Latest news with #ABCs
Buzz Feed
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
"Sesame Street's" Response To Trump's PBS Cuts Is Going Viral
We've talk about this before, but Congress has passed a bill that will cut $1.1 billion in federal funding for PBS and NPR. Trump loved it, saying, "THIS IS BIG!!!" That had people wondering about Sesame Street's fate. In case you didn't know, PBS and Sesame Street have had a very, very long relationship dating back to the show's premiere in 1969. While new episodes now premiere first on Netflix, PBS continues to broadcast them, essentially providing free access to millions of families. Sesame Street moved to Netflix earlier this year after Trump announced the cuts, which some people are saying "saves" it. Sooo, after Trump's official budget cuts passed, Sesame Street posted on X. "For more than 50 years, Sesame Workshop has been proud to partner with PBS to bring learning and joy to children across America. Generations of children have benefitted from the public investment that has enabled PBS to do such important work, and the need remains. PBS, we're so proud to be your neighbor." People in the replies are sad: "Bye. Curling up in a ball crying this is too pure." Other people are angry: "HOW THE HELL CAN YOU BE MAD AT SESAME STREET seriously loved these guys they need all the help they can get." And this person compared supporting Sesame Street to being a form of "the resistance:" "Who ever thought that reposting @sesamestreet would be a political act of resistance?" Then you have a bunch of people sharing personal stories about how the show impacted them: "Sesame Street educated children all over the world, including me, with public funds." "I learned how to speak English and read because of Sesame Street," another person shared. This person described their own personal experience: "I grew up really poor. We obviously couldn't afford cable. But Mr Rogers, reading rainbow, square one, and some interesting nature documentaries provided some great entertainment to a lonely kid." And this person simply said: "I learned my ABCs by 18 months from these guys. Defunding PBS is a crime against children."
The Star
17-07-2025
- General
- The Star
A guiding hand: Sabah retiree spends her mornings teaching stateless kids
KOTA KINABALU: On her morning jogs, a retiree would frequently come across children playing or loitering when they should be in school. She did not think much of it at first, thinking that they were either waiting for the afternoon school session or playing truant. After several weeks, she asked them why they were not in school. 'It was only then that I realised they were stateless and could not attend school owing to a lack of documents,' said the 68-year-old, who asked to be identified only as Leong, when met recently. In her heart, she said, she felt as if she were being nudged towards extending a helping hand. Eventually, this turned into informal learning sessions for the children, aged seven to 12. More than six years later, Leong continues to spend her mornings teaching stateless children their ABCs, counting, simple arithmetic, some Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia, and even singing. As a result, some manage to memorise the alphabet from A to Z, count from one to 10, sing simple songs, say their names in English, and respond to greetings. 'I feel that life has been unfair to these innocents. They did not ask to be born stateless or without documents. 'As a mother, it breaks my heart that they have to go through the cycle of being born, left to fend for themselves, grow into adults who basically can't read, write or count, and just have to run all the time,' Leong said. She hoped the basic lessons she imparts could be a starting point for them to develop their knowledge and find jobs. 'I have friends who know about what I do, so they give me their children's or grandchildren's used bags, stationery and books to share,' she said. Sometimes, these sessions can last up to two hours, but most of the time, they would span 30 minutes to an hour because of short attention spans, she added. "It is quite difficult to get them to focus but sometimes, when they are in the mood, they will stay for up to two hours," she said, adding that she occasionally uses candy and other treats to hold the children's attention. "Just so that they would listen and spend a little bit more effort learning,' she said. Given their families' constant movements, she said some children would stop coming after a while, but newcomers would take their place. 'I hope the community will have more sympathy for these children, and for the government to have a strong will to solve this issue because children are the future leaders of this nation,' she said. She urged the authorities to provide these children with the same opportunities as citizens, because they had potentially just as much to contribute to society as the more privileged.
Economic Times
09-07-2025
- Economic Times
Australian parents voice concern over 'ridiculous' rule allowing schools to deny leave to children for holidays
Synopsis Australian parents are questioning school policies after influencer Sarah Stevenson, known as Sarah's Day, revealed her child's holiday absence was marked unapproved. Despite providing flight details for a five-day Fiji trip, the school denied the leave. While schools typically accept absences for illness or emergencies, holidays can be deemed unjustified. TIL Creatives Australian parents have voiced their concerns after they were left surprised that schools can mark a child's absence as unapproved if they go on holiday during the term. Australian parents have voiced their concerns after they were left surprised that schools can mark a child's absence as unapproved if they go on holiday during the term. The issue was flagged by a popular influencer, Sarah Stevenson, who goes by the name of Sarah's Day on Instagram, who told her over a million followers the absence of her six-year-old kindergarten child for a five-day holiday to Fiji was not "approved."She further stated that in filling out the extended leave form for her child, she had to show proof of flights. Stevenson was at the airport and leaving to go on the trip when she learned the leave had not been approved by the principal. 'He's only missing five days of school. Anyway, on day one of the trip, I get an email back… it basically says Fox's leave hasn't been approved,' she said in a clip posted by Outspoken the Podcast, Sky News Australia reported. 'Yes, I want him to learn how to read and write and be in a classroom, but I haven't pulled him out of school for a month. Anyway, whatever. Love school,' she followers expressed their thoughts on the matter. One follower said that restricting when kids can and can't go on holiday is "ridiculous." "Travelling and being cultured is a way better life experience than missing a week of ABCs," she parents also extended their support for taking their kids out of school for holidays. 'I'm all for taking your kids out for holidays, real-life experiences, AND family time," one said, as quoted by SkyNews Australia. "We have to apply for approval at our primary school, but I would still go even if it wasn't approved," another added. Australian schools often approve absences when the reason for why children cannot attend school is accepted, such as sick leave, appointments, or family emergencies like not satisfied with the explanation provided for the absence of the child from the class, principals can ask the parent or carer to provide a medical certificate. The rule is the same in case the child has a history of poor attendance or there are other child protection leave is not approved by the school, it gets put through as unjustified absences. This often happens when the principal is not satisfied with the reason for the absences have no consequences, but if they become frequent, the school may choose to intervene to address the issue. Children who fall in the compulsory school-aged category are required to attend school each day it is open in all states and territories in Victoria, if a child frequently misses school, the attendance officer will monitor and investigate the attendance and a notice. The absence can result in an official warning, or a fine could be issued to the parents. "It is essential the school has all relevant information to ensure the student's learning and health care needs are addressed through the individual health support planning process" to support the student's school attendance, according to the NSW Department of Education, as reported by SkyNews Australia.
