TOL: Open Society Education News


January 2006
Azerbaijan: Channeling Faith 30 January 2006 Will Azerbaijan’s resolutely secular regime make religious education compulsory? by Marianna Gurtovnik

Ukraine: Educating Themselves 26 January 2006 Despite endless reforms, Ukraine's students are somehow getting by. by Ivan Lozowy

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Falling Victim to Victimhood 12 January 2006 Teaching genocide to Bosnian Muslim students, an American professor finds that the overwhelming sense of their own unredeemed victimhood often dominates their responses to the suffering of others. by Paul B. Miller

Russia: The Value of Being Educated 5 January 2006 Bribery is devaluing the notion of education as valuable in itself. But the value of a diploma in Russia seems to be rising. by Sergei Borisov

Slovakia: School Daze 5 January 2006 The Slovak government is examining the treatment of Romani youngsters in school. But is it asking the right questions? [Also in Russian] by Kristina Magdolenova

--------- A Comprehensive Guide to Relationships - With Donors Dancing with Donors is a practical reminder and complementary resource for those working in policy and strategy development, fund-raising, and project management. Gordana Miljevic, senior program manager for the Education Support Program, prepared this booklet with support from OSEP-SEE, Ljubljana, Slovenia. The author discusses donor types, forms of support, ways of approaching donors and managing relationships with them, the need and mechanisms for donor coordination, and potential obstacles in the relationship between donor and recipient. She also gives practical tips based on her experience. Dancing with Donors focuses on South Eastern European but can be useful for the government sector, agencies, and those working with foreign assistance for their reform agendas and projects in other parts of the world. To access the document, please click here:

To Subscribe

A bi-monthly newsletter sponsored by OSI's Education Support Program, the Open Society Education News highlights upcoming events, new publications, and all of TOL's education articles. Subscribers to this newsletter will also receive notifications about opportunities to contribute to TOL's education section. Subscribe at TOL’s newsletter signup page.

OSI-related Network of Education Policy Centers newsletter

The OSI-related Network of Education Policy Centers (NEPC) issues a bimonthly e-newsletter that covers education news from Europe and Central Asia. The December 2005 issue contains an introduction on identity and globalization by Monica Dvorski, education news from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Romania, and Slovakia as well as a report on the EPC network Vilnius meeting held in November 2005. It also includes updates on programs of international organizations, feedback on the OECD Global Forum on Education by CEDU 2000+ Executive President Alexandru Crisan, and more. To access this and earlier issues, please visit http://epc.objectis.net/Newsletter. For its upcoming issues, the EPC Newsletter also accepts news and other materials which further its mission. If you would like to submit information, please contact the editor, George Pataki, gpataki@cedu.ro.

Central Asian conference for the development of education

The Central Asian Education Cooperation Network is organizing a Central Asian conference on education, “New School: A Space for Opportunities,” in Kyrgyzstan from 23 to 25 March 2006. The goal of the conference is to further the democratization of education, professional development of teachers, curriculum reform, and evaluation and assessment methods by discussing the modern concepts of schools as learning organizations, building upon lessons learned through donor-funded education projects and civil society-led education initiatives, taking into account region- and country-specific issues. The conference will also serve to consolidate the Central Asian Education Network to make the best use of the opportunities and capacities that exist in Central Asian. About 120 people are expected to attend, by invitation only. Conference organization partners and supporters are the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth Policy of the Kyrgyz Republic, OSI-ESP, Asian Development Bank and US AID. For more information, please contact: espassistance@osi.hu.

Lessons from Central Europe on Transforming Education for Children With Disabilities

ESP has commissioned a paper, Experience of Transforming Education Provision for Children with Disabilities in Central European Countries, as part of its efforts to support reform in inclusive education in Ukraine. There have been profound changes in policy and practices in special education in the past decades in most countries of Central Europe. These kinds of transformations are gradually taking place in CIS countries. The study aims to present these major changes with all their benefits and to identify factors that may help or hinder implementation of similar reforms elsewhere. It is available here.

Journalists’ Workshop on Education Issues in Prague

Transitions Online will host a workshop for journalists on covering education issues in post-communist Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus from 23 to 25 March in Prague. Twelve journalists will be accepted from Central Asia and the Caucuses, with another 12 coming from Central and Eastern Europe. Speakers will include experienced journalism trainers and experts on pressing education issues in the region. This project is funded by the Open Society Institute’s Education Support Program, which aims to facilitate change in education and national policy development in line with the Soros foundation network's mission of promoting open society. For more information, please click here.

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Take a look at the previous education newsletters:

http://archive.tol.cz/nsl-list.html.