In The News

Right to Education: Dawn

Marvi Soomro May 12, 2020
Around the world, governments close schools to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and encourage teachers and parents to support ongoing studies. From primary school to university, lockdowns expose inequities in available technologies, parent capabilities and motivation, quiet spaces, books and other resources. “Major barriers like the digital divide and the weakness of education systems threaten to...

Tolerance of Cellphone Monitoring: Washington Post

Kareem Fahim, Min Joo Kim and Steve Hendrix May 8, 2020
In a few months, tens of millions of people around the world in at least 27 countries went under surveillance from governments, private companies and researchers without consent in order to trace the spread and contain the Covid-19 virus. Some people tolerate surveillance, agreeing that such measures are necessary to avoid a nationwide lockdown. However, the measures provoke debate in Europe and...

Battle Against the “Tsunami of Hate”: UN

António Guterres May 8, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has targeted vulnerable populations – initially striking cities while wielding disproportionate effect on nursing homes, prisons and other facilities where employees work in close quarters. These include US meat-processing facilities, often staffed with immigrant labor. Researchers suggest many of the deaths are due to disparities in health care, and the pandemic exposes...

Hate Goes Viral in India: Diplomat

Siddharthya Roy May 5, 2020
Questions emerge over India’s Covid-19 response with displaced migrant workers, food shortages and low testing rates. Analysts also continue to criticize the Indian government’s abrupt lockdown imposed with four hours’ notice. “Mandating social distancing in a country where cities have high population densities, and also announcing a complete shutdown of transportation necessary for people to...

Depending on Billionaires to Save Us: Vox

Theodore Schleifer April 10, 2020
Inequality has widened as governments rely on tax cuts for the wealthy and delay investment in infrastructure, disaster preparedness, education or other social programs that benefit entire societies. Starved of revenues, many governments fail in their pandemic response. “The US government has repeatedly proven to be sluggish at best and impotent at worst at controlling the carnage of the...

“Now He’s Dead”: Spiegel

Benjamin Moscovici March 24, 2020
Families from Africa’s poorest nations send children and spouses to Europe with the hope of earning wages. An article from Spiegel reports on a family who received a phone call about a son's death a year after he had left home. “Lansana, like so many migrants who have embarked on similar journeys, carried the hopes of his entire family with him when he left,” reports Benjamin Moscovici for...

Most Popular Yale Class Is Free: Business Insider

Mara Leighton March 23, 2020
More than 1.5 billion around the world are in lockdown conditions to contain the spread of COVID-19, reports the Associated Press. Education is not put on hold, and would-be students can kill multiple birds with one stone with a free Yale University class that analyzes the source of happiness. The Science of Well-Being, taught by Laurie Santos, is based on her class The Psychology and the Good...