A major portion of premature deaths, especially of children under five years of age, is attributable to indoor air pollution, after water-borne and sanitation-related disease in Bangladesh, says a joint study by the government and the World Bank.
The study claims that poor indoor air quality due to the traditional cooking practices create high risk and directly affect the lactating and young children along with the mother.
Such health risk is currently assessed as one of the challenges faced by Bangladesh in attaining health-related targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

By Samarth Pathak

New Delhi:Ever since government's flagship programme, "Chalta Phirta School" was initiated in February, it has been instrumental in educating underprivileged children at their doorstep.

Operating under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the project aims to provide free education to those who cannot afford to go to regular schools due to financial or family constraints. A brainchild of R.M. Mohla, it is based on the simple formula

At Hope Community Charter School, pre-kindergarten students are taught to recycle and fill out math worksheets with an environmental theme. Across town at private Sidwell Friends School, sixth-graders in science class race solar-powered cars and record their fastest times.
Learning green means different things in different classrooms, whether it's in a public charter school housed in a former warehouse alongside railroad tracks or in an exclusive academy former first daughter Chelsea Clinton attended.

BUILDING: Schols going green for energy costs, health

The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) will implement a countrywide programme to upgrade the psychological and educational development of tsunami affected children.

The main objective is assisting tsunami affected children to grow up as normal citizens in a healthy environment. The guardianship of all tsunami affected children have been granted to the NCPA by the Tsunami Special Regulation Act no.16 of 2005, a spokesman said.

Elite schools lend campuses to poor children Every noon a merry bunch of children from low-income colonies of Jamshedpur cross the Subernarekha in a boat to study at the elite Carmel Junior College. They get dedicated teachers, books and a clean campus without paying exorbitant fees. Some even get vocational training. Five private schools in Jamshedpur have opened up their campus to 8,000

The workforce in carpet industry which generated $200 million through exports in 2005 comprise most vulnerable, marginalised and dispersed population which also included children, says a recent study conducted by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) on Bonded Child Labour in the carpet industry of Thar. At least 40 per cent of the workforce in carpet weaving are children, the report said.

IMPHAL, July 29