Despite scholarships and financial aid available to many, the cost of higher education is such that the majority of students are unable to repay their loans on schedule.

"When borrowers leave school, they're in a program that's supposed to take 10 years... but more and more are enrolling in federal programs that are actually 20 or 25 years in length," Hounanian said.

In the long term, the loan balance for such people increases, interest accrues, and the debt burden just keeps going upwards, he added.

Hounanian spoke of his own experience as an example.

"I had $30,000 in student loan debt, I pay over $150 a month, and that's in one of these affordable repayment programs," he said. "By doing that, my loan balance is actually increasing. I'm not covering even the entire interest that's accrued." 

"I'm paying every month," he added, "just to be more in debt."

'SYSTEM ISN'T WORKING'

Several experts interviewed said it's not unusual to have 2 generations in one family burdened with student debt.

That's the case for Walters, who just graduated with a 2-year degree in political science from Pasadena City College, near Los Angeles.

While she managed to go through that school without accumulating debt, come autumn she will be entering the prestigious—and much more expensive—University of California Berkeley, with a law degree the ultimate goal. 

Despite being awarded scholarships, Walters said she will still have to take out loans to pay for nearly $20,000 in annual fees.

"That is basically going to turn into loan after loan after loan... each with individual interest rates and individual payments," Walters sighed.

She said she grew up listening to her mother, 58, bemoan the student debt that still haunts her.

"I would hear my mom talk about... how it was basically crippling our finances," she recalled. 

"You know, we couldn't go on vacation, sometimes I didn't get school supplies for the new school year, sometimes we got fewer birthday presents."

Walters said she hopes student debt will be a key issue in the 2020 White House race.

For some candidates, it is already front and center.

'REVOLUTIONARY' BILL

Sanders's "revolutionary" bill aims to erase all student loan debt and make public colleges tuition-free—and he wants the financial industry to help pay for it.

"The American people bailed out Wall Street," Sanders said, referring to lenders deemed "too big to fail" during the late 2000s recession.

"Now it is time for Wall Street to come to the aid of the middle class."

Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren also has a debt cancellation and free public college plan.

"My dad grew up in an extremely poor family in southern California," said Walters. "The only reason he went to university was because it was free."

Tuition, however, is not the only financial burden of students. 

In California, for example, housing and living expenses represent more than half of the $35,000 needed annually on average for public university.

Hounanian said it was crucial to address those issues to ensure students don't end up saddled with heavy debt before starting their professional lives.

"The system isn't working for students," he said. "It's working for profiteers, for big companies and for those who are making money off of students and borrowers."

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Teacher from remote Kenya village is world's best, wins $1 mn

DUBAI - A maths and physics teacher from a secondary school in a remote village in Kenya's Rift Valley has won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize for 2019, organizers have said.

Peter Tabichi, who organizers say gives away 80 percent of his monthly income to the poor, received the prize at a ceremony Saturday in Dubai hosted by Hollywood star Hugh Jackman.

"Every day in Africa we turn a new page and a new chapter... This prize does not recognize me but recognizes this great continent's young people. I am only here because of what my students have achieved," Tabichi said.

"This prize gives them a chance. It tells the world that they can do anything," he added after beating nine finalists from around the world to claim the award.

The Dubai-based Varkey Foundation, which organizes the event and handed out the prize for the fifth time, praised Tabichi's "dedication, hard work and passionate belief in his students' talent".

All this combined, it said in a statement, "has led his poorly-resource school in remote rural Kenya to emerge victorious after taking on the country's best schools in national science competitions".

Tabichi, 36, teaches at the Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani village, in a remote, semi-arid part of Kenya's Rift Valley, where drought and famine are frequent.

Around 95 percent of the school's pupils "hail from poor families, almost a third are orphans or have only one parent, and many go without food at home," the statement added.

"Drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, dropping out early from school, young marriages and suicide are common."

To get to school, some students have to walk 7 kilometers (4 miles) along roads that become impassable during the rainy season.

