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From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
American LaMar Baylor spends most of his time in New York City, he works as a performer in the Broadway musical - The Lion King.
But since 2011, he has also spent weeks in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. There, he teaches dance to boys who live on the street. His teaching is part of an effort by the Rebecca Davis Dance Company. The project helps young people learn more about dance and learn how to behave in a classroom environment.
Rebecca Davis and LaMar Baylor (seated left in white) teach ballet to street children in Kigali, Rwanda. (Courtesy Rebecca Davis Dance Company)
LaMar Baylor describes his students as genocide survivors. They have lost all of their families, some have been in jail, others have sold their bodies for sex.
"They have been through things that no one should ever have to go through," said Baylor.
He says, dance classes provide the children with structured learning and self-expression that they've never had before.
Rebecca Davis is the founder and director of the dance company. She says she got the idea for the project after she visited Rwanda in 2008. She remembers meeting a large number of street children who were dancing, and she thought that dance could be used to get them off the street and into a safe place. Rebecca Davis believes that learning to dance is a step toward education.
"When you start to play music in Rwanda, these kids come out of nowhere and they enter the center. And it's because of dance that they have a way of exchanging their physicality, their survival skills that they learn on the street, and their strength, into something that's actually artistic and aesthetic," said Davis.
She says children can take classes in information and technology after they have learned to attend classes and follow directions.
Boys who have done best in the classes win scholarships, and are sent to the Sunrise Boarding School, about 30 boys have won this kind of financial aid. She says all the students are male, because few girls in Rwanda live freely on the street.
The Rwanda program is the largest one set up by the Rebecca Davis Dance Company, but Ms Davis has also set up dance programs in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Guinea. About 2,000 children in the three countries have taken part in the project since it was launched in 2010.
As for LaMar Baylor, he knows from his own experience how dance can lead to a better life. He is from Camden, New Jersey. Camden has sometimes been called America's poorest and most dangerous city.
Mr Baylor says that growing up in Camden, it took a long time for him to find out what he want to do. He now thanks dancing saved his life.
And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report, I'm Bob Doughty.

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This is the Education Report.
Sahnun Mohamud has never lived in Somalia, but the 21-year-old student has help established an organization that supports aid projects for the east-African country. Sahnun Mohamud is a co-founder and director of a group called Students for Somalia. He is following the humanitarian example of his mother.
Mr Mohamud attends William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is a long way from Somalia. However, that coastal nation is home to many of his relatives. His parents were born there. His mother, Filsan Darman helped start the non-profit agency Aadamiga Somalia, it provided for aid to Somalia in 1987.
Students for Somalia are helping women at the Hidaya Camp, located at the outskirts of Mogadishu, by giving them modest business loans, as long as they agree to keep their children in school. (Photo courtesy of Filsan Darman)
Filsan Darman said the agency provided food and clothing to Somali people. They had flet to the Somali capital Mogadishu to escape variance in the North.
Sahnun Mohamud phrased his mother's service, "She's been helping Somalia since before I was born."
Mr Mohamud became involved in Humanitarian projects early in life. One of his goals for starting Students for Somalia was to get more non-Somalis to take part in helping Somalia. He noted that many Somali aid organizations have only Somali members.
"So my group and my whole motto has been let's let every ethnicity and race help Somalia. I think it's a huge resource to have non-somali people helping Somalia," said Mohamud.
This year, Students for Somalia and Aadamiga are cooperating on a project to fight poverty and increase education. Mr Mohamud said the groups loan money to women who have lived a long time in refugee camps in Mogadishu. They use the money to start or support businesses like small food stores. The women must have a child in school in Somalia to receive the money.
The loans are small, from 100 dollars to 500 dollars. The woman must keep her child in school as a loan condition. She also must pay back the loan, but Mr Mohamud says the woman does not return the loan money to the lender. Instead, she gives it to her child's school. That way, he says, the school can make improvements.
"So it's really about education and keeping kids in school," said Mohamud.
Mr Mohamud says Students for Somalia centers its efforts on education. He says education provides a long lasting solution to most of the country's problems. He says young people will not have to leave school to work if their mother's businesses are successful. He also believes it will help prevent them from becoming child soldiers for armed groups.
And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report, I'm Christopher Cruise.

