radiofree.asia

Category: Schools

  • US Cities Need More Diverse Teachers; Philadelphia Has An Answer

    Public education is at a crossroads. Federal funds for public education have been threatened over the Trump administration’s war on DEI. Mental health funds for schools have been cut. The federal government’s move to slash AmeriCorps programs is already hitting classrooms in low-income ZIP codes hard. And all the while, teacher shortages continue to rise, and stark disparities in educational opportunities persist.

    The future of our students depends on how we invest in and support our educators, especially teachers of color, who face systemic barriers to recruitment and retention despite their vital role in student success.

    The post US Cities Need More Diverse Teachers; Philadelphia Has An Answer appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • How Public Schools Became Ground Zero for America’s Culture Wars

    Mike Hixenbaugh first knew things had changed when someone on a four-wheeler started ripping up his lawn after his wife placed a Black Lives Matter sign outside their home on the suburban outskirts of Houston.

    Hixenbaugh is an award-winning investigative reporter for NBC News. He’s covered wrongdoing within the child welfare system, safety lapses inside hospitals, and deadly failures in the US Navy. But when his front yard was torn apart in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the George Floyd protests, he saw a story about race and politics collide at his own front door. So like any investigative journalist, he started investigating, and his reporting about the growing divides in his neighborhood soon led him to the public schools.

    As more than a dozen states sue the Trump administration over its policies aimed at ending public schools’ diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, More To The Story host Al Letson talks with Hixenbaugh about how America’s public schools have become “a microcosm” for the country’s political and cultural fights—“a way of zooming in deep into one community to try to tell the story of America.”

    Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson

    Listen: The Culture War Goes to College (Reveal)

    Read: At the Heritage Foundation, the Anti-DEI Crusade Is Part of a Bigger War (Mother Jones)

    Read: They Came for the Schools: One Town’s Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America’s Classrooms, by Mike Hixenbaugh

    Note: If you buy a book using our Bookshop link, a small share of the proceeds supports our journalism.

    Listen: Southlake/Grapevine podcasts (NBC News)

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  • Teaching Kids to Read: How One School District Gets It Right

    The schools in Steubenville, Ohio, are doing something unusual—in fact, it’s almost unheard of. In a country where nearly 40 percent of fourth graders struggle to read at even a basic level, Steubenville has succeeded in teaching virtually all of its students to read well. 

    According to data from the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, Steubenville has routinely scored in the top 10 percent or better of schools nationwide for third grade reading, sometimes scoring as high as the top 1 percent.

    In study after study for decades, researchers have found that districts serving low-income families almost always have lower test scores than districts in more affluent places. Yet Steubenville bucks that trend.

    “It was astonishing to me how amazing that elementary school was,” said Karin Chenoweth, who wrote about Steubenville in her book How It’s Being Done: Urgent Lessons From Unexpected Schools.

    This week on Reveal, reporter Emily Hanford shares the latest from the hit APM Reports podcast Sold a Story. We’ll learn how Steubenville became a model of reading success—and how a new law in Ohio put it all at risk. 

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    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • North Korea orders schools to breed more rabbits to feed army

    Authorities in North Korea have ordered schools across the country to raise more rabbits to supply and feed its army or face punishment, sources told Radio Free Asia.

    Ahead of the 93rd founding anniversary of North Korea’s armed forces on Friday authorities have launched inspections of rabbit breeding farms in schools across the communist country, demanding they increase the livestock supplied to local army units.

    Reeling from persistent food shortages since the mid-1990s, the North Korean regime has been actively promoting the raising of “grass-fed” livestock like rabbits and goats as sources of meat.

    In particular, it has emphasized the breeding of bunnies, as they provide both meat and high-quality fur, with authorities establishing rabbit breeding associations and farms in cities and counties across the country and making it a key state initiative.

    The inspections of school rabbit pens – that began last week for the first time in schools – are being carried out by the provincial-level youth league committee leaders under orders from the provincial party, said a source based in South Pyongan province.

    In North Korea, the children’s union, which students aged 9-13 are required to join, and the youth league, which include those in the 14-18 age group, are mass political organizations that educate young people in socialist ideology and loyalty.

    The instructors in charge of the youth league at each school are tasked with meeting the breeding targets.

    “While it’s been common for the authorities to emphasize expanding rabbit farms every year to supply more meat and leather to the military, this is the first time they are actually inspecting schools,” the source told Radio Free Asia. He requested anonymity for safety reasons.

    These inspections focus on the scale of the farms and the number of bunnies – both breeding rabbits and their young offspring, he said.

    Youth league instructors at schools that fail to meet the target of at least 1,000 rabbits are being warned or subjected to punishment, including expulsion from the committee or dismissal from their positions, he said.

    “Responsibility falls on the youth league instructors because the rabbit farm management and feeding activities are carried out through organized teams made up of children’s union and youth league members,” he said.

    “The breeding rabbits tallied during inspections — excluding seed stock — are to be sent to local military units as support supplies by April 25,” he added.

    Despite the challenges of running these farms, authorities have ordered all schools in Gowon county to provide 300 breeding rabbits each to the military by April 25, said a source based in South Hamgyong province, in North Korea’s northeastern corner.