The school, with a student-teacher ration of 58 to 1, has only one desktop computer for the pupils and poor internet, but despite that Tabichi "uses ICT in 80 percent of his lessons to engage students", the foundation said.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta congratulated Tabichi in a video message, saying "your story is the story of Africa, a young continent bursting with talent".

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Biggest US college fraud bust nets actors Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin

BOSTON - Federal authorities arrested dozens on Tuesday for a $25 million scheme to help wealthy Americans, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and some CEOs, cheat their children's way into elite universities, such as Yale and Stanford.

The largest college admissions fraud scam unearthed in US history was run out of a small college preparation company in Newport Beach, California that relied on bribes to sports coaches, phony test takers, and even doctored photos depicting non-athletic applicants as elite competitors to land college slots for the offspring of rich parents, prosecutors said.

"These parents are a catalog of wealth and privilege," Andrew Lelling, the US attorney in Boston, said at a news conference. "For every student admitted through fraud, an honest, genuinely talented student was rejected."

William "Rick" Singer, 58, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges related to running the scheme through his Edge College & Career Network, which charged from $100,000 to as much as $2.5 million per child for the services, which were masked as contributions to a scam charity Singer runs.

"I was essentially buying or bribing the coaches for a spot," Singer said as he pleaded guilty to charges including racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. "And that occurred very frequently."

John Vandemoor, a former Stanford University sailing coach who worked with Singer, also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy.

It was the latest in a series of scandals that have rocked the high-stakes, high-stress world of admissions to top colleges. Prosecutors in Boston in recent years have also charged Chinese nationals with cheating on entrance exams, while the College Board, which administers the SAT tests, was rocked in 2016 by a security breach that exposed hundreds of questions planned for tests.

Some 300 law enforcement agents swept across the country to make arrests in what agents code-named "Operation Varsity Blues." Huffman and Loughlin were due to appear in federal court in Los Angeles later on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have so far named 33 parents, 13 coaches, and associates of Singer's business.

Other parents charged include Manuel Henriquez, the chief executive of specialty finance lender Hercules Capital; Gordon Caplan, the co-chairman of international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher; Bill McGlashan Jr., who heads a buyout investment arm of private equity firm TPG Capital; and Douglas Hodge, the former CEO of the investment management firm Pimco.

Representatives for the companies and for Huffman and Loughlin either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

The alleged masterminds of scam and parents who paid into it could all face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Huffman, a former best actress Oscar nominee who is married to actor William H. Macy, starred in ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

Loughlin, best known for her role in the ABC sitcom "Full House" and the recent Netflix sequel "Fuller House," is married to clothing company founder Mossimo Giannulli, who was also charged in the scheme.

'HELP THE WEALTHIEST'

On a call with a wealthy parent, prosecutors said, Singer summed up his business: "What we do is help the wealthiest families in the US get their kids into school ... my families want a guarantee."

Prosecutors said it was up to the universities what to do with students admitted through cheating.

Yale University and the University of Southern California (USC) said in separate statements that they were cooperating with investigators.

"The Department of Justice believes that Yale has been the victim of a crime perpetrated by its former women's soccer coach," Yale said in a statement.

The coach, Rudolph Meredith, resigned in November after 24 years running the women's soccer team. Meredith, who accepted a $400,000 bribe from Singer, is due to plead guilty, prosecutors said. His lawyer declined to comment.

Prosecutors said the scheme began in 2011 and also helped children get into the University of Texas, Georgetown University, Wake Forest University, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Part of the scheme involved advising parents to lie to test administrators that their child had learning disabilities that allowed them extra exam time.

The parents were then advised to choose one of 2 test centers that Singer's company said it had control over: one in Houston, Texas, and the other in West Hollywood, California.

Test administrators in those centers took bribes of tens of thousands of dollars to allow Singer's clients to cheat, often by arranging to have wrong answers corrected or having another person take the exam. Singer would agree with parents beforehand roughly what score they wanted the child to get.

In many cases, the students were not aware that their parents had arranged for the cheating, prosecutors said, although in other cases they knowingly took part. None of the children were charged on Tuesday.