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From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
Pakistani officials have announced plans to name a school and a sports center for student who stopped a suicide bomber. The actions of 15-year-old, Aitzaz Hassan saved hundreds of other students in his high school earlier this month. The school is in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province. The area is home to many Shi'ite Muslims.
Aitzaz, a 15-year-old-boy who stopped a suicide bomber from entering his classroom.
Provincial Governor Shaukatullah Khan visited the home of the boy, and place flowers at his burial-place. The official announced an award of about five million rupees, or about 47,000 American dollars for the family.
Governor Khan told VOA that the sacrifice of children like Aitzaz Hassan is a cause for national pride, and a great honor for his village. The Governor said he came to the village representing Pakistan’s prime minister and president.
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif had declared earlier that the student should be honored with the nation’s highest award for bravery.
He proposed the award to president Mamnoon Hussain who has the power to approve it. The honor reportedly is expected to be presented to the boy’s family on March 23, which is Pakistan’s National Day.
Aitzaz Hassan was a ninth grader at the high school. Police said he saw the bomber moving toward the school’s entrance. The attacker was said to be wearing official school clothes, but looks suspicious to Aitzaz who tried to stop him. That is when a bomb on the attacker’s clothing exploded. The bomber was killed and Aitzaz died later in a hospital.
The student’s older brother Mujtaba said his brother often said he would fight if he came face to face with the suicide bomber. Mujtaba said he actually did what he said he would.
Aitzaz’s father said his mother was crying, but 500 other mothers would be crying, have the boy not acted as he did.
Pakistani education activist Malala Yusafzai expressed deep regret about the death of Aitzaz Hassan. She spoke from Britain, where she now lives.
She said "I feel proud that I belong to a country where many brave and courageous people like Aitzaz Hasan are born."
Malala Yusafzai now 16, survived an attempt on her life in 2012. Pakistani Taliban gunman carried out the attack in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. Malala has gained worldwide attention for her opposition to militants and support for the rights of women and girls.
From Learning English, that’s the Education Report. For more reports about education, go to our website at 51voa.com. I’m Jerilyn Watson.

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From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
Security risks are said to be widespread in the southern Afghan Province of Kandahar. Yet the number of women working in Kandahar has risen during the past year.
Jawaid Faisal is a spokesman for Kandahar's governor. Mr Faisal told VOA's Afghan service that the provincial government employs more than 1,150 women, most of them as teachers. That is up from about 900 female teachers last year.
Afghan women drag containers of water on the outskirts of Kabul, Jan. 9, 2014.
Kandahar is the former power base of the Taliban and its leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, he disappeared in 2001 after United States led forces ousted the Taliban from power.
The Taliban ruled Kandahar from 1994 to 2002. During that period, women were banned from working outside the home, most girls could not attend school and no girls graduated. This year, 500 girls will complete high school.
Mohammad Ewaz Nazari is an education official in the province. He said Kandahar has about 47,000 female students and the numbers are rising.
He described an increasing demand for jobs among both educated and uneducated women. Mr Nazari said 600 illiterate women have asked the government to help them find work. He said the provincial government is attempting to find jobs for these women who can not read or write.
In addition to government positions such as teachers, women are also working for private businesses.
Maryam Durani operates a local radio station, she is also a leading women's rights activist. She won the International Women of Courage Award in 2012, an award given by the American secretary of state.
Maryam Durani said women in Kandahar need more job opportunities, but she also said they must consolidate, strengthen the gains they have already made.
A non-governmental group, the Afghan School project has given women year long scholarships that can lead to careers. The recipients attend programs at the Kandahar Institute of Modern Studies. The Institute offers training in Business Management, Information Technology, English and Communications.
Some Afghans have expressed concern that the Taliban could regain power, now that US troops are moving toward the end of fighting in Afghanistan. And they say the progress of women's rights could be lost if that happens.
From VOA Learning English, that's the Education Report. For more stories about education, go to our website, 51voa.com. I'm Mario Ritter.

