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UN calls for end to education gap

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The UN’s Transforming Education Summit has offered an opportunity to galvanise global action to recover learning losses and rethink education systems.

With Covid-19 exposing the fault lines of education systems globally, more than 130 countries have committed to rebooting their education systems and accelerating action to end the learning crisis, said the organisers of the summit, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened, reports Xinhua news agency.

Education is in a deep crisis. Instead of being the great enabler, education is fast becoming the great divider, said Guterres in his speech to the opening of the leaders’ meeting day of the summit.

The summit was held on the sidelines of this year’s UN General Assembly high-level week.

Some 70 per cent of 10-year-olds in poor countries cannot read a basic text. Even in developed countries, education systems often entrench rather than reduce inequality, reproducing it across generations. The rich have access to the best resources, schools and universities, leading to the best jobs. At the same time, the poor, especially girls, face huge obstacles to getting the qualifications that could change their lives, said Guterres.

Displaced people and students with disabilities face the highest obstacles of all. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on learning worldwide. But the education crisis began long before, and runs much deeper, he said.

Education systems are failing students and societies. Too often, curricula are outdated and narrow. Education systems take little account of life-long learning. Teachers are under-trained, undervalued and underpaid. The digital divide penalizes poor students. The education financing gap yawns wider than ever, said Guterres.

“We will not end this crisis by simply doing more of the same, faster or better. Now is the time to transform education systems,” he said.

The UN chief called for action in five areas to transform education.

First, more work is needed to protect the right to quality education for everyone, especially girls, everywhere.

He said today’s teachers need to be facilitators in the classroom, promoting learning rather than merely transmitting answers.

“We also need to tackle the global shortage of teachers, and look at increasing their quality by raising their status and ensuring they have decent working conditions and continuous training and learning opportunities and receive adequate salaries,” he said.

Schools must also become safe, healthy spaces with no place for violence, stigma or intimidation. Education systems should promote the physical and mental health of all students, including their sexual and reproductive health, he said, adding that the digital revolution must benefit all learners.

He said that none of the above will be possible without a surge in education financing and global solidarity.

Guterres and Gordon Brown, the UN special envoy for global education, launched the International Facility on Financing for Education during the summit, a first-of-its-kind tool that aims to mobilize $10 billion to help 700 million children in lower-middle-income countries to access quality education.

The tool combines direct grants and guarantees that can multiply donor resources.

It uses donor guarantees to provide a new form of quasi-equity to multilateral development banks, which can raise additional financing in capital markets and provide funding to countries for education.

Setting out a vision statement at the summit, he called on countries to revisit the purposes of education, proposing that curricula must respond to broad purposes, including learning to learn, learning to live together, learning to do and learning to be.

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India on high alert as Imran Khan rumours push Pakistan towards chaos: ISI eyes major diversionary strike

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New Delhi, Nov 28: Indian Intelligence agencies have alerted the security forces to remain in a state of very high alert in the wake of the developments unfolding in Pakistan. Trouble is brewing in Pakistan in the wake of rumours relating to the death of former Prime Minister, Imran Khan.

Huge crowds are mobilising outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where Khan is lodged. Thousands of PTI supporters have gathered outside the jail demanding that they meet with their leader.

The Pakistan Army, however has refused permission for a meeting with Khan, while also dismissing rumours about his death.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that rumours relating to the death of Khan began to circulate three days back. Since then there has been a massive build up of his supporters. If the Army does not provide proof that Khan’s supporters have been seeking, then violence is bound to engulf Pakistan.

An official said that violence is imminent in Pakistan given the current situation. For India, the spillover is the concern and trouble in the neighbourhood is never a good sign for national security.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the ISI is already planning a series of major attacks in India, so that attention is diverted. Khan remains a very popular figure in Pakistan and if news about his death is true, then the country would witness violence of a very unprecedented nature.

It would be beyond the control of the security forces in Pakistan to control the people and eventually the country could face a civil war like situation. The Army wants to keep Imran Khan down and all issues relating to him under wraps.

However, it may not be able to sustain this for long as the people are getting anxious and are seeking answers. The ratings of the establishment in Pakistan, especially with Field Marshal Asim Munir at the helm has hit an all time low.

An official said that the people are being stopped by force and the Army does realise that a majority of the population wants the current dispensation out.

Pakistan watchers say that the people are particularly upset that the Army engineered a coup to take Khan out of power and install a dummy government under Shehbaz Sharif. There is no respect for a democratically-elected process and the people have being voicing their disgruntlement against this, experts add.

Indian officials say that the rumours relating to Khan’s death was something that the establishment did not expect. This has put the Army on the back foot. If one looks at the build up of supporters, it is massive and the Army would not be able to contain them by using force.

Officials say that the Pakistan Army would look to buy time so that it would be able to handle the situation. In order to buy time, the Army and ISI would plot attacks in India so that this would act as a diversion for sometime.