Singer also helped parents stage photographs of their children playing sports or even Photoshopped children's faces onto images of athletes downloaded from the internet to exaggerate their athletic credentials.

Wake Forest said it had placed head volleyball coach Bill Ferguson on administrative leave after he was among the coaches accused of accepting bribes.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators heard McGlashan of TPG Capital listening to Singer tell him to send along pictures of his son playing sports that he could digitally manipulate to make a fake athletic profile.

"The way the world works these days is unbelievable," McGlashan said to Singer, according to court papers.

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Public school teachers go on strike in LA; 500,000 pupils affected

LOS ANGELES - More than 30,000 public school teachers in Los Angeles walked off the job on Monday to press their demands for better pay, smaller class sizes and more educators.

The strike -- the first in 30 years -- is affecting some 500,000 students in the nation's second largest school district, with intense negotiations in past weeks failing to lead to a breakthrough.

The action is being watched closely by teaching unions across the country that are engaged in labor negotiations and also considering strikes. 

"Here we are on a rainy day in the richest country in the world, in the richest state in the country, in a state that's blue (Democrat) as it can be -- and in a city rife with millionaires -- where teachers have to go on strike to get the basics for our students," Alex Caputo-Pearl, the head of the United Teachers Los Angeles union, told a news conference.

"Here we are in a fight for the soul of public education," Caputo-Pearl added. 

"The question is: do we starve our public neighborhood schools so that they (become) privatized, or do we re-invest in our public neighborhood schools for our students and for a thriving city?"

Although the teachers' union and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) agree that class sizes -- some at more than 40 -- must shrink, teacher salaries must improve and more support staff are needed, they differ on funding.

School district officials insist they have taken great pains to avert a strike and negotiate with the union and say the district simply doesn't have enough money to meet all of the demands.

A revised offer submitted on Friday and calling for roughly $24 million more in funding and 1,200 more teachers for the upcoming school year was rejected.

'WE'D LIKE TO RESOLVE THIS'

LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner on Monday said his office had reached out to the governor's office and the mayor's office to see if they could help broker a deal.

He said the teachers' demands would cost about $3 billion and push district into insolvency.

"We remain committed to resolve the contract negotiations as soon as possible," Beutner told reporters. "We urge (the union) to resume bargaining with us anytime, anywhere, 24-7. We'd like to resolve this." 

Despite the walkout, the 1,240 schools in the sprawling district remain open, he said, with classes taught by administrators and substitute teachers.

Last spring, a strike by teachers in the state of West Virginia over low wages and rising health care costs set off a wave of similar action in several other states and garnered strong public support.

The walkout in Los Angeles could have a similar effect.

In Denver, Colorado, for example, the teachers union has threatened a strike unless an agreement can be reached by the end of this week on salary conditions.

Teachers' unions across the country offered support for those striking in Los Angeles, with many educators and parents wearing red T-shirts in solidarity.

Red became the signature color of striking teachers last year after an early demonstration called on them to wear "Red4Ed."

Monday's strike action also drew support from Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren.

"I support @UTLAnow & LAUSD teachers who are for fighting for better pay, smaller classes, & better resourced schools for our kids," she tweeted. 

"When we fail our public school teachers, we fail their students – and we fail our future. I'm with our teachers all the way.

jz/ft

source: news.abs-cbn.com

French universities to offer more courses in English to attract foreign students

PARIS - France wants to boost the number of foreign students at its universities by more than half over the next decade and will offer more courses taught in English to attract them.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, announcing the plan on Monday, said increasing the number of foreigners studying in the country would help build French influence overseas.

Home to centuries-old universities such as the Sorbonne in Paris and some leading business schools, France is the world's top non-English speaking student destination, but it ranks behind the United States, Britain, and Australia.

The number of foreign students at French universities fell by 8.5 percent between 2011 and 2016 and the country has seen increased competition from Germany, Russia, Canada and China, the prime minister's office said.

"Many countries are already building global attractivity strategies, linking studies, the job market, tourism, which explains the influence of Asia or monarchies in the Gulf," Philippe said in a speech unveiling the strategy. "In this field just as in other economic ones, the world's balance of power is shifting. That's why we need to welcome more foreign students."

