Washington, Oct 7 : Girls find it more difficult than boys to adjust to new surroundings, where they are required to learn a new language, according to new Michigan State University research.

The study, conducted on three- to six-year-old kids attending an international school in Beijing, found that generally girls faced more social adjustment problems than boys.

All the students, belonging to 16 nationalities, were dealing with both Chinese and English, which implied that each child was learning at least one new language.

Kuala Lumpur, Oct 4: The Malaysian Indian Congress will continue to monitor the development of Tamil schools in the country and extend its help in their growth.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department S. K. Devamany said about this after making a surprise visit to the Ulu Remis Estate Tamil School in Layang Layang, Johor.

He said the MIC, through its president S. Samy Vellu, was looking into the development of all Tamil schools in the country and also ensuring speedier action in rebuilding them.

Devamany said the MIC president was also working hard to ensure that Tamil school pupils were given the best facilities to help them achieve academic excellence.

Amsterdam  - Paper, pencil and books are the key to developing one's creativity and maximizing one's intelligence, says Dutch psychologist Christof van Nimwegen.

The Dutch researcher recently completed a PhD dissertation at the University of Utrecht about the effects of software on the functioning of the human brain.

In "The Paradox of the guided user: assistance can be counter- effective," van Nimwegen asked two groups to perform the same tasks.

The first was allowed use a computer; the second group only got a pen and pencil.

London, Oct. 3: Nearly half of Britain’s teachers believe Muslim headscarves should be banned in schools.

Quoting a new research, The Telegraph says forty-six percent of primary and secondary school teachers have suggested that allowing pupils to wear religious symbols goes against British values.

They also feared it would undermine the drive to promote religious and racial harmony in schools.

The findings, in a poll carried out by YouGov, will fuel the controversial debate about the wearing of religious symbols in schools.

London, Oct 3: Teachers in Britain, it seems, believe strongly in the saying ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’, for according to a new survey one in five educators of the country wants the cane brought back in schools.

The survey of 6,200 teachers by the Times Educational Supplement found that a fifth supported the right to use corporal punishment in extreme cases.

The poll revealed that 22 percent secondary teachers demand the revival of corporal punishment and 16 percent of the primary teachers demand it.