Day: December 27, 2020

(China Daily)08:55, July 13, 2020

Opposition to the introduction of visa restrictions on international students in the United States continues to grow, with 180 academic institutions in the country speaking out against the move, despite adjustments made to the policy by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

On July 6, ICE announced that students currently in the US on F1 and M1 visas must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status, if their schools classes are entirely online in the fall semester.

Anyone found violating the rules, ICE said, would risk immigration consequences, including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.

The policy was slammed by hundreds of thousands of international students in the US, and prompted higher education institutions in the country to launch lawsuits against ICE.

Amid escalating pressure, ICE issued a new statement on its website. When answering the question, Are students attending schools that are entirely online barred from attending that school?, it said: Students will not be permitted to enter or remain in the US to attend such schools, but they are not barred from continuing to attend all classes at these schools from abroad.

Under the updated rules, international students must take at least some of their classes in person. Overseas students can still keep their visas, as long as they can prove that their schools will offer some offline courses in the upcoming fall semester.

ICE noted that this approach balances students ability to continue their studies while minimizing the risk of spread of COVID-19 in our communities by ensuring that individuals who do not need to be present in the United States are not physically here.

The adjustment comes amid anger among US universities, as the Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, which represents 180 higher education institutions in the US, issued a 22-page document on Saturday to show nationwide support for rescinding the restrictions.

ICEs new policy serves only to severely disrupt international students educational attainment, and our country is worse off for it, said Miriam Feldblum, executive director of the Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, in a statement.

This quasi-international student ban represents another unfortunate assault by the administration against immigrants and higher education, she added.

US President Donald Trump has insisted that schools and colleges return to in-person instruction as soon as possible. Soon after the restrictions were announced, Trump repeated on Twitter that schools must reopen this fall, adding that the Democrats wanted to keep schools closed for political reasons, not for health reasons.

But the restrictions have put additional pressure on universities to reopen even amid growing concerns about the recent spread of COVID-19 among young adults.

By WeiDeng (Peoples Daily Online)10:39, July 13, 2020

On Friday, March 13, campuses across the United States began issuing their COVID-19 shutdown statements. Many students were on Spring Break at the time, and were told the break would be 鈥渆xtended鈥? As they said their farewells, they assumed they would see each other soon鈥攐nly to find themselves, two to three months later, watching their own graduation from bed.

Transitioning from Spring Break to full online learning (for the first time) did not have the disciplinary effect that going back to school in person does. College is meant to teach time-management, but it is a completely different conversation when structure is completely removed from a student鈥檚 schedule. Isolation created the perfect incubation environment for a myriad of mental illnesses to spike: ranging from depression and bipolar disorder to anxiety and schizophrenia. The fact that there was a nationwide shortage of items at grocery stores due to hoarding and overwhelming demand made cooking nutritious meals while studying more difficult. 鈥淕oing into the grocery store, nothing that we used to cook was available. Not having proper nutrition on top of being unable to really focus and understand what was happening in our Zoom classes was hard,鈥?says Jonel Ednalino, who recently graduated from University of the Pacific in an online ceremony.

The senior class of 2020 was asked to say goodbye to these four formative years of their lives in just two days. They missed out on two months of traditional senior celebrations including Spring Concert, taking pictures for graduation, going to graduation fairs, studying for finals with friends, and most importantly, walking across a stage in a cap and gown. Many of these seniors are the first in their family to graduate from a four-year college, at least in America. According to Migration Policy Institute, 78% of immigrants in the U.S. are between 18 and 64 years old. Their families moved across the world in pursuit of the American Dream, sacrificing everything for a better future for their children. Many of these students come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, meaning their family is more dependent on them for financial support and care-taking. They grew up fearing deportation and watched the recent administration threaten their DACA status.

UC BERKELEY CAMPUS

Time and time again, this is the generation that has been asked to step up and inherit a world which sustains deep flaws inflicted by those who came before.

