73-year-old takes high school exams for 39th time

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:02:06 GMT

clipped by: Newfman

JAIPUR, India (AP) - This year, like the past 39 years, Shivcharan Jatav tried to pass his 10th grade high school exams - and failed again.

The 73-year-old from western India was undeterred, vowing Friday to try again next year, in the hope that an education would improve his job and marriage prospects.

Jatav, a farmer from the desert state of Rajasthan, who had no formal education as a child, said he had been trying to pass the exams since 1969, when an army recruiter told him it would improve his chances of being accepted into the military.

"Since then I have been trying to pass this examination, but without any success," Jatav said, days after receiving the bitter news that he had failed again.

Jatav passed only one subject, the ancient language of Sanskrit, and scored just 103 out of a total of 600 in the examinations, he said.

Even though he is too old to join the army he has kept at it, hoping to become a more eligible bachelor.

Tags: odd

End of monopoly could mean better internet access for African universities

Tue, 29 May 2007 09:10:02 GMT

clipped by: cobismith

Clip Source: www.scidev.net

The SAT-3 submarine communications cable — which runs from Europe down Africa's west coast — is currently monopolised by a consortium of state-owned and private telecommunications providers in different countries, and pricing structures have been the subject of criticism.

That monopoly ends in June, which could open up internet access for west African nations.

"In our universities you've got 18,000 students and 1,000 teachers using the same amount of bandwidth as an American household," said Sawyerr at a conference on African development at the UK-based Open University last week (16–17 May).

"The more people that use it, the slower it works. And because of the monopoly pricing in Africa, that university will pay 50 times more per unit than the American household."

"The monopolies run out in June and it is very important that before our governments renew their licenses we persuade them that these companies could give away a portion of their lines at a discounted rate to us," Sawyerr said.

Tags: internet, africa, networks, development, communications, monopolies, connectivity, education, satellite, cable

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73-year-old takes high school exams for 39th time

End of monopoly could mean better internet access for African universities