    “To mark the (army’s founding) anniversary, inspections of school rabbit farms began in Gowon County alongside support efforts for the military,” he said.

    “Some teachers are expressing frustration,” the source noted. “They’re saying schools are meant to be places for students to learn — not military supply bases.”

    To feed the rabbits in breeding farms at schools, teenage students are forced to wander the fields to source grass as they are not allowed to collect clover in the mountains due to forest protection rules, he said.

    Since the 1970s, North Korea has required middle and high school students to raise rabbits and offer them to the state, while farmers must fulfill the country’s annual meat purchase quotas.

    Many will never taste the meat they produce as most is submitted to the authorities, with the remainder consumed or sold by corrupt officials, previous reports have said.

    In 2010, several international charities raised money to send giant rabbits to North Korea to breed as a cheap source of protein, but the animals vanished amid speculation that they had been quickly seized and eaten by officials.

    Translated by Jaewoo Park. Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Son Hye-min for RFA Korean.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Idaho Created a $50M Voucher Program. Then It Cut $30M for Public Schools.


    This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by ProPublica.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Idaho Created a $50M Voucher Program. Then It Cut $30M for Public Schools.


    This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by ProPublica.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Chicago Teachers Secure Deal for Greener, Healthier Schools

    The Chicago Teachers Union won a tentative agreement in December that, for the first time, addresses climate and environmental justice demands — making healthy green schools a priority in our city. We achieved this breakthrough even while broader contract negotiations stalled. Finally, in April, we ratified the full agreement, which also includes big raises and lower class sizes.

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • A War on the First Amendment: David Cole on Trump Targeting Students, Law Firms, Schools & More


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • New York Public Schools Uphold DEI Policies Despite Federal Threats

    New York state leaders have rejected the Trump administration’s directive to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in public schools, stating they will uphold these programs even if it risks the loss of federal education funding. “Diversity is a superpower here in New York City, we are always going to honor that,” New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Netizens demand China reinstate Tibetan language use in schools

    Hundreds of Tibetans have taken to social media to demand that China restore Tibetan language studies in schools, just days after Beijing released a white paper claiming that the right to use Tibetan language is guaranteed in Tibet.

    In the March 28 report about human rights in Tibet, China said the use of Tibetan language is widespread in government documents, public notices, media and schools, and that courses on both Mandarin and Tibetan are taught in primary and secondary schools in the region.

    But Tibetans say that isn’t true, and that China has actively moved to suppress use of the language — which they see as part of a wider plan to eliminate Tibetan cultural identity entirely.

    In 2020, for example, Mandarin was made the primary medium of instruction in all the primary and secondary schools in Tibet. It was called “bilingual” education but in reality Mandarin was used much more.

    Netizens (their names blurred for security reasons) demanding the Tibetan language to be reinstated as a requirement in college entrance exams, taught in schools, and used in workplaces on a Chinese social media platform, March 31, 2025.
    Netizens (their names blurred for security reasons) demanding the Tibetan language to be reinstated as a requirement in college entrance exams, taught in schools, and used in workplaces on a Chinese social media platform, March 31, 2025.
    (Composite image by RFA)

    In 2023, China started a Mandarin-only policy for students taking the annual college entrance exam, putting many ethnic minorities including Tibetan children -– who were previously allowed to take the test in their native language –- at a disadvantage.

    Even the title of the white paper — “Human Rights in Xizang in the New Era” — used the term Beijing-promoted term “Xizang” to refer to Tibet, another clear sign of attempts to assimilate Tibetans under Han Chinese culture.

    ‘Precious wealth’

    In reaction to the white paper, Tibetans left thousands of angry comments underneath several videos posted on the WeChat social media platform showing Chinese officials discussing the contents of the white paper.

    “Language and culture are the most precious wealth in the world…Restore Tibetan language in college entrance exams,” a netizen from Tibet posted.

    “No matter which nationality, as long as there is a language, it needs to be supported by the government and included in textbooks so that children can learn their mother tongue,” wrote another Tibetan.

    Students attend class at Nyingchi City Bayi District Middle School, during a government-organized tour, in Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomous Region, March 31, 2025.
    Students attend class at Nyingchi City Bayi District Middle School, during a government-organized tour, in Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomous Region, March 31, 2025.
    (Go Nakamura/Reuters)

    “The Tibetan script and language carries a long and rich history and culture of the Tibetan people,” said another post. “However, at present, Tibetan language is not seen in college entrance examinations and many workplaces do not use Tibetan language.”

    Outside experts also said that Beijing has actively tried to suppress the use of the Tibetan language.

    “The Chinese government has made sure that the Tibetan language remains practically useless in daily life, whether it is for education or to earn a living,” said Dawa Tsering, Director, Tibet Policy Institute, told Radio Free Asia.

    Government claims don’t square with reality

    The white paper focused on the use of Tibetan in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, or TAR, a Chinese government-designed administrative region that makes up part of the larger region that Tibetans refer to as “Greater Tibet,“ which includes chunks of Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Yunnan provinces.

    It claimed that there are 17 periodicals and 11 newspapers available in Tibetan language, and that government published 46.85 million copies of 8,794 Tibetan language books by the end of 2024.