The graduating class of 2020 comes from an incredibly resilient and diverse generation. They were in pre-school on the day of September 11th, 2001, were by their parents鈥?sides during the Great Recession of 2008, grew up around school shootings and participated in March For Our Lives to protest in the name of their own safety on campus, went on strike over climate change, and are currently participating in the largest civil rights movement in U.S. history. More importantly, as COVID-19 uproots daily life, it is disproportionately affecting low-income BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People-of-Color). These young, fresh-eyed seniors are clear about the hidden inequalities of their higher education, the insurmountable national student debt crisis, and are agitated for their friends and themselves, graduating into a global pandemic. COVID-19 is the catalyst for exposing pre-existing failures and inequalities in the system. The class of 2020 may have been secluded, but they are far from apart. What holds this generation together is far more significant than sharing a classroom. This is a generation that, upon told change is difficult, are responding with 鈥淐hange is the only option.鈥?nbsp;

(Xinhua)13:25, July 13, 2020

LONDON, July 13 (Xinhua) — Some 9.7 million children worldwide could be forced out of school forever by the end of this year, as a result of increasing poverty and budget cuts incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, London-headquartered charity Save the Children warned Monday.

In 12 countries, mainly in West and Central Africa but also including Yemen and Afghanistan, children are at extremely high risk of not going back to school after the lockdowns are lifted, while in another 28 countries, they are at high or moderate risk, the charity said in a report published on its website.

Lockdown measures during the pandemic saw a peak of 1.6 billion children out of school globally, according to the report.

Calling this an unprecedented education emergency, Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, said: We know the poorest, most marginalized children who were already the furthest behind have suffered the greatest loss.

In a mid-range budget scenario, some of the poorest countries in the world will see a shortfall of 77 billion U.S. dollars in education spending during the next 18 months, while in those countries where governments use education spending to tackle COVID-19, the figure could soar to 192 billion dollars by the end of 2021, the report said.

Ashing expressed worries that the impending budget crunch let existing inequality grow even wider between the rich and the poor, and between boys and girls.

Girls are at increased risk of gender-based violence, child marriage and teen pregnancy during school shutdown, the report said.

To address this education emergency, Save the Children, which has 29 national members worldwide, urges governments and donors to increase funding of education, with 35 billion dollars to be made available by the World Bank.

The agency also in its report calls on commercial creditors to suspend debt repayments by low-income countries, which could free up 14 billion dollars for investment in education.

(Xinhua)15:08, July 13, 2020

LA PAZ, July 13 (Xinhua) — Bolivian Economic Minister Oscar Ortiz said Sunday that he has tested positive for COVID-19, making him the fourth cabinet member infected with the coronavirus.

I have tested positive for COVID-19, I feel good. With Gods help we will get ahead, and together we will continue working for the economy of Bolivian families, Ortiz, who was named by the Latin American countrys interim President Jeanine Anez on Tuesday, wrote in his Facebook account.

In a video clip attached to the Facebook post, he said doctors admitted him to hospital so his symptoms could be monitored.

The other three cabinet members diagnosed with COVID-19 are the ministers of health and mining, and Anezs chief of staff.

Anez said Thursday that she has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently in quarantine. Other officials infected with the virus include the president of the Bolivian Senate and the head of the central bank.

Bolivia has tallied over 48,000 COVID-19 cases so far, with more than 1,800 fatalities, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

(Xinhua)16:56, July 13, 2020

SEOUL, July 13 (Xinhua) — Eleven more U.S. soldiers in South Korea tested positive for COVID-19, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday.

The USFK said in a statement that 11 USFK service members were confirmed with the virus after arriving in South Korea, noting that all individuals tested positive on their first mandatory COVID-19 test prior to entering quarantine.

The confirmed soldiers have been transferred to a designated isolation facility on either Camp Humphreys or Osan Air Base both in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south the capital Seoul.

The total number of infections among the USFK-affiliated individuals rose to 74, according to Yonhap news agency. Of the total, 33 were active-duty soldiers.

The USFK reported nine more confirmed cases on Friday, including eight newly-assigned service members and one civilian employee.

It came amid the growing worry here about the imported COVID-19 cases. In the latest tally, South Korea reported 62 more cases of the COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the combined number of infections to 13,479.

Out of the new cases, 43 were imported from overseas, marking the highest imported figure in 110 days. The figure continued to gain in double digits for 18 straight days.

The USFK said the services members and all other passengers on the commercial and chartered flights are tested upon arrival and immediately quarantined without interacting with anybody besides other individuals on their flight.