The Festival of European and Iranian Children's Literature opened on September 22 concurrent with the first day of the new school year at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) in Tehran. Writers and illustrators from Iran as well as four European countries namely Austria, Finland, Sweden, and Norway have featured their works at the event which will last through October 8th. Director of the festival, in an interview with Iran Daily, said the primary objective behind the event is to promote cultural exchange and dialog among Iranian and European kids as well as artists and authors working in the field of child literature. Seyyed Mozaffar Shojaei pointed to the initiative of Dialog Among Civilizations and said the best means to promote understanding between nations is to start the dialog among their young ones. He believes that dialog among children from different cultural backgrounds would run more smoothly and would meet fewer obstacles, since young people enjoy a common language. "They share much due to their pure and simple nature, but the educations they receive split them up as they move toward adulthood," he said, adding that the commonalities between children are manifested in the works of child authors and illustrators. "One part of the festival has been dedicated to examining the commonalties and discrepancies between the Iranian and European writings for children," he explained. Director of IIDCYA for international affairs said the institute has far more potentials for expanding its extra-national relations. Highlighting the role of the festival in boosting cultural interaction between Iran and Europe, Shojaei commented, "We regard this festival as a major step toward promoting relations on a large scale." Asked to elaborate on different sections of the festival, he said, "Animations, short and feature films and movies from Iran and the participating countries will be screened."
He pointed to writing and illustrating workshops as another program, adding 250 workshops will be held during the 17-day festival. "About 2,500 children will work and practice with Iranian and European writers and illustrators," he noted. There is also an exhibition section. "Books from Iran and other countries are showcased at the exhibit. Ten domestic publishers feature their works," he added. "The theater section includes joint training workshops between Iran and the European participants. Several plays are also performed at the event." According to Shojaei, nine foreign papers and four Iranian ones are to be presented at the festival's seminar, covering issues such as child rights, mythological literature as well as the heavenly world of kids. "On Thursday and Friday nights during the festival, legends and stories from these cultures will be read and plays will be performed by the participating countries," he noted. The festival provides a venue for artists and writers from different countries to exchange their viewpoints and get to know other cultures. The event is being sponsored by the Austrian non-governmental organization X-Change with the cooperation of several organizations from Finland, Sweden, Iran, and Norway. X-Change was established three years ago. It has been cooperating with Tehran University, Beheshti University, and the University of Fine Arts in the field of architecture.IIDCYA is located on Hejab St. near Laleh Park in Tehran.

Universities have admitted a total of 700,000 students in the new academic year, deputy science, research and technology minister for education said.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony of Shahroud University of Technology students, Hassan Khaleqi said 280,000 students study at the associate diploma level, 385,000 students at bachelor's level and 35,000 at the master's and doctorate levels, IRNA reported.
He pointed out that the capacity of universities will increase to 1.2 million by 2010, increasing the chance of admission into university by 70 percent for applicants, Khaleqi added.
The deputy pointed out that universities have 53,000 fulltime faculty members.
"There is one instructor per 19 students in the government sector. This is while the ratio is one to 50 in the non-government sector," Khaleqi added.
Noting that there were only 55,000 university students in Iran in 1979, he said that the number of university students has since increased substantially.
He appreciated Shahroud University of Technology for obtaining ISO 9001 quality certificate and noted that the university should set a role model for other higher academic centers.
"Last year, the Islamic Republic attained the second rank among developing countries by contributing more than 3,000 articles to creditable international publications, making it one of the top 30 countries with regard to production of science," he recalled.
Meanwhile, chancellor of Shahroud University of Technology, Ali Akbar Rajabi presented a report on the achievements of the university at the ceremony.
He noted that 30 percent of Shahroud University graduates were admitted into master's courses.

Presently, there are 30,000 vagabond kids across the country.