    Officials from the State Council Information Office release the white paper titled ‘Human Rights in Tibet in the New Era’ in Lhasa, March 28, 2025.
    Officials from the State Council Information Office release the white paper titled ‘Human Rights in Tibet in the New Era’ in Lhasa, March 28, 2025.
    (Chinese government media)

    “The right to study and use the Tibetan language in public administration is guaranteed,” Karma Tsetan, chairman of the TAR government, said during the March 28 press conference.

    “The right to study and develop the Tibetan language is also guaranteed in education and in the standardization of important terms. Courses on both standard Chinese and Tibetan are taught in primary and secondary schools,” he said.

    But that doesn’t square with the reality on the ground.

    In July 2024, Chinese officials announced the closure of Gangjong Sherig Norling School, known for its education on Tibetan culture, philosophy and religion, in Golog county in the historic Amdo region of Tibet.

    That same month, monastic schools of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba county and Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Dzoge county were closed and a total of 1,600 young monks were forced to enroll in state-run residential schools that analysts say are aimed at making young Tibetans more loyal to the Chinese Communist Party than to Buddhism.

    And across Tibetan regions, children as young as 6 are required to enrol in boarding schools which now have military veterans posted as “solder instructors” to instill loyalty to the party.

    Restricted access

    China has severely restricted outsiders from entering Tibet, making it extremely difficult to describe the situation on the ground.

    But outside experts who have managed to visit Tibet say that Mandarin has become the dominant language.

    In December 2024, three members of the New Delhi-based think tank India Foundation, who went on a supervised visit to Tibet’s capital Lhasa, told Radio Free Asia that Tibetan now “plays second fiddle” to Mandarin and is treated as second language, with all main signages in Mandarin.

    China’s claims about human rights in Tibet does not reflect the reality on the ground, and urged Beijing to enable unfettered access for outside observers, independent researchers, said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch.

    “Over the past two decades, the Chinese government has implemented increasingly tightened control over Tibetans, as part of its wider efforts to forcibly assimilate minorities,” she said.

    “This high level of repression long documented by human rights organizations and media organizations in exile is in sharp contrast to the Chinese government’s claims about protecting human rights in Tibet.”

    The white paper titled
    The white paper titled “Human Rights in Tibet in the New Era” released by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China on March 28, 2025, in English, Tibetan, and Mandarin language. March 28, 2025.
    (Chinese government media)

    The United States has pressed China to open up access to Tibet.

    On March 31, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was imposing visa restrictions against Chinese officials engaged in efforts to restrict American diplomats, journalists, and other international observers access to Tibet, even as China’s diplomats and journalists enjoy broad access in the United States.

    “I urge the Chinese Communist Party to immediately address the lack of reciprocity and allow diplomats, among others, unrestricted access to the TAR and other Tibetan areas,” Rubio said.

    A State Department spokesperson told RFA it cannot name the Chinese officials affected by the visa restrictions as U.S. law requires individual visa records to be kept confidential.

    “We continue to call on the Chinese government to protect the human rights of Tibetans, preserve their unique identity, and resume dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, to work toward a negotiated solution and meaningful autonomy for Tibetans,” the State Department spokesperson told Radio Free Asia.

    Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson of the Central Tibetan Administration — the Tibetan government-in-exile — in Dharamsala, India, welcomed the U.S. move, calling it “timely” as it comes just days after the Chinese government claimed it has made “all-round and historic progress” in ensuring human rights inside Tibet.

    “The Chinese government claimed that Tibetans in Tibet enjoy complete freedom, but unrestricted access for impartial international observers into Tibet will prove that’s not the case,” Lekshay told Radio Free Asia.

    Additional reporting by Tenzin Norzom and Dorjee Dolma. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema and Dickey Kundol for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Department of Education Threatens US Public Schools’ Federal Funding Over DEI

    The U.S. Department of Education is giving state education agencies 10 days to certify that their schools do not engage in any practices that the administration believes illegally promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. In a letter sent Thursday, the Education Department told state schools chiefs that they must sign a certification that their schools are in compliance with its controversial…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • China sends army vets to Tibetan schools for military, political training | Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

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  • VAT on private school fees is discriminatory, high court told

    Legal action claims policy breaches rights of children with SEN whose requirements cannot be met by UK state schools

    Adding VAT to private school fees discriminates against children with conditions such as autism whose needs cannot be adequately met by UK state schools, the high court has been told.

    The legal action against Labour’s policy is being taken by parents claiming that VAT on school fees is a breach of human rights law and discriminatory on grounds including religion, nationality, disability and mental health.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • China deploys army veterans for military, political training in Tibetan schools

    China is placing army veterans as so-called “on-campus instructors” in schools across Tibet to impart military and political training to Tibetan children as young as 6, sources inside Tibet say, confirming state-run media reports about the new system.

    The move is a bid to instill loyalty to the Chinese government from a young age -– an initiative that experts say highlight an escalation in Beijing’s assimilation policies aimed at erasing Tibetan identity.

    State-run TV segments show Tibetan students marching in fatigues, raising the red Chinese flag and standing in formation while responding to commands from the instructors.

