Education

In Germany and the U.K., public TV stations now broadcast educational shows for schoolchildren.

German education channel ARD-alpha, as well as children's channel KiKa and broadcaster BR, are expanding their learning and school shows.

In the UK, too, the public broadcaster BBC will be broadcasting several hours of lessons every day from the start of next week. Starting this Monday, the children's channel CBBC and the BBC Two channel are to focus on content for schoolgirls. The initiative is intended to support both schools and families during the new lockdown.

The Republican-led Texas' Board of Education voted Friday that students will be taught about "the central role of the expansion of slavery in causing sectionalism, disagreements over states' rights and the Civil War." University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley historian David Fisher was part of a work group that gave the board suggested revisions. Lawrence Paska, executive director of the National Council for the Social Studies, says what those students learn in school has a big impact on how they understand history and current events.

The Education Minister of Ireland, Norma Foley, has announced that all Irish students will receive a no-homework day in order to reward them for "working very hard" during the pandemic. She added that "Their teacher will decide what day the children can use it someday between now and Christmas".

In Bangladesh the first Islamic school, where 150 trans people can attend courses free of charge, opens. This is a further step to support the queer community. In 2018, a new law was passed that gave trans people of the "third gender" named there the right to vote and to take up political positions.

On Friday, Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles ordered schools to remain closed for in-person classes until at least October 1. Among those schools affected is Barron Trump's Maryland private school.

"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have based our decisions on science and data. At this point the data does not suggest that in-person instruction is safe for students or teachers," so Gayles in a news release on Friday.

On Monday, Donald J. Trump again called for schools to reopen despite high numbers of Covid-19 infections. "Cases up because of BIG Testing! Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!," Trump tweeted.

Google has announced that it will fund 100,000 scholarships for career certificates of their own "Google Career Certificates" program in order to "help Americans get qualifications in high-paying high-growth job fields".

The goal is to educate people on a need-basis through their online program in order to "help America's economic recovery". In addition, the technology company has announced that it'll commit $10 million in job training Google.org grants distributed through multiple organizations for communities throughout America.

In a move that was considered to pressure universities to reopen, the Trump administration announced a directive on Monday that would force international students to return to their home countries if all of their classes and coursework were taken remotely.

"It appears that it was designed purposefully to place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall, without regard to concerns for the health and safety of students, instructors, and others," so Lawrence S. Bacow, President of Harvard University.

In response to the directive, Harvard and M.I.T have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking "a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief preventing Defendants from enforcing the policy announced in ICE’s July 6 Directive, or promulgating it as a Final Rule" and "a declaration that the policy announced in the July 6 Directive is unlawful."

On Monday, Harvard University announced its reopening plans for the next academic year. All first-year students are set to attend courses on campus during the fall semester but will be studying remotely in spring so seniors can return before their graduation. Furthermore, the university will only allow up to 40 percent of its undergraduate students on campus, asking the rest of its student body to study remotely while fees and tuition will remain the same.

A statement released and signed by over 850 members of the Academic Faculty of Georgia Tech, states that the current reopening plan of the university "endangers our research and education missions and, most importantly, threatens the health, wellbeing and education of students, staff, and faculty."

"We are alarmed to see the Board of Regents and the University System of Georgia mandating procedures that do not follow science-based evidence, increase the health risks to faculty, students, and staff, and interfere with the nimble decision-making necessary to prepare and respond to Covid-19 infection risk," the statement said.

The Georgia Tech faculty further added four points they believe are the "best way forward to ensure a safer start of the Fall 2020."

Among those points are mandatory face masks everywhere on campus, making remote education the default mode of 2020, on-campus education for a limited number of students "who need access to campus residences and on-campus laboratories or other specialized facilities". The faculty also calls to empower the "President of Georgia Tech to act independently to safeguard the health and safety needs of the Georgia Tech community, informed by scientific evidence."

Danielle Geathers, alongside running mate Yu Jing Chen, was elected as president of the Undergraduate Association at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Geathers, who previously served as the diversity officer, is the first black woman in the university's 159-year-history to be elected as student body president. “Although some people think it is just a figurehead role, figureheads can matter in terms of people seeing themselves in terms of representation. Seeing yourself at a college is kind of an important part of the admissions process", so Geathers.

AnnaRose Rubright has graduated from Rowan University, New Jersey as the first person with down syndrome at the beginning of May after completing a four-year program in radio, television and film. Rubright stated that "most of my family members cried" and that "it was very emotional for me and a bit overwhelming". As the first oldest of six daughters, she felt the importance to show her sisters that she could accomplish her dreams. The director of the academic success center and disability resources at Rowan University, John Woodruff, has stated that the standards for people with disabilities at the university are not lower, but that the university provides accommodations the help.

Many Canadian universities, including the University of British Columbia and McGill University and Montreal, have announced that they will start offering courses online. However, it has also been said that labs and other activities requiring in-person attendance will be held in smaller groups.

Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of Seoul's education office, calls for postponement of reopening schools. All schools, as well as kindergartens, were supposed to reopen this week, as per governmental decision. In a post to Facebook on May 11, he stated that "if the current trend of concerns over a second wave of COVID-19 continues, (I) believe there is a need to review the school reopening schedule." Hee-yeon suggests postponing the reopening by a week.

Princeton, one of the eight Ivy League colleges, has announced its first black valedictorian in its 274-year history. Nicholas Johnson, a Montreal native, is majoring in financial engineering and operations research and has previously worked as a software engineer at Google.

"It feels empowering. Being Princeton's first Black Valedictorian holds special significance to me particularly given Princeton's historical ties to the institution of slavery," Johnson told CNN.

Teachers and staff of North Florida School of Special Education surprised their students, who have been studying from home since March, with home visits for their graduation. Staff came to students' homes to present them with graduation cap and gown alongside balloons and other gifts.

“(There was) this group of people in our cul-de-sac--cars and people. I thought, one of the teachers will just drop off the cap and gown, so that was a huge surprise.”, so a mother of one of the students.

The course with the title "Psychology and the Good Life" was originally taught in spring 2018 by the psychology professor Laurie Santos. Since then it has become the most demanded course at the university with over 1,182 enrolled students. Due to the huge request, Laurie Santos has adapted the course for online learning and published it on Coursera, gathering over 600,000 enrolled students.