International News

The British government will next month launch a crackdown on bullying in schools, for the first time acknowledging the growing use of text messaging by youngsters to frighten and intimidate their class mates on their mobile phones.

Heads and teachers will be given new advice on how to deal with the problem.

Research has shown that as many as one in every four bullied youngsters at secondary school is a victim of abusive text messages. The problem has grown with the expansion in the ownership of mobile phones among teenagers, and is more difficult to be identified and dealt with.

Jail for teacher insults

French schoolchildren face up to six months in jail if they are found guilty of insulting their teachers, according to a new law.

The law appears to be part of moves to curb juvenile offences and unruly behaviour, but has sparked fierce controversy.

Head teachers have welcomed it, but others are concerned that it could technically be applied to schoolchildren as young as 13, although officials who will enforce the punishment assured the public it would only be targeted at older offenders.

TV 'alone' bad for toddlers

The speaking and listening skills of young children in Northern Ireland are deteriorating because they spend too much time watching television alone, a leading teaching association has warned.

The National Association of Head Teachers spoke out following research it carried out, along with the National Literacy Trust, among head teachers.

The trust is planning a £2 million campaign to urge parents to talk more to their toddlers, to discuss with their children what they have seen on TV and encourage them to talk while playing.

First sex education textbooks

Beijing has published its first set of sex education textbooks, the Chinese official Xinhua News Agency has reported.

"Now is the time to change the traditional ideology of sexual avoidance and to give up unsophisticated teaching methods which simply preached moral standards," Liu Hanbin, deputy director of the Family Planning Association of China, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

The three-volume set for middle school students, aged 11 to 17, will include opinions and methods from developed countries, Xinhua said.

New subject: self-defence

South Africa's Department of Education recently launched the Crime Buster campaign, which aims to make training in self-defence techniques widely available to schoolchildren.

The aim is to teach all girls, as well as boys under the age of 10, to defend themselves against abuse by teaching them basic self-defence methods, as well as pointers towards developing self-confidence and self-assertiveness.

The training also helps learners recognise potentially dangerous situations before they happen, and how best to escape them if it's too late.

Reading, writing, rithmetic, litigation

More and more parents in the US are suing their children's teachers, arguing that their children deserve better grades or should be allowed to graduate from high school despite a failing grade, educators say.

Bad grades, poor attendance and bad behaviour used to be offenses punishable by suspension or, in severe cases, expulsion. But those offenses are now easily downgraded or reversed as long as the parents have a good lawyer, education analysts say.

Princess reveals bullying secret

Swedish Crown Princess Victoria has revealed that she was bullied at school because she suffered from dyslexia. Her classmates used to laugh at her as she attempted to read aloud, and she herself believed that she was stupid.

Princess Victoria decided to make the spontaneous personal revelations after being invited to open a conference on bullying in Sweden.

Princess Victoria's father, King Carl Gustaf, also suffers from the condition, which leaves sufferers struggling to read and spell. Many other leading figures are thought to have been affected to some degree by dyslexia, among them Sir Winston Churchill, Hans Christian Andersen, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.