    Other footage shows children diving under their desks for air raid drills and evacuating down stairs with notebooks held over their heads for protection against falling objects.

    Military personnel are being deployed to schools in Lhasa, Chamdo, and Nagchu in the Tibet Autonomous Region, or TAR, Ngaba and Kyungchu counties in Sichuan province, Sangchu county in Gansu province as well as other regions in Qinghai province, the sources told RFA Tibetan.

    There, they are tasked with providing “patriotic education” and preparing Tibetan children for future military service, the sources said.

    Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force over 70 years ago. Ever since, Chinese authorities have maintained a tight grip on the region, restricting the Tibetan people’s peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity and use of the Tibetan language.

    A Chinese military veteran posted as an “on-campus instructor” at a state-run middle school in Sernye District in Nagchu, Tibet Autonomous Region, leads a flag hoisting ceremony, March 18, 2025.
    A Chinese military veteran posted as an “on-campus instructor” at a state-run middle school in Sernye District in Nagchu, Tibet Autonomous Region, leads a flag hoisting ceremony, March 18, 2025.
    (Chinese state media)

    “It’s no longer just about China swapping out Tibetan language in textbooks for Mandarin, the first source told Radio Free Asia, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    “Now, they are sending military personnel and Chinese Communist Party cadres to schools across Tibet to provide ideological education to thoroughly change Tibetan children’s values, way of thinking, and overall mannerisms in order to build their loyalty to the party,” he said.

    Instilling ‘correct values’ in children

    In Nagchu, for example, 13 retired Han Chinese army veterans were installed as “on-campus instructors” at seven different schools, ranging from primary to middle school, to help instill “correct values” in children, local state-run media reported.

    At least such two video reports showed that during such training periods, instructors blew whistles in the early mornings to wake up the children and instill army style culture in schools. TV footage also showed instructors dressed in fatigues inspecting bunk beds to see if the beds are made properly.

    The new system seeks to “let national defense education take root from childhood” and to ready Tibetan children for future military service, in what authorities said creates a “new win-win situation for veterans’ services and youth ideological and political education,” state-run media reports said.

    “Usually, the Chinese Ministry of Education creates a list of primary and secondary national defense education demonstration schools,” Anushka Saxena, a research analyst at Bengaluru, India-based Takshashila Institution, told Radio Free Asia.

    “Such schools are those where the PLA feels it needs to inculcate a sense of unity” with the Communist Party’s cause, she said, referring to the People’s Liberation Army.

    “Hence, schools in Tibet become an important target, given the need to assimilate and have younger generations feel a sense of loyalty to the country and the military,” she said.

    Goal: Sinicization

    Experts said the proliferation of uniformed military personnel in various local Tibetan primary and middle schools is a direct result of the recently amended National Defense Education Law, which was passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s top legislature, and came into effect in September 2024.

    Under the amendments, branches of the People’s Liberation Army will be stationed in colleges, universities and high schools across the country to boost a nationwide program of approved military education and physical training to prepare young people for recruitment, state news agency Xinhua reported at the time.

    “Together with other coercive means… this law is now being abused as an auxiliary tool to achieve the CCP’s – yet still elusive – goal of full Sinicization of Tibetans, by both militarizing and brainwashing the generation of young Tibetan who are coming of age in the current decade,” said Frank Lehberger, a Germany-based Sinologist and senior research fellow at Indian think tank Usanas Foundation, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

    China has long had a culture of military training in schools and universities, with Tibetan school children aged 8-16 forced to attend military training programs during vacation and Tibetan university students made to participate in military drills and training exercises.

    But the “on-campus instructor” system is a first, experts say.

    Chinese authorities chose Sernye district in Nagchu as the first pilot area in Tibet to implement the system, which they refer to as “…the innovative practice of integrating veterans’ management with school education.”

    ‘Reshaping children’s values and thought processes’

    This, experts say, is in line with goals outlined in China’s government work report for 2025, in which Premier Li Qiang said the government will draw up and implement a three-year action plan to strengthen education by adopting “integrated reforms and new approaches” in the “political education curriculum at all levels, from elementary school to university.”

    “These efforts at reshaping Tibetan children’s values and thought processes go beyond the classroom,” a second source from Tibet told RFA.

    Retired military veterans who will be posted as
    Retired military veterans who will be posted as “on-campus instructors” at seven schools in Sernye District in Nagchu, Tibet Autonomous Region, March 18, 2025.
    (Chinese state media)

    “These party cadres with extensive military experience enter students’ dormitories even after school hours to enforce Han Chinese ideologies and teach their social norms and conducts,” he said. “This is aimed at deconstructing Tibetan children’s existing thought patterns and cultural practices, which they have learned from their parents and traditions.”

    In Ngaba and Dzoge county in Sichuan province, for example, where Chinese authorities recently closed two monastic schools and forced young monks from these schools into state-administered boarding schools, sources say there is a greater emphasis on providing political education to Tibetan children.

    The closure of the two schools in July 2024 affected about 1600 students who were then forced to enrol in state-run boarding schools.