The chatter that has been picked up suggests a sense of urgency to carry out a spectacular strike in India. The ISI is not planning some small attack. It wants one on the scale of a Mumbai 26/11 or Pulwama so that the attention and focus of the Pakistan people is completely diverted, another official said.

Intelligence agencies have alerted security officials to keep a watch particularly on the eastern border. There is a lot of ISI related activity that is on in Bangladesh. Several modules have come up in collaboration between the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami (HuJI) with the sole intention of carrying out attacks in India.

Pakistan is also planning to fly in Hafiz Saeed to Bangladesh so that he could give the members of this module a pep talks. Officials say that Saeed is always roped in to give the terrorists of his modules a pep talk just before a major attack is launched.

This was found to be the case prior to the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. Officials say that given the current situation in Pakistan, the ISI is desperate to create a diversion.

With the borders with Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab becoming harder to operate, the focus is on the modules of Bangladesh to carry out a major attack in India, officials add. Officials also add that such a diversion would give the Pakistan Army time to handle the situation relating to Imran Khan, which in turn would calm the people.

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International News

Shooting fallout: Prez Trump announces plan to halt migration from Third World nations

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TRUMP

New Delhi, Nov 28: Days after an Afghan national allegedly opened fire at two National Guard members near the White House, US President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping immigration decision, stating he intends to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries.”

The proposed move, if implemented, could significantly affect millions seeking entry into the US for education, work, safety or asylum, and may reshape global migration patterns.

In a sharply-worded post on Truth Social on Thursday, President Trump stated that while the United States has advanced technologically, immigration policies over the years have weakened the country’s progress and impacted living standards.

He wrote: “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

According to President Trump, the objective behind the policy is to dramatically reduce what he called “illegal and destabilizing populations.”

He argued that the only effective long-term solution is what he termed “reverse migration.”

Ending his statement, President Trump wrote: “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation. Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for – You won’t be here for long.”

Earlier, US Customs and Immigration Service Director Joseph Edlow said on Thursday that under President Trump’s orders, he has “directed a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern”.

India is not on the list of countries of concern, nor are others from South Asia, except for Afghanistan.

The actions followed Wednesday’s shooting rampage by Rahmanullah Lakanwal near the White House.

One of the National Guard soldiers he shot, Sarah Beckstrom, died on Thursday, while the other is in a critical condition in a hospital.

Lakanwal, who was injured before his capture, is also in hospital.

Soon after the shooting, President Trump said, “We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan”.

Under the broadened scrutiny announced by Eldow, several hundred thousand Green Card holders from the 19 countries will be put under “rigorous re-examination”.

President Trump had put those countries under a watch list in June and restricted the issuing of visas to their citizens, expressing concern over the ability of the US to vet the applicants from there.

The other countries on the list are Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Lakanwal, who had worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan, came to the US under programmes to protect Afghans who had cooperated with the US when the Taliban took over.

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Tejas crashes at Dubai Air Show: IAF regrets ‘loss of life’

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New Delhi, Nov 21: In a tragic incident, an Indian Air Force Tejas fighter jet crashed during a demonstration at the Dubai Air Show on Friday, and the pilot lost his life.

Taking it to X, IAF said, “An IAF Tejas aircraft met with an accident during an aerial display at Dubai Air Show, today. The pilot sustained fatal injuries in the accident. IAF deeply regrets the loss of life and stands firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief.”

It further added that, “A court of inquiry is being constituted to ascertain the cause of the accident.”

The crash occurred during the biennial Dubai Air Show, one of the world’s largest aviation exhibitions. The event has seen major announcements this week.

Notably, this is the second crash involving a Tejas aircraft, the first one being in 2024 near Jaisalmer.

In March 2024, a Tejas fighter went down in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, the first such accident in the aircraft’s 23-year history since its maiden test flight in 2001. The pilot ejected safely in that case.

LCA Tejas is a 4.5-generation, all-weather and multi-role fighter aircraft. The aircraft is designed to be a multi-role aircraft capable of taking up offensive air support, close combat and ground attack roles at ease.

It is also designed to undertake ground maritime operations.

At the Dubai Air Show, India and Germany, on November 19, revived high-technology defence collaboration after nearly three decades, with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signing a landmark contract with German state-backed sensor major HENSOLDT.

The pact, finalised on Day 3 of the event, focuses on the joint development of a cutting-edge LiDAR-based Obstacle Avoidance System (OAS) for Indian military helicopters. This breakthrough has already generated significant buzz across global aerospace circles.

The deal for this LiDAR-based Obstacle Avoidance System (OAS), signed by Indian DPSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and German government-backed HENSOLDT, marks a significant return to high-technology cooperation after earlier partnerships in aerospace and maritime programmes.

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