Sky News AU
09-07-2025
- Sky News AU
Aussie parents stunned over 'ridiculous' rule allowing schools to deny leave for children to go on holidays
Australian parents have voiced their shock after learning schools and can mark a child's absence as unapproved if they go on holiday during the term. Popular influencer Sarah Stevenson, known as Sarah's Day on Instagram, told her 1.2 million followers the absence for her six-year-old kindergarten child's five-day absence for a holiday to Fiji was not "approved". She said in filling out the extended leave form for her child she had to show proof of flights. While at the airport and leaving to go on the trip, she learned the leave had not been approved by the principal. 'He's only missing five days of school. Anyway, day one of the trip I get an email back… it basically says Fox's leave hasn't been approved,' she says in a clip posted by Outspoken the Podcast. 'Yes, I want him to learn how to read and write and be in a classroom, but I haven't pulled him out of school for a month. Anyway, whatever. Love school.' Followers chimed in with their thoughts on the matter, with former Married At First Sight bride Alyssa Barmonde commenting that restricting when kids can and can't go on holiday is "ridiculous". "Travelling and being cultured is a way better life experience than missing a week of ABCs," she said. Other parents threw their support behind taking their kids out of school for holidays. 'I'm all for taking your kids out for holidays, real-life experiences AND family time," one said. "We have to apply for approval at our primary school, but I would still go even if it wasn't approved," another added. Schools in Australia will often approve absences when the reason for why children cannot attend school is accepted, such as sick leave, appointments or family emergencies like funerals. Principals can ask the parent or carer to provide a medical certificate if they are not satisifed with the explanation provided or if the child has a history of poor attendance or there are other child protection concerns. If leave is not approved by schools, it gets put through as unjustified absences. This is when the principal is not satisfied with the reason for the absence. Unjustified absences generally have no consequences, but if the number of them becomes frequent, the school may choose to intervene to address the issue. Compulsory school-aged children are required to attend school each day it is open in all states and territories in Australia. In Victoria, if a child frequently misses school, the school attendance officer will monitor and investigate the child's attendance, and an attendance notice, official warning or a fine could be issued to the parents. According to the NSW Department of Education, "it is essential the school has all relevant information to ensure the student's learning and health care needs are addressed through the individual health support planning process" to support the student's school attendance.
GMA Network
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
'Bayani and the ABCs of Me' is a children's book that has a main character in the autism spectrum
A children's storybook hopes to represent people in the autism spectrum at an early age. 'Bayani and the ABCs of Me' follows the story of Bayani, a Filipino child in the autism spectrum learning the alphabet and his Filipino heritage. It is written by Filipino-American authors Redner Salonga and Irene Batario while Arli Pagaduan was in charge of the illustration. 'What we wanted to do is break down autism in a way that can relate to children [so] people can understand autism in a simple way,' Salonga told GMA News Online in an interview. "The book goes through a journey of Bayani and sharing his culture of being Filipino," he added. For Salonga, the book was is not only their way of connecting with the Filipino community but of adding more resources for people in the autism spectrum. ''Bayani' is a way to connect with those families and to share about the autism community and about individuals in the spectrum. When we did research, there were very few resources for autistic families. 'Bayani' is actually one of the first Filipino children's books [with a character in the spectrum that's] related to the ABCs and written by Filipino Americans,' he said. The book goes beyond representation as the proceeds of its sales goes to programs and partnerships supporting causes for people with disabilities (PWD) community such as the Big Step Special Education Center in Nueva Ecija. For Pagaduan it is important that kids see themselves in a story and as they learn how they act with the stories that they read and learn. 'All children should be able to see themselves in the books published in the Philippines. It should not just be about this or that, but the themes or characters should be people that we see in our everyday lives,' the illustrator said. 'It is also important for people to understand how they see the world, or how they experience the world, so that when they meet an autistic child, these people know how to talk with them, or understand more about how they see the world, or how they react to certain things,' she added. 'Bayani and the ABCs of Me' is priced at P350 and is available in Shopee, Pinagpala Publishing, and other independent retailers such as Latte Library, Literary Lounge Cafe, among others. — LA, GMA Integrated News