    “I’ve received essays written anonymously by Tibetan teachers from inside Tibet who have expressed their frustration at seeing the complete changes in school curriculum with heavy propaganda messages. This includes showing soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army in a heroic light,” said Tsewang Dorji, Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute.

    The “on-campus instructors” in Tibetan schools serve multiple roles, including as national defense education counselors, behavioral norms instructors, and ideological and political lecturers, local Chinese state media reported.

    Some of the training they provide and activities they lead in the schools, include Chinese flag-raising march, singing of military songs before meals, and provision of political and ideological education, with an emphasis on stories that glorify the ‘Chinese nation’ and service to it, reports said.

    “The PLA finds relevance in cultivating soldiers from Tibet given Tibetan’s natural and habitual adjustment with climates of high altitude. When it comes to cultivating professionals capable of conducting mountain warfare against adversaries like India, Tibetans can be an important asset for the PLA,” Saxena said.

    Chinese state media also celebrated the success of the pilot project in Nagchu, saying more than 300 Tibetan students have applied to be “future military service volunteers.”

    Translated by Tenzin Norzom. Edited by Tenzin Pema and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Project 2025 Lays Out Broader Goal of Trump’s Effort to Dismantle Ed Dept.

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday instructing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to start dismantling her agency, although it cannot be formally shut down without congressional approval. Since returning to office in January, Trump has already slashed the Education Department’s workforce in half and cut $600 million in grants. Education journalist Jennifer Berkshire says…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Trump vs. Public Schools: Executive Order Aims to Dismantle Department of Education


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  • Trump vs. Public Schools: Executive Order Aims to Dismantle Department of Education

    Seg1 jenniferberkshirebox

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday instructing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to start dismantling her agency, although it cannot be formally shut down without congressional approval. Since returning to office in January, Trump has already slashed the Education Department’s workforce in half and cut $600 million in grants. Education journalist Jennifer Berkshire says despite Trump’s claims that he is merely returning power and resources to the states, his moves were previewed in Project 2025. “The goal is not to continue to spend the same amount of money but just in a different way; it’s ultimately to phase out spending … and make it more difficult and more expensive for kids to go to college,” Berkshire says. She is co-author of the book The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual and host of the education podcast Have You Heard.


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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Trump and GOP Attack Children’s Food Aid in Order to Fund Tax Cuts for the Rich

    The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are waging a multi-front war on nutrition benefits for children, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture moving this week to end programs that provided over $1 billion in funding for schools and charity organizations to buy food from local farmers as GOP lawmakers simultaneously take aim at school meal programs as part of an effort to fund tax…

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  • “Sugarcane” explores trauma of Indian residential schools


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  • Trump’s DEI ultimatum to schools


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  • School Systems Across US Refuse to Comply With Anti-Trans Executive Order

    On Thursday, multiple school systems and representatives issued statements rejecting Trump’s executive order that directs schools to discriminate against transgender students or face legal consequences. The order, released Wednesday, labels transgender identity as an “anti-American ideology” and mandates discrimination in bathrooms and locker rooms while threatening teachers with criminal charges…

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  • Deadline Looms for Congress to Renew Critical Funding Program for Rural Schools

    Majority-Black, rural school districts in Mississippi like the one where Jacqueline Brown has taught for 17 years cannot afford budget cuts. It’s already difficult to recruit a certified math teacher or offer additional incentives to retain experienced educators who are nearing retirement in a rural area, she said. One federal program that helps rural counties navigate such challenges…

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  • A Teacher’s Approach On How To Fight Back Against ICE

    The Trump administration’s racist, anti-immigrant offensive is targeting sanctuary cities and the few remaining spaces where undocumented immigrants can feel safe — even where they go to learn and receive healthcare. As a teacher in New York City, this is a direct attack on my students, their families, and my coworkers.

    A new directive from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to raid schools, hospitals, and religious institutions like churches and mosques — locations previously designated as “sensitive areas” under a 2011 policy.

    The post A Teacher’s Approach On How To Fight Back Against ICE appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Faith Communities Continue Sanctuary Despite Removal Of Protections

    In the wake of the Trump administration’s cancellation of the 2011 “sensitive areas” memo yesterday; faith communities associated with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity are reaffirming their unwavering commitment to sanctuary. This commitment includes continuing to welcome immigrants and offering solidarity, support, and services regardless of immigration status.

    The “Sensitive Locations Memo,” introduced during the Obama administration, advised immigration enforcement officers to avoid making arrests in places like schools and houses of worship. Despite its repeal, faith communities remain steadfast in their solidarity.

    The post Faith Communities Continue Sanctuary Despite Removal Of Protections appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • ‘Why should Indian schools celebrate Christmas?’ Saffron sees red, strikes

    “Hindu bachhe kabhi Santa nahi banenge. Hindu sanskriti ka apmaan hum nahi sahenge. Jai Sri Ram!” (Hindu children will never be dressed as Santas. We will not tolerate any insult to the Hindu culture.)

    On December 22, 2024, Sudarshan News Jodhpur posted videos on its Facebook channel in which a man can be heard telling reporters this outside Jodhpur’s Shree Mahesh Shikshan Sansthan, also known as the MSS World School.

