Girls’ education in Afghanistan is still a challenge, although it has improved significantly from the restrictive days of the Taliban when just 5,000 girls attended school in 2001. By 2010 almost 2.4 million were enrolled. Continuing military offensives and instability in the region make normal life difficult and girls still face Taliban threats for attending school, but amid the turmoil, Australia has helped establish the new Malalai Girls School in Tarin Kot…

Dr Kerry Arabena, CEO of the Lowitja Institute and an inaugural director of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, is the first Indigenous Australian to receive the J.G. Crawford Prize for academic excellence at the Australian National University. At the same graduation ceremony Megan Davis, Australia’s first Indigenous woman appointed to a UN body, was one of two Indigenous graduates to receive their Doctorates…

Girls took out six of the 17 category awards in the Prime Minister’s Awards for Skills Excellence in school-based vocational education. The PM’s awards recognise the highest achieving Vocational Student Prize winners which, together reward the country’s top students taking trades-related training in secondary school…

Professor Denise Bradley, a 20-year national education policy veteran, will head the Federal Government’s advisory panel to develop and implement the new National Trade Cadetship (NTC) scheme aimed at improving student’s career pathways from school into a trade…

Juliet Rogers, former CEO of Murdoch Books, has been appointed Chair of the new Indigenous Literacy Foundation, which provides learning materials to remote and isolated indigenous children to help improve literacy standards…

Women are being encouraged into senior board and leadership roles in sport through the sports commission’s Leadership Grants and Scholarships and a free online Leadership Register connecting organisations with potential candidates…

Five Year 9 and 10 girls will travel to Gallipoli for Anzac Day Services in April as part of their 2011 Simpson Prize for their winning history essays on the Anzac legend…

Professor Linda Kristjanson, whose early pioneering work in palliative care led to an internationally-recognised research career, will become Swinburne University’s Vice-Chancellor and President on 16 May…

Uni of Adelaide graduate Rebecca Richards is one of five women awarded prestigious Rhodes Scholarships for 2011 and Australia’s first indigenous Rhodes Scholar. Alice Lang (NSW), Dr Evelyn Chan (VIC), Elizabeth Murray (TAS) and Jackie McArthur (WA) join Rebecca and 77 other scholars at Oxford university in September…

Palaeontologist Dr Katherine Trinajstic and high school teacher Debra Smith each received $50,000 in the 2010 Prime Minister’s Science Prizes – Dr Trinajstic for her pioneering work on ancient Gogo fish fossils and Ms Smith for inspiring science students and enhancing national science curriculum…