Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, will be taking a close look at the topic of computer games over the next two years. The programme will be launched on 9 September at Fantoche, the international festival for animated films to be held in Baden.

The upcoming elections of two Swiss cabinet members may be an occasion for teachers to introduce their classes to Swiss politics. educa.ch has prepared a collection of educational sites on Swiss civic knowledge and political education.

The Swiss Federal Government has launched a new Internet platform on Cleantech. It gives an overview on activities, industries, research and services that preserve and maintain natural resources and systems.

The Swiss Education TV mySchool has prepared an English video on the mountain Rigi with additional teachers' material. This feature focuses on geographic as well as economic topics, lending itself both to a mono- and an interdisciplinary approach.

Every year for the first day of school Switzerland's newspapers and radio stations are swarming with tips and informations for parents and teachers to get children safe and healthy to school and back. This year's tip is called "pedibus".

Several Muslim families in Canton Basle have been fined for keeping their children out of mandatory school swimming lessons, the first time such a punishment has been handed down. All of the students were girls under the age of ten.

Yelling, vandalism and fighting among beer-soaked youths is a common late-night sight in Swiss cities. A criminal law professor says, 24-hour businesses would fuel the problem but a curfew or time limit for children would be suitable measures.

Switzerland is facing a serious shortage of teachers. Now the Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education decided, that the French-speaking cantons should work individually, not together with German-speaking cantons, to address teacher shortage.

The 17 Swiss schools in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, have an important mission - mainly in bilingual teaching - but are facing new challenges because of finance restrictions and globalisation, their annual congress stated this week.

From 18 to 20 November 2010, "i-days 2010" will be taking place in the Swiss Museum of Transport under the motto: "Information technology drives Switzerland". This three-day event is all about living and experiencing information technology.

The French speaking cantons of Switzerland now have adopted the so-called PER, plan d'études romandes, the harmonisation of the cantonal curricula in this region. It will come into action at the start of the 2011/2012 school term.

Swiss professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Michael Grätzel, has captured the 2010 Millennium Technology Prize in Finland. His third generation, low cost, dye-sensitized solar cells impressed the jury.

Foreigners who have studied in Switzerland will be granted easier access to the domestic work market, parliament has decided. The idea is to stop highly qualified graduates leaving the country after such a large investment in their training.

The Swiss contribution is among the 15 country reports on ICT in education European Schoolnet, reported on in its last newsletter. The report contains ICT in educational policies, in the curriculum, in learning resources and teacher education.

May 18 will be Switzerland's first national Home Office Day. Launched with the blessing of Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger, the idea is to give office workers some flexibility while giving the environment a break.

Over the last years also in Switzerland youth violence has increased alarmingly. Public institutions, crime prevention and Swiss youth groups are now taking action with booklets and websites for the information of parents, teachers and young people.

By signing the mandate on April 30th the ch foundation for federal cooperation has been given the task to set up an infrastructure for Switzerland's participation in the EU education, training and youth programmes, starting in 2011.

The results of a study of teacher education in mathematics at primary and lower secondary levels turned out fine for Swiss teachers. By international comparison they finish their studies well trained in mathematics and mathematical didactics.

A national campaign run by Pro Juventute is targeting Swiss children of nursery school age to help them learn how to deal with money - and how to avoid debt. One in five young people in Switzerland currently has money problems.

Some Swiss libraries, e.g. Berne and Lausanne, put iPads at the disposition of their clients. At the Lausanne library it will be a one-month testing phase before deciding if they really want to offer this technology on a permanent basis.

The German speaking platform MUSEUMSLUPE is a digital guide through Swiss art and culture for children. By mouse click you browse through over 70 museums with information and questions, games and quizzes for children of all ages.

By the motto of "Clever brains surf carefully!" the national campaign netcity.org for the prevention of danger from the Internet has been launched. The campaigtn aims at a better protection for children in the Internet - mainly against pedophilia.

The online political atlas of Switzerland, in German and French, contains the results of federal referenda and the elections of national councillors since 1991 regarding communities, boroughs and cantons. It is being updated on a yearly basis.

Swiss Parliament has approved a SFr111 million ($103 million) credit for a European Union education and training programme.  The Senate unanimously followed the House of Representatives on Tuesday to agree the contribution for the years 2011 to 2013.

An EU study on digital mobility and the internet behaviour of people over 16 came to the conclusion that Swiss people use the Internet on an average 11 hours and 15 minutes per week which secures them place four in Europe.