Under the plan, France will simplify student visa regulations but will also increase tuition fees for students outside the European Economic Area in order to be able to provide better facilities. However, fees will still be much lower than in Britain and other neighboring countries.

From March 2019, foreign graduates with a French master's degree will be able to get a residence visa to look for work or set up a business in France.

"We are constantly compared, audited, judged among 10 other possible destinations. In an age of social media, no one can rest on its reputation only," Philippe said.

French officials said current fees of around 170 euros ($195) a year for a bachelor's degree in France or 243 euros for a masters' - the same as those paid by French students - was interpreted by students in countries like China as a sign of low quality.

From September 2019, non-European students will be charged 2,770 euros annually to study for a bachelor's degree and 3,770 euros a year for masters and PhDs.

"That means France will still subsidize two thirds of the cost of their studies," Philippe said. "And the fees will remain well below the 8,000 euros to 13,000 euros charged by the Dutch or the tens of thousands of pounds paid in Britain," he said.

Some of the extra revenue will be used to boost the number of scholarships offered by the foreign ministry.

The number of courses taught in English, which have already been increased fivefold since 2004 to 1,328, will be boosted further, Philippe said.

More French classes will also be on offer for foreign students and student visa applications will be made available online. ($1 = 0.8727 euros)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Harvard on trial over alleged discrimination against Asians

Harvard University went on trial Monday over an opaque admissions selection process that critics say discriminates against students of Asian origin.

A lawsuit has challenged the use of race as a factor in Harvard admissions -- a decades-old push to boost minority enrollments at America's oldest and perhaps most prestigious university.

Federal Judge Allison Dale Burroughs heard opening arguments Monday in the non-jury civil trial in Boston, which is expected to last three weeks.

Harvard denies discriminating against Asians but defends its use of broader selection criteria than academic excellence, such as personality, to form a diverse student body.

The university also notes that the proportion of students of Asian origin has increased substantially since 2010, and today account for 23 percent of the 2,000 students admitted to the freshman class, compared to 15 percent blacks and 12 percent Hispanics, out of 40,000 applicants.

Pitted against it is an organization called "Students for Fair Admissions," led by a conservative white activist, Edward Blum, who previously attacked the "affirmative action" policies at the University of Texas.

The US Supreme Court decided against him in 2016, upholding the university's admissions policy.

In Monday's opening arguments, the group's lawyer Adam Mortara claimed that Harvard had used personality criteria to suppress Asian admissions in favor of black, Hispanic and white applicants.

Harvard "let the wolf of racial bias in through the front door," the Boston Globe quoted him as saying.

Bill Lee, the university's lawyer, argued however that "Harvard cannot achieve its educational goals without considering race."

Race is never a negative in admissions, he said.

The Trump administration has weighed in in favor of Blum's suit, asserting that Harvard engages in "racial balancing" in its admissions process at the expense of students of Asian origin.

Whatever the outcome, analysts expect this ultra-sensitive case to wind up before the Supreme Court, where a conservative majority has been solidified with the addition of Trump nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Australia seeks to ban schools from expelling gay students

MELBOURNE - Australia aims to ban private or religious schools from expelling students on the basis of their sexuality, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday.

Debate over personal rights is growing ahead of a crucial by-election for Morrison's ruling Liberal-National coalition in the blue-ribbon Sydney seat of Wentworth on October 20.

"I will be taking action to ensure amendments are introduced as soon as practicable to make it clear that no student of a non-state school should be expelled on the basis of their sexuality," Morrison said in a statement.

The statement, which urged parliament to tackle the issue over the next two weeks, follows an offer of support by the largest opposition party, Labour, to repeal legal exemptions that allow religious schools to discriminate.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, called this week for equality in school employment and enrollment.

"Once employed or enrolled, people within a Catholic school community are expected to adhere to the school's mission and values," the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper quoted him as saying.

Australia's parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriage in December after a nationwide postal survey returned an overwhelming majority in favor of the unions.

