Author: Sabrina Yates

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Education in Timor-Leste, a young Southeast Asian nation that only recently gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, has a turbulent history. The years leading up to independence were disastrous in terms of education. According to Nations Encyclopedia, over 90 percent of all school buildings in Timor-Leste were severely damaged or destroyed by the Indonesian military. By 2000, UNICEF helped reestablish 683 schools, but education was still lacking. In April-May of 2006, Timor-Leste endured a brief but intense period of violence and unrest. The causes of the 2006 Timorese crisis were many, but USAID points to a few…

SUCRE, Bolivia — In 2006, Evo Morales became the first Bolivian president from an indigenous background. Consequently, Morales took on issues relating to indigenous populations, such as illiteracy. For years, indigenous populations in Bolivia, although they are the ethnic majority, were oppressed and denied many educational opportunities. From 2006 to today, education equality in Bolivia has been and continues to improve briskly. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “literacy is a requisite for basic survival.” Moreover, the Millennium Development Goals of 2000 consider literacy integral to the development of the country and to eradicating poverty. As a result, literacy…

TOKYO — Japan’s education system ranks fourth according to the the Economist Intelligence Unit, yet one in six children are trapped in a cycle of poverty because of education inequality. Japan’s education system is unfortunately one of the factors to blame for the phenomenon of a poverty rate higher than the average OECD poverty rate of 12.4 percent. According to the OECD, one in twenty Japanese children “lack a key set of educational possessions.” Many students living above the poverty line may take educational tools, such as a quiet study space, computer or textbook for granted. But unlike their affluent counterparts, numerous Japanese students lack…

SEATTLE — Serena Williams is best known for her unparalleled skill in tennis, but what she devotes her time to off of the courts is even more impressive. Williams founded the Serena Williams Fund in hopes of “helping individuals or communities affected by senseless violence, and ensuring equal access to education.” Based on her accomplishments in recent years, it is impossible to say that she has failed in either of those regards. For years, Williams has teamed up with UNICEF to provide aid to African countries. On her first trip to Africa in 2006, Williams travelled to Ghana and joined…

N’DJAMENA, Chad — The 2015 World Economic Forum (WEF) revealed global progress in closing the gender gap in education. According to the latest WEF Global Gender Gap Index, 10 countries have fully closed the gap in both the Health and Survival and the Educational Attainment subindexes. Despite global progress, Chad signifies a massive gender gap in education and indicates how much the country lags behind other nations. Chad, a country in north central Africa, has the largest gender gap in education. Chad scored 0.591 in the Educational Attainment category in the WEF Global Gender Gap Index, ranking last out of the 145 countries…

SEATTLE — A number of celebrity chefs are concerned with more than feeding the wealthy clientele that their highbrow restaurants attract; they’re using their talents to alleviate starvation and malnutrition around the world. Cat Cora, José Andrés and Giada de Laurentiis are three world-renowned celebrity chefs who deserve praise for their use of fame as a tool to direct attention to global poverty. Cat Cora was the first female victor of the U.S. version of Iron Chef, but she didn’t stop there. Since her trailblazing win in 2005, she’s gone on to open several restaurants and cafes around the globe. All…