A selection of educational stories from around the world.

Girls shunned for cover

Three Muslim schoolgirls in Singapore have been threatened with suspension from school over their parents' insistence that they wear Islamic headscarves to school. The schools, which are all government-run, last week gave the girls an ultimatum to shed the scarves or face suspension. A fourth student in the same situation is being counselled.

The girls, all aged around 7 and just starting their first year in primary school, had been wearing the scarves to school since the new school term began at the beginning of this year.

It is understood the parents of some of them are considering seeking legal action.

While girls who have not reached adulthood are not obliged by Islamic teaching to wear head cover, a growing number of Muslim parents have made their daughters comply with the dress code even when they are still toddlers.

However, Singapore's government-run schools, which require students to wear uniforms, do not allow headscarves. The government's argument is that the children should dress alike at school to encourage integration in Singapore's multiracial society.

Africa's magnet colleges

Students from other African countries are flocking to college in South Africa's Western Cape and softening the impact of the drop in the number of South Africans attending. Third-level colleges and the government are actively encouraging the trend.

Samantha Walbrugh-Parsadh, of the international office at the University of Stellenbosch, said that despite the economic difficulties faced by Zimbabwean students, their numbers were "definitely" on the rise.

"I have heard of parents approaching Unesco offices in Harare for coupons to pay their children's fees," she said.

Forestry is a particularly popular subject among Eritrean students at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Last year 2,531 international students from 75 different countries registered at UCT, of whom 1,798 were African.