    He proudly proclaims that once Bajrang Dal learned about Christmas celebrations in the school, they made it stop and had the adornments removed. Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a far-Right Hindu organisation that also has associations with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

    Another video by the propaganda outlet shows this man inside the school. Addressing the camera, he says, “We will not accept this kind of an event (Christmas),” as other men take down the tinsel and decor. The song “Bharat Ka Baccha Baccha Jai Sri Ram Bolega” plays in the background.

    The accompanying caption by Sudarshan News Jodhpur said that “conversion had spread like Cancer” under the previous government and, now, under chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma’s regime, Right-wing organisations will “expose anti-national elements one by one.”

    What happened in this school, however, was not an isolated instance. In the days leading up to December 25, 2024, numerous social media accounts that identify as pro-Hindu or associate themselves with the Bajrang Dal took to social media, urging parents across the country to refrain from dressing their children as “jokers” — a crude reference to Santa Claus costumes. Below are some examples:

    Click to view slideshow.

    But it didn’t stop at that. While investigating incidents of targeted hate towards Christians, especially during Christmas, Alt News identified a troubling trend. Many affiliated with or claiming to be affiliated with pro-Hindu organisation Bajrang Dal were targeting schools celebrating Christmas.

    District-level social media accounts that identified with Bajrang Dal or the VHP brazenly flexed this intervention by uploading videos showing Christmas decor being stripped off, celebrations being halted and “lessons” being taught to school authorities on what should and should not be celebrated.

    Surprisingly, much of the footage that came to our attention was of vigilantes disrupting these celebrations in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat.

    ‘Why Should We Celebrate Their Festival?’

    On December 25, the Instagram handle of Vishva Hindu Parishad Gandhidham (@vhp_gandhidham) posted a video showing men wearing saffron stoles with the Bajrang Dal signage claiming that these workers from the Bapunagar district in Gujarat stopped a Christmas program in a school and informed everyone that children are the form of God, not ‘jokers’. 

    Alt News was able to identify two schools from Ahmedabad in this edited montage — South International School and Rising Kids Preschool in the Naroda and Bapunagar districts, respectively. A ‘Before and After’ comparison in the video by the VHP-associated account showed the schools done up for Christmas taking down all decorations after a conversation between these saffron-clad individuals and school authorities.

    An Instagram account going by the name Bajrang Dal Naroda Jila (@bajrang_dal_narodajilla) uploaded multiple videos documenting similar actions by them across various schools in the Naroda district. These videos were deleted after Alt News began reaching out to official members of the Bajrang Dal and VHP for comment. 

    In one such video posted on December 24, a group of people wearing saffron scarfs with “Jai Sri Ram” written on them in Gujarati are seen speaking to authorities at the Ankur International School. A similar ‘Before-After’ comparison showed decorations previously adorning the primary school being removed. The accompanying caption said that ‘Bajrangi brothers’ went to the school and taught a lesson on Sanatan Dharma in “their own way”.

    In another video uploaded by the same Instagram account on December 24, a similar chain of events unfolds at Little Angels’ School. In the video, a saffron-clad man is also seen tearing a hand-painted cutout of Santa Claus to pieces. The caption accompanying the video says that the group protested against celebrations happening on Christmas Eve at the playschool. On the same day, a similar group entered the premises of the district’s Excellent School. A video shows students removing Christmas decorations from the bedecked campus.

    Ankur English School in the same area also faced a similar ordeal. In a video shared by the account, a group of people can be seen having an animated discussion with authorities at the academy. One of them says in Gujarati, “They (Christians) comprise only 2% of the population; they don’t celebrate Ram Navami, so why should we celebrate their festival?” He adds that the holiday should not be on account of Christmas but Tulsi Puja Diwas. The caption accompanying this video said that teachers at this school were instructed to teach their students about the values of “Sanatan Dharma” instead of Santa and Christmas.

    Meanwhile, another video showed children at Saijpur Sarkari Hindi Medium School being made to chant “Jay Shree Ram” and recite Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional hymn dedicated to the Hindu god Hanuman. 

    Alt News analysed each of these videos several times to ascertain the schools involved and identify the people in them. We were able to ascertain that while these groups might have been disparate, at least a few faces were common in most of them. All the individuals we tracked from these videos identify as pro-Right on their social media accounts and regularly amplify content linked to the VHP or Bajrang Dal.

    Other district-level Instagram accounts associated with the Bajrang Dal or VHP also uploaded similar videos. For instance, on December 25, the accounts of Bajrang Dal Kalol (@bajrangdal.kalol), Bajrang Dal Mehsana (@bajrangdal_mehsana) and Bajrang Dal Nandasan Prakhand (@bajrangdal_nandasan_prakhand) collaboratively uploaded footage of workers directing authorities at Shree Narayana Higher Secondary School in Kathwada to remove decorations. The video clearly shows painted cutouts of Santa Claus with a reindeer and a Christmas tree, likely made by the children there being taken down.