Morrison said the government was working through its responses to the recommendations of a review panel to examine if the change to the law had restricted religious freedom. The recommendations have not been publicly disclosed.

"Our government does not support expulsion of students from religious non-state schools on the basis of their sexuality," he added.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Harvard admissions bias case can proceed to trial: U.S. judge

BOSTON - A federal judge on Friday cleared the way for a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of discriminating against Asian-American applicants to go to trial, a closely watched case that could influence the use of race in college admissions decisions.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston rejected dueling motions by Harvard and a nonprofit group suing the Ivy League university to rule in their favor ahead of a non-jury trial set to begin on Oct. 15.

The ruling came after the U.S. Justice Department, which has been investigating Harvard for potential civil rights violations over its affirmative action policy, in August threw its support behind the 2014 lawsuit by Students for Fair Admissions Inc (SFFA).

The group, headed by prominent anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, has alleged that Harvard's admissions process, which factors in race, significantly disadvantages Asian-Americans compared with other groups.

Burroughs wrote that rather than presenting her with undisputed facts and evidence that would allow her to rule without overseeing a trial, Harvard and SFFA had filed motions that were "essentially mirror images of one another."

"Whether SFFA may prove its intentional discrimination claim requires a close review of the conflicting expert testimony, the available documents, and the testimony of the admissions office employees in the context of a trial," Burroughs wrote.

Harvard in a statement said it does not discriminate against Asian-Americans and looked forward to defending itself at trial.

Blum declined to comment.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that universities may use affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college. Conservatives have said such programs can hurt whites as well as Asian-Americans.

In court papers, SFFA claimed an Asian-American male applicant with a 25 percent chance of admission would have a 35 percent chance if he were white, 75 percent chance if he were Hispanic and 95 percent chance if he were black.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard has denied that it uses a quota system or has engaged in "racial balancing." It has criticized the lawsuit as an effort to attack the right of colleges to consider race as an admissions factor.

After President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office last year, the Justice Department began investigating whether Harvard's policies are discriminatory because they limit Asian-Americans' acceptance.

Yale University on Wednesday announced that the Justice Department was also investigating it over similar claims. The university denied discriminating against Asian-Americans.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Harvard accused of anti-Asian admissions policy

The U.S. Justice Department accused Harvard University Thursday of discriminating against Asian applicants, ramping up the Trump administration's opposition to widespread policies seeking to manage racial balance among students.

The department filed a statement with the Boston federal court endorsing a lawsuit by an Asian students group that charged the prestigious university with preferring whites, blacks and Hispanics at the expense of more academically deserving Asians.

The move came two months after the Trump government announced it was cancelling the previous Obama administration's support for so-called "affirmative action" programs, by which universities seek to boost the numbers of under-represented minorities, particularly Hispanics and African-Americans.

The 2014 lawsuit by Students for Fair Admissions said Harvard's affirmative action violated civil rights laws by discriminating against people of Asian origin. 

Harvard recently moved in court to have the judge rule without a jury trial, arguing that its admission of Asian-Americans has risen 29 percent over the last decade.

Harvard also said that in the class of students entering the university this year, 22.7 percent were Asian-American, 15.5 percent African-American, and 12.2 percent Hispanic.

The Justice Department opposes a summary ruling, saying Harvard has not proven its lack of racial bias.

"Harvard acknowledges that it voluntarily uses race as a factor in deciding whether to offer certain young adults admission to, and the substantial educational benefits of, its elite institution," the Justice Department said in its filing Thursday.

"The record evidence demonstrates that Harvard's race-based admissions process significantly disadvantages Asian-American applicants compared to applicants of other racial group," it said.

"No American should be denied admission to school because of their race," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in the statement.

The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly in favor of the concept of affirmative action in the past, essentially accepting that the record of discrimination against black Americans justifies giving them an extra advantage in admissions.

The court has rejected specific quotas but as recently as 2016 endorsed a race-conscious admissions policy.

But two conservative Supreme Court judges nominated by President Donald Trump -- one approved last year and one waiting to be approved by the Senate -- could swing the high court against the concept if a new challenge comes to it.

source: news.abs-cbn.com