Deputy head of the State Welfare Organization said legal pitfalls have impeded implementation of the Plan to Empower Child Laborers, IRNA reported.
Hassan Alam-ul-Hodaei noted that child laborers and street kids are divided into two groups of under 14 and above 14, adding that the main problems pertain to the under-14 age group.
He continued that based on the Labor Law, the minimum legal age for working is 14, and that the law falls short of supporting the underage group. "Given that a large number of child laborers are under 14, it is impractical to provide them with jobs and support under the scheme," he analyzed.
"Therefore, it has been decided that monthly endowments be paid to the families of these kids. About nine billion rials has been earmarked for this purpose which can bring 3,000 families under the scheme's coverage."
Alam-ul-Hodaei put the present number of vagabond kids at 30,000 across the country, of whom 13.5 percent are homeless and kept in 33 SWO shelters.
He specified, "Another 57.5 percent are child laborers who are the breadwinners of their families and 37.5 percent work for other reasons."

Palestinian youth escape the threat of an approaching Israeli tank. September 30th marks the Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Children.

About 1.3 million girl students at the junior high school level have already benefited from the Stature Assessment Plan.

Approximately 40 percent of girl students covered by the Stature Assessment Plan over the past five years have managed to improve their health conditions by doing regular corrective exercises and workouts, director general of Education Ministry's Physical Education Office said.
Mahin Farhadizad told Fars News Agency that a number of primary and high school students will also be covered by the scheme in the new school year (started September 22).
"About 1.3 million girl students at the junior high school level have already benefited from the Stature Assessment Plan," she added. "Our utmost effort has been to promote awareness among young girls about a healthy stature, physical and skeletal irregularities, and proper exercises to improve such disorders."
She explained that most girls' boarding schools have been equipped with a number of sporting facilities for the new school year so that the students would use them during their leisure time.

Young people, under the influence of curiosity and naivety, are more vulnerable to addiction.

Surveys by Tehran-based Specialist Center for Prevention and Treatment of Addiction indicate that the average age of drug addiction in Iran is 22 years, IRNA reported.
"Young people, under the influence of curiosity and naivety, are more vulnerable to threats such as addiction," deputy head of the center in charge of treatment affairs said.
Amir Hossein Sharifi noted the most widely used drug in the country is opium.
He blamed a shortage of counseling and educational programs on social, cultural and economic issues for the increasing tendency toward illicit drugs among the young generation.
Sharifi pointed out that prioritizing addiction prevention programs in the society would certainly help enhance personal skills in the younger generation.
"Addiction is a multi-faceted phenomenon. Family, cultural and economic issues are highly decisive in steering an individual toward addiction. Therefore, various plans are needed to address the dilemma from different aspects without recommending a single prescription for all," he stated.

Murders of children in US military families in North Carolina were more than double the state average over a 15-year period, according to a study
Released recently, Reuters reported.
The report by the North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute, financed by the US Department of Justice, examined 378 murders of children aged 10 and younger between 1985 and 2000. It found that the average child homicide rate for the state as a whole was 2.2 deaths per 100,000 children.
But in Cumberland County, home to the major military bases of Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base, the annual homicide rate for children of military families averaged five per 100,000.
Onslow County, which contains Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station, recorded an annual average murder rate of 4.9 per 100,000.
Family advocacy groups fear the Iraq war may lead to an increase in both spousal and child abuse.
"We have seen an escalation of domestic violence and child abuse both before and after past military deployments reflected in the Defense Department's own data. We are concerned we'll see an even bigger spike as people return from Iraq, although the figures are not available yet," said Christine Hansen of
the Miles Foundation, a private non-profit organization providing services to victims of military family abuse.
The North Carolina researchers compiled the data from county medical examiner records. In all, they found 35 child homicides in families where one or both of the parents or other caregivers who killed the child were on active military duty.
The Pentagon said it could not verify the figures because they were compiled from civilian rather than military records. The Defense Department only had records of 26 child homicides for the years of the study. But it applauded the group for compiling the report.
"The Department of Defense is concerned about the deaths of children in military families. We have a broad range of outreach programs dealing with domestic abuse and we are trying very hard to identify military families in crisis and to
intervene before violence occurs," said Lt. Col. Joe Richard, a department spokesman.
"Military life is stressful by its very nature. Now that we are on a war footing, with military personnel coming home from long, dangerous deployments, we have stepped up our initiatives to prevent child abuse," he said.
The military takes part in an annual "child abuse prevention month" in April.
In 2000, there were nearly 17,000 reports of child abuse to the Pentagon's Family Advocacy Program, of which over 8,000 were substantiated.