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From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
Public universities in Nigeria have reopened after a nearly six-month long strike by teachers.
In the city of Bauchi, teachers are now back in classrooms at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University. History lecturer Maimuna Sadiq attempts to begin where she stopped teaching in June.
FILE - Students and workers carry placards as they march on the Lagos-Ikorodu highway to protest against the suspension of academic activities following a nation-wide strike embarked by lecturers in state-owned universities in Lagos.
"We had treated three topics. You can't remember? So you mean you were not reading?" said Balewa.
Students at public universities across Nigeria tell VOA they feel both happy and worry to be back.
"I am excited, apprehensive. You know, exams is next month. My project work is not completed. I have a lot to do," one student stated.
"We have to rush the semester to end it early, in order to make up the time that we spent on the strike," another student added.
Teachers tell VOA it is the students who lose because of the strike. Repeated strikes can add months, even years, to the time it takes to finish a study program.
A labor group, the Academic Staff Union of Universities suspended the strike in December. Part of the deal that ended the strike was a government promise to invest billions of dollars each year in university buildings and equipment. The money is to be spent during the next five years.
The government said that soon 25 percent of the nation's budget will be spent on education. The teachers and the government also agree to change it in working conditions and special allowances for those in administrative positions.
But some teachers say, the strike was really about pushing the government to make Nigeria's universities better.
Laz Emetike is with Delta State University. "It's for the benefit of all, not a benefit of lecturers only."
He says improvements in the universities, such as better science laboratories, what let Nigeria compete with other parts of the world.
Countries throughout Africa, not just Nigeria, are considering how to answer the exploding demand for admission to universities. These countries must also improve academic values and requirements and find ways to pay teachers enough to keep them.
Experts tell VOA that Nigeria can not ignore this. Hundreds of thousands of young students pass college entrance exams each year but many can not attend public universities because there are not enough classrooms or teachers. Nigeria's population is expected to increase by 100 percent by the middle of this century.
University lecturers say they will be watching to make sure their schools get and effectively use the money the government has promised.
But for now, Nigerian Universities are filled with students and that is a good thing.
And that's the Education Report for VOA Learning English. I'm Bob Doughty.

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From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
Nigeria has one of the world's highest rates of people who can not read or write, but a government agency is taking steps to help more than 400,000 Nigerians in Kano state become literate.
The Kano State Agency for Mass Education has set high goals for literacy. The goals may be hard to reach because the adults and young people the agency wants to teach are not attending school.
Facilitator Hasiya Mohammed presents geography lessons at City Women's Center in Kano. (Photo Credit: Isiyaku Ahmed)
Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike reported on the situation last September. The minister said, the number of illiterate Nigerian adults has increased by 10 million over the past 20 years, the current total is 35 million; the nation also has more than 10 million children who are not in school.
To improve that situation, Kano's educational agency has joined with Education for All (EFA), a project of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Working together, they have launched more than 8,074 adult literacy classes in 44 local government councils. The effort is expected to reach about 403,700 people. Success would mean a 90 percent adult literacy level by 2015.
The agency says it has 16,000 facilitators to teach and train students, the aim is to extend its reach to all the 44 local government councils in the state.
Kano City Women Center is one of many learning centers for young and adult women. It serves 965 students at its school and 145 more women at a vocational or occupational center.
The school teaches English, mathematics, geography, biology, chemistry, economics, and other subjects. At the vocational center, women learn how to knit and sew, and make products like soaps and air fresheners.
Halima Aminu is 25 years old and a mother of three children. She once left school because of a lack of financial support. She started attending the Kano City Women Center in 2010. Today, she is in her final year at the senior secondary-school level.
"When I come to school in the morning I will enter my class, so when I finish learning, taking lectures, then I will go back home. I have children, I will teach them and take my exercise-books to revise. So I also help them in doing their homework," said Aminu.
Halima Amin hopes to continue her education at the next level and someday become a medical doctor.
And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report. I'm Bob Doughty.

