Around the world, students returned to school this month. In Iraq, parents were hopeful recent security gains would allow their children to focus on their studies. In Afghanistan, the worsening security situation in the southern and western part of the country is keeping almost 70 percent of school age children away from schools. And, in the United States, students in areas devastated by Hurricane Ike are still out of school. Many of them are helping with the recovery efforts. (20 images)
Afghan girls peer through a window of their class room at the girls high school Ayeshe Sedeqa in the center of Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. About 3000 girls of Kunduz attend in three different shift daily school lessons. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
An Afghan girl reads in front of her class at the girls high school Ayeshe Sedeqa in the center of Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. About 3000 girls of Kunduz attend in three different shift daily school lessons. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
An Afghan girl writes during lessons at the girls high school Ayeshe Sedeqa in the center of Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. About 3000 girls of Kunduz attend in three different shift daily school lessons. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
Afghan refugee boys listen to their teachers they attend their class in a tent set up as a temporary school for refugee on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Sept 18, 2008. More than 230 students and teachers have been killed and around 250 schools have been attacked by militants during the past three years. The worsening security situation in the southern and western part of the country is keeping almost 70 percent of school age children away from schools. AP / Rafiq Maqbool
Afghan refugee boys raise their hands to answer a question, as they attend their classes in a tent set up as a temporary school for refugee on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Sept 18, 2008. AP / Rafiq Maqbool
A group of orphan boys take a nap after midday prayers during holy Ramadan at an Islamic school in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008. AP / Pavel Rahman
Pakistani investigators search a site of bomb explosion in Quetta, Pakistan on Friday, Sept 19, 2008. A bomb exploded Friday at a religious school that police said was affiliated with a pro-Taliban political party, killing five people and injuring 10 more. AP / Arshad Butt
A shopkeeper arranges a display of school uniforms in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008. AP / Karim Kadim
A man sells school textbooks in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008. School classes began on Sunday in Baghdad. AP / Karim Kadim
Iraqi girls line up at their school in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. Iraqi children began the new school year Sunday. AP / Karim Kadim
A young boy hands out candy to his classmates on the first day of school in Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. AP / Yahya Ahmed
Rania Abu Shaaban, foreground, is the coach of the girls basketball team from the Arab School of Al Ukhuwa in the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008. Ilan Mizrahi / Chicago Tribune
North Koreans school girls visit the riverside in front of Juche Tower in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. AP / David Guttenfelder
North Korean school girls choose from different photo styles as they prepare to have their portraits taken by a North Korean souvenir portrait photographer in central Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. AP / David Guttenfelder
A student walks across the Miguel Aleman Bridge from Mexico to the United States with her guardian to attend a school in the Roma Independent School District, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008, in Roma, Texas. The Monitor / Gabe Hernandez
Eighteen-year-old Bethany Rice, right, hugs her friends outside of Bendale Business and Technical Institute in east-end Toronto, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008. A teenage student was shot and critically injured during a fight outside a Toronto high school Tuesday, police said. Tara Walton / Toronto Star via The Canadian Press
Students from Council Elementary play chess during a class, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 in Council, Idaho. Students schools throughout the state of Idaho have been presented with the opportunity to learn to play chess as an alternative educational strategy funded in part by a grant from the