    Likewise, on December 24, Bajrang Dal Amaraiwadi (@bajrangdal_amraiwadi) posted footage of a group of saffron-clad men visiting different schools in Ahmedabad’s Hatkeswar locality. The video, which opens with men riding motorcycles and screaming “Jay Shree Ram” on the streets, shows them entering The Mother English School in the area. Here, they have a heated discussion with school authorities and soon after, one of those visibly identifying with the pro-Hindu group can be seen tearing down Christmas and Santa drawings, which looked like they were made by children. In the next shot, another man tears down streamers while a student is seen taking off his Santa Claus costume. The group then goes on to disrupt Christmas celebrations at St. Lawrence Public School.

    A deep dive into these videos also led us to the Instagram account of a Pankaj B Nai (@pankajbnai_3636), who identifies as a Bajrang Dal worker. He uploaded the same video claiming, in the caption, that Bajrang Dal workers went to 15 schools in the Hatkeshwar area and put an end to programs deemed contrary to Hindu culture.

    Alt News reached out to all of these schools for comment. Four of them anonymously confirmed that these events did happen; people claiming they were from the VHP or Bajrang Dal visited the schools and tried halting celebrations.

    “They are little (kids) and we have Christian children studying here as well. We celebrate all festivals. But Bajrang Dal members coerced us into halting the program and sending students home,” a spokesperson from one of the schools said on condition of anonymity. “Humne poocha toh unhone kaha ki upar se order hai.” (When we asked they told us the orders were from higher up.) “We have to live and work here and we have to prioritise the safety of the students and faculty,” this person added when we asked whether they reached out to the police. 

    Other schools did not comment or elaborate but did not outright deny that it happened.

    Alt News also reached out to Vishva Hindu Parishad Gujarat’s spokesperson, Hitendra Rajput, who looked into some of the videos and said that none of the Instagram accounts uploading these videos actually belonged to the VHP or Bajrang Dal. “These are not our workers. These are not verified accounts and we don’t know who these people are, we only have one primary social media account which is for all of Gujarat,” Rajput told Alt News. When asked if the VHP would take any action against these people, Rajput said they would look into it now that it’s come to his attention. He clearly said that the VHP or Bajrang Dal has no official district-level social media accounts.

    However, a day after we reached out to Rajput, many of the videos from VHP Naroda’s Instagram account and a few from other VHP and Bajrang Dal-associated accounts were deleted. Alt News had archived them when they were live. Additionally, these accounts that Rajput said were not officially affiliated to VHP or Bajrang Dal regularly share images and videos of VHP-led events and programs.

    Gujarat Leads the Charge, Other States Follow

    While our investigation primarily focused on Gujarat, we found more such incidents of Right-wing vigilantes teaching schools “a lesson” in other states as well.

    One video from Nakur in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district shows a group of men entering a school named Our Heaven Academy, where a program is going on and some can be seen wearing Santa Claus hats. When we reached out to the school, they said that Bajrang Dal workers tried to stop a “farewell program” that coincidentally happened to take place on December 25 and asked why students were in school on a holiday.

    On December 20, in Kerala’s Palakkad district, three VHP members entered the premises of Nallepilly Government Upper Primary School, which was decked up for Christmas and proceeded to vandalize the decorations. The school authorities filed a complaint in which they said that VHP members questioned and verbally abused them. Workers of the Right-wing body reportedly asked whether the school observed Krishna Jayanti before calling them out for celebrating Christmas.

    The three members, identified as K Anilkumar, V Susasanan, and K Velayudhan, were arrested by the police for harassing the school faculty. Three days after this, a Christmas crib arranged for celebrations at the Government Boys School at Thathamangalam, in Palakkad, was destroyed. 

    Many of the incidents that Alt News documented were available on social media and in the public domain, easily accessible for all to see. But this also means that there could be more such cases that may never come to light because there is no record of them online or, like in the case of the videos by VHP Naroda Jila, have now been wiped away from the digital space.

    The post ‘Why should Indian schools celebrate Christmas?’ Saffron sees red, strikes appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China expands orphanage-style boarding schools for Uyghur children

    Read RFA coverage of this story in Uyghur.

    Orphanage-style boarding schools for Uyghur children whose parents were detained by Xinjiang authorities in internment camps that began in 2017, remain open and are expanding in certain areas, police and teachers with knowledge of the situation said.

    The development comes despite claims by the Chinese government that it shut down the “re-education camps,” in which an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs have been held.

    Radio Free Asia has found that at least six such schools are operating in Yarkand county of Kashgar prefecture, Kuchar township of Aksu prefecture and Keriye county of Hotan prefecture.

    A police officer from Yarkand county said she had been assigned to take children whose parents had been arrested to schools in six different locations.

    “The most recent one I took one of them to was in Arslanbagh [village],” she told Radio Free Asia. “It was a school building that already existed before, and it seemed like it was a dormitory.”

    “The child used to live in Arslanbagh of Yarkand, but was later moved to Lengar [village],” she said. “So far, I’ve taken orphans to six different places. All of their parents have been arrested.”

    China said the re-education facilities were in fact “vocation training centers” set up to combat terrorism and extremism by re-educating individuals suspected of radical views, and teaching them Mandarin Chinese and trade and job skills.

    But human rights groups and Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims who were in the facilities said they were not vocation training centers but detention camps where authorities forced political indoctrination and abused inmates.

