Josiah Karapani was just another youngster in Otara playing rugby union, the sport that takes up so many Saturdays in South Auckland, before he was scoring tries under the lights at Suncorp Stadium. It’s simple to forget that not all NRL wingers began their careers chasing league balls. Karapani didn’t. He was raised in the rugby union scene of East Tamaki before deciding to transfer codes when he got to high school. Considering the direction his career has taken, this decision now seems almost inevitable. Pakuranga College, a public secondary school in East Auckland that doesn’t typically make news for…
Author: Kelsey Myers
Kelsey Myers
Kelsey Myers is a Senior Editor at worldomep.org and a dedicated advocate for early childhood education whose work begins — and ends — with a simple belief: that the earliest years of a child's life matter more than almost anything else we can invest in. Based at a local school, Kelsey works daily alongside the children and families whose experiences inform everything she writes. She doesn't observe early education from a distance. She is inside it — in the classrooms, on the playgrounds, in the conversations between teachers and parents that shape how young children understand the world around them. That proximity gives her writing a warmth and specificity that purely policy-driven commentary rarely achieves. Through her writing at worldomep.org, Kelsey brings that same energy to readers — making the case, clearly and consistently, that early childhood education deserves far more attention than it typically receives. Kelsey shares her personal opinions on: https://x.com/Butterflyboule
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A certain type of politician appears in every classroom decision that affects a Malaysian family, even though they never quite make the front page. That describes Wong Kah Woh. As Deputy Minister of Education since December 2023, he’s the one signing off on which schools acquire smart televisions, which pupils get matriculation seats, and how the government manages a six-year-old’s first day of Year 1. It’s not a glamorous job. It’s also the kind that truly shapes how a country’s youngsters grow up. Wong didn’t start off in education. He trained as a lawyer, graduating from the International Islamic University…
A man who began his career in a religious boarding school in rural Negeri Sembilan and now oversees one of Malaysia’s biggest educational networks seems appropriate. Born in 1976 in Tumpat, Kelantan, to parents with strong ties to the state, Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki completed his secondary education at Sekolah Menengah Agama Persekutuan in Labu. It was not an ostentatious start. However, it established a tone that appears to have followed him for decades: a comfort level with religious education coexisting with more traditional academic aspirations. At the International Islamic University Malaysia, where he studied accounting and graduated as the top…
For decades, Zainol Macwilson’s career has been chronicled, including her films, TV3 newscasts, and current comeback attempts. However, his educational background is far weaker. When you look for it, the majority of the results are gaps, footnotes, and references to his daughter’s college degree rather than his own. That is not wholly unexpected. Macwilson was born in Singapore in 1958 and spent much of his childhood in Kangar, Perlis. He went to Kangar English School before attending Sekolah Menengah Putra in the same town. His pursuit of a university degree, a diploma, or any other official post-secondary certification is not…
Maslinda Yusoff’s scholastic history is more like a sequence of intentional, well-timed steps than a straight line. She has worked in Malaysian universities for more than 20 years, first as a student, then as a teacher, and now, somewhat surprisingly, as a PhD candidate pursuing a local research subject.Her career began in 2008 after she finished the Foundation English program at the International Islamic University Malaysia. She continued her education at IIUM after that, graduating in 2012 with a Bachelor of Human Sciences with Honors in English Language and Literature. It has a rather conventional academic beginning, but things get…
Instead of a university transcript, Zahirah Macwilson’s name is typically associated with a modeling campaign or theater poster. In some respects, though, the tale of her schooling is more fascinating than any part she has portrayed on Malaysian television. Although she was born in Kuala Lumpur in February 1995, it would be inaccurate to describe her upbringing as “Malaysian” on its own. She grew up in Malaysia, Sheffield, UK, and Perth, Australia, as a result of her family’s frequent moves. That kind of upbringing—moving, settling down, then moving again—usually leaves a lasting impression. Her early instability may have contributed to…
On a Monday morning, the parking lot at a TVET college in Gauteng reveals information that the enrollment figures do not. Students are arriving with their bags slung over their shoulders; some appear determined, while others are a little unsure. Many of them won’t come back by the end of the year. Researchers, educators, and policymakers have been observing this pattern for years without coming up with a clear solution, so it’s not an alarming observation. The foundation of South Africa’s technical and vocational education and training sector was the idea that young people should be trained in useful, employable…
Bo Nickal accomplished something that most collegiate wrestlers spend their entire careers attempting and failing to do by the time he left the mat at the 2019 NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh. three titles at the national level. Four straight trips to the finals. a 120-3 career record with 23 significant decisions, 12 technical falls, and 59 pins. The numbers are spotless, almost unsettlingly so; it’s the kind of record that leaves you wondering if the competition was really that bad or if the person who put them together was really that good. Most likely, it was the latter. In 2014,…
Many parents experience a moment when the idea of a private education ceases to feel like an aspiration and instead becomes a financial emergency, usually around the time the admissions letter arrives. Now, the fees are actual. There are numbers for the years. If there is a savings account, it appears to be much too small. Apart from purchasing a home, private school fees have grown to be one of the biggest financial commitments a family can make, and they act differently than most people anticipate. They don’t remain flat. From 2025 to 2026 alone, average fees in Australia increased…
The horns, strangers hugging on corners, and the sense that everyone in the city has finally let go after holding their breath for years are all unique aspects of New York City celebrations. That should have been the result of the Knicks winning the NBA championship for the first time since 1973. And it did for a large portion of Saturday night. “Let’s go Knicks” was blasted over loudspeakers by emergency personnel. It was compared to New Year’s Eve multiplied by twenty. Tens of thousands had already descended upon Midtown Manhattan while Jalen Brunson and his teammates were still conducting…