Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 27 : Many Tamil schools do not have basic facilities although the country has been independent for more than 50 years, Malaysia Nanban quoted Selangor state executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar, as saying on Wednesday.

He said some schools were conducting their classes in warehouses and under trees.

He added that in the 1980s and 1990s, many parents were not interested in sending their children to Tamil schools due to the deplorable conditions, which made it unsafe for them.

He said the trend had changed and more Indian parents were eager to send their children to Tamil schools due to the excellent academic performance by students in such schools.

Geneva  - About 75 million children globally, over half of them girls, do not receive education, including one third of primary school age children in sub-Saharan Africa, the UN's education, science and culture agency said Tuesday.

The lack of education and inequalities in schooling systems caused poverty and diminished opportunity, according to UNESCO's Global Monitoring Report which said governments had to take action to make improvements.

In general, children from poor countries are three times less likely to attend primary school than children from rich nations, and the education they do receive will probably be of lower quality.

London, Nov 25 : A new book written by Alex Games has phrases and words that are being used now in the modern age in a different context all together from when they had been originally formed.

Some of the words had originated from countries other than ones that they are used in, and some have been changed to suit the dialect of the region, reports the Sun.

Starting off the list of words was ‘Balti’, which in modern day is a type of curry popular in Birmingham, and named after the pot in which it is cooked. Its origin is from the Portuguese word ‘balde’, meaning bucket or pail.

Next was ‘Bonking’, a word, which was first used around 1975, to describe sex. Before that it had been used to describe a hit to the head.

Vienna  - After a headmaster issued a kissing ban in an Austrian middle school, 20 young couples protested Monday by holding a smooch-in at the regional school authority in Linz.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its consent for the setting up of a UNESCO regional centre for training and education in Biotechnology at Faridabad, on the outskirts of Delhi.

The revised budget for the project has been set at Rs 99.55 crore. 

Dubai, Nov 21st, 2008 : Minister of Education HE Dr. Hanif Hassan emphasised the need for giving adequate attention to the extra-curricular activities of children to enrich their personalities.

Opening a special programme entitled: 'Innovate' at the Umm Suqeim Girls School in Dubai, the minister also reiterated the need for taking students beyond textbooks, and keeping them informed about the current developments on the local and global fronts.