Striking teachers jailed

Some 135 striking school teachers and secretaries were behind bars last week in the New York suburb of Middletown, New Jersey, with the number expected to swell as nearly 900 continued to defy a judge's order to get off the picket line and back into the classroom.

"This town ought to be ashamed of itself," said Lauren Spatz, a second-grade teacher. "The parents don't care about education. It's not going to be the same ever again. The teachers' morale is going to be shot."

However, parents and administrators criticised the teachers' timing, with layoffs at nearby computer firms and families still shaken by the deaths of more than 30 local residents in the World Trade Centre attacks.

The dispute centres on a school-board demand that teachers pay more money for health benefits. The union is calling for binding arbitration, which the school board has refused, insisting that the teachers return to class first. More than 10,000 students have been affected by the strike.

"I'm a soccer mom, I drive a van and I have a dog," science teacher Katie Connelly said as she waited to go to jail. "But this is our revolution. The only way you get respect is if you stand up for yourself."

Malaysian sex-ed call

A move by one of Malaysia's state governments to mandate HIV tests for Muslim brides and grooms has prompted calls to introduce sex education in the country's schools.

Activists and health experts have protested that forced pre-marital testing, introduced by "fatwa" in the state of Johor last month, would only set back the battle against AIDS and that education was the key to prevention.

Ivy Josiah, executive director of the Women's Aid Organisation, said sex education had been delayed in schools because it was seen as "culturally not right".

She urged the government not to be "prickly and precious" about sex education, noting that Malaysian men were among the highest users of Viagra and there were rising cases of abandoned babies and single mothers.