TOILET TURNED INTO CLASSROOM

Only in the Philippines. Or is it?

In the picture, teacher Blesilda Ferrer distributes test papers for her 50 students of a Grade 2 class, packed in a classroom that was a former toilet of the government-run Commonwealth Elementary School in Quezon City, Philippines.

The choked situation in this schoolroom may be taken as symbolic of the Philippine educational system -- too few resources are being used to educate too many students in too little time.

The Department of Education estimates that for 2006, the country needed 10,549 new classrooms, 1.22 million desks, 67.03 million textbooks and 12,131 more teachers to deal with the crush. The Philippines has 87 million people, with the population growing at 1.95 percent a year.

URGENT APPEAL: Pls. Sign the Online Petition to Stop Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has recently uploaded an online petition about extrajudicial killings in the Philippines that is primarily directed to the Philippine Department of Justice.

From the part of the Asian Students Association, we will be supporting this online petition and hope that you would add your names to it as well.

Please note that e-mails with slightly different letters will also be sent to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the U.N. rapporteur for extrajudicial killings, the National Human Rights Commission and Pope Benedict. These letters can be viewed by clicking on their name on the web site. The online petition is available at http://www.pinoyhr.net/signature.php.
If you can also help in circulating this to your friends and networks, we would appreciate it as well.

Your support is a significant figure in this international campaign to protect human rights and stop the killings in the Philippines.

Thank you very much!

In solidarity,

Rey Asis, Bhakta Gurung and Lee Khai Loon
ASA Regional Secretariat

-- I am a witness to the suffering of my struggling people, and I join them in their fight for liberation.

Malaysia: Abolish UUCA, not amend it

UPDATE: Malaysian government revealed that the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) will be amended in order to provide the bigger space to university students in the social activities. It seems the Malaysian government committed themselves to reform the campus due to a lot of pressures from different organization about the student rights and academic freedom issues.

The member of the ASA, Malaysia Youth and Students Democratic Movement (DEMA) is working on the campaign to abolish UUCA. There are several students who faced the disciplinary action by the university authority due to their involvement in the protest action against the government and the issues of the people.

The UUCA not only restricted the students to get invove in the activities inside campus, but also prohibit the students to join the political party, union, NGO or any organization without the permission from the vice chancellor.

Coming July 11 (Tuesday), there will be a rountable meeting inside the parliament call by Dr. Wan Azizah, the president of the People's Justice Party. Different organization will present there to express the call to abolish the UUCA.

Mansuhkan UUCA! Abolish UUCA