    ‘Protecting’ children

    After the mass detentions began about eight years ago, authorities opened so-called “Little Angels” schools to house and indoctrinate children whose parents were detained or imprisoned.

    Special police officers were assigned after 2017 to gather, place and “protect” children whose parents were taken to internment camps. They worked with teachers at these orphanage-like schools to monitor the children’s psychological and ideological state, keeping detailed records.

    In September 2018, RFA reported that nearly 3,000 children from Keriye county, whose parents had been taken to political re-education camps, were being held in two Little Angels schools, where they took classes, Uyghur sources said at the time.

    The police officer from Yarkand county could not provide a figure for the number of parentless children currently or previously educated in such schools there, nor could she say when the children’s parents would be released from confinement.

    “We don’t have information on when the school will be closed or when their parents are getting released,” she said.

    She added that a new boarding preschool had been established recently in Lenger village and now accommodated about 30 children.

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    Children of detained Uyghur parents held in ‘welfare schools’ in China’s Xinjiang

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    Uyghur children separated from parents, held in ‘Little Angels schools’ in Xinjiang

    For easier monitoring and management, the preschools, elementary schools, and middle schools for children whose parents are serving prison sentences have been placed side by side in some areas, the police officer from Yarkand county said.

    “The earliest one built is at Yarkand Bazaar,” she said. “It serves as both a primary and middle school. Recently, we’ve been taking children there.”

    Barbed wire

    The police officer from Yarkand county also said the children attending the boarding schools were well-fed and safely educated, and that other police officers guarded the entrance gates to the schools, whose outer walls were topped with barbed wire.

    “The school environment is good, and they are eating on time with good food provided,” she told RFA. “The first one I went to was Charibagh. They have guards at the gates, and there is barbed wire on the walls. I’m not sure how many buildings there are in the Charibagh orphanage, but it’s quite large.”

    A security guard who has worked for eight years at a kindergarten in Kuchar county said such boarding-schools for Uyghur children “are everywhere” in the county.

    “In the early days, we worked 10-20 hours each day,” he said about the time when such schools were set up. “In those days, there were very few staff members but lots of children. The kids cried all the time as their parents were taken to reeducation not too long ago.”

    “Now the kids are somewhat used to it,” he said, adding that there were about 300 children at the Angels School. “The younger kids are here. The older kids are in the schools outside the township and county.”

    A police officer from Keriye county said that children whose parents were sent for re-education were placed in a boarding school, known as the Angels School, in Yengi Osteng village, and in another location.

    “The second one used to be an elementary school and has remained as such and named the Angels School,” he said. “There are two schools called ‘Angels Schools’ in Yengibagh — one is a preschool, and the other is an elementary school.”

    Mass incarceration of Uyghurs scattered some 500,000 Uyghur children in state-run boarding schools, orphanages and other institutions run by the Chinese state, according to a 2021 report issued by the Washington-based Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy.

    The forcible transfer of children from one group to another was one of five acts that meet the threshold for genocide, the report said.

    Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Shohret Hoshur for RFA Uyghur.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • 3,100+ Indigenous Students Died at U.S. “Boarding Schools”: Native American Journalist Dana Hedgpeth


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • 3,100+ Indigenous Students Died at U.S. “Boarding Schools”: WaPo Native American Journalist Dana Hedgpeth

    Seg3 guestandgraves

    More than 3,100 Indigenous students died at boarding schools in the United States between 1828 and 1970 — three times the number of deaths reported earlier this year by the Department of Interior, according to a new investigation by The Washington Post. Many of the students had been forcibly removed from their families and tribes as part of a government policy of cultural eradication and assimilation. The new report was led by Dana Hedgpeth, an enrolled member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina, and expanded its reach beyond federal records to achieve a full public accounting of the death toll of what many scholars and survivors have described as “prison camps,” not schools. Hedgpeth shares how some tribes have now been able to recover the remains of children who had been buried at the boarding schools and return them for traditional burials in their ancestral homelands. “The impact of these schools is still being felt in many ways,” she says.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Biden Apologizes for Native American Boarding Schools That Aimed to Exterminate Indigenous Culture


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Biden Apologizes for Native American Boarding Schools That Aimed to Exterminate Indigenous Culture

    Bidenapology

    In the swing state of Arizona, President Biden formally apologized Friday for U.S. government-run Native American boarding schools, which sought to exterminate Indigenous culture by forcibly removing children from their families and placing them in institutions where their languages and customs were suppressed. “If the Democrats want the vote of Indian people, we want them to stand with us, not only on issues like the apology around boarding schools, but we also want them to stand with us in the solidarity that we have calling for a ceasefire in Palestine,” says Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of the Indigenous-led NDN Collective. He says that while Biden’s apology could be the start of an “era of repair” between Indigenous peoples and the U.S. government, the apology must be followed by action. Among the NDN Collective’s demands is major investment in preserving Indigenous languages, the rescinding of military honors for U.S. soldiers who took part in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre and clemency for imprisoned activist Leonard Peltier. “America’s longest-living Indigenous political prisoner, who’s incarcerated right now at the age of 80 years old in a maximum-security prison, is actually a boarding school survivor,” Tilsen says of Peltier.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.