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From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
It was not just another day in a classroom recently for some young people in Washington D.C. Student volunteers visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to test a new program.
Some students explored the mysteries of human bones, other students examined an insect under a microscope. The student volunteers were among the first to help test a new exhibit at the museum.
Q?rius at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
The program has an unusual name, spoken as Q?rius and written as Q, ?, R, I ,U, S. The exhibits are designed so young people can learn about science by taking part in experiments.
Program combines the newest technologies and scientific equipment with more than 6,000 museum objects, both real and digital.
Students from local schools helped develop the exhibit. Teachers will bring their science students to the exhibit in the mornings. In the afternoons, the exhibits will be open to everyone.
Many of the students already have their favorite activities at the center.
Nate Reistetter, who is 13 years old, said he liked exploring the specimen drawers.
"There was a cast of a dinosaur bone and you can scan the QR code [computerized bar code] on the computers and it will tell you all about where it was found and all sorts of stuff about it," he said.
Addie Alexander is 12 years old, she likes the bee display. Addie said the bumble bee and the yellow bumble bee when they're not under the microscope look pretty much the same except one's bigger than the other. But she said when she looked at the two insects under the microscope, they were very different.
Student Ben Werb said he likes the learning center's openness, and he enjoyed in an exhibit that lets people use their senses to learn more about objects. For example, he said a butterfly smells a little like tea.
Involving the senses -- smell, touch, hearing -- is one of the exhibit's major goals. At one display, students recreated the sounds of insects called crickets, and they handled human bones in a laboratory.
The scientific investigation of human remains is called forensic anthropology. It is often used to identify a person who has died and to learn the cause of death.
Olivia Persons, who is 18 years old, is one of seven teens who helped develop the space, She said the laboratory was her favorite display area.
"There is a lot of digital stuff, there is a lot of computer screens and touch screens, but in here they are actually able to touch real human bones."
Q?rius can also be found online, this means visitors can continue their experiments after they leave the museum.
And that's the Education Report From VOA Learning English. I'm Jerilyn Watson.

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From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
It was not just another day in a classroom recently for some young people in Washington D.C. Student volunteers visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to test a new program.
Some students explored the mysteries of human bones, other students examined an insect under a microscope. The student volunteers were among the first to help test a new exhibit at the museum.
Q?rius at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
The program has an unusual name, spoken as Q?rius and written as Q, ?, R, I ,U, S. The exhibits are designed so young people can learn about science by taking part in experiments.
Program combines the newest technologies and scientific equipment with more than 6,000 museum objects, both real and digital.
Students from local schools helped develop the exhibit. Teachers will bring their science students to the exhibit in the mornings. In the afternoons, the exhibits will be open to everyone.
Many of the students already have their favorite activities at the center.
Nate Reistetter, who is 13 years old, said he liked exploring the specimen drawers.
"There was a cast of a dinosaur bone and you can scan the QR code [computerized bar code] on the computers and it will tell you all about where it was found and all sorts of stuff about it," he said.
Addie Alexander is 12 years old, she likes the bee display. Addie said the bumble bee and the yellow bumble bee when they're not under the microscope look pretty much the same except one's bigger than the other. But she said when she looked at the two insects under the microscope, they were very different.
Student Ben Werb said he likes the learning center's openness, and he enjoyed in an exhibit that lets people use their senses to learn more about objects. For example, he said a butterfly smells a little like tea.
Involving the senses -- smell, touch, hearing -- is one of the exhibit's major goals. At one display, students recreated the sounds of insects called crickets, and they handled human bones in a laboratory.
The scientific investigation of human remains is called forensic anthropology. It is often used to identify a person who has died and to learn the cause of death.
Olivia Persons, who is 18 years old, is one of seven teens who helped develop the space, She said the laboratory was her favorite display area.
"There is a lot of digital stuff, there is a lot of computer screens and touch screens, but in here they are actually able to touch real human bones."
Q?rius can also be found online, this means visitors can continue their experiments after they leave the museum.
And that's the Education Report From VOA Learning English. I'm Jerilyn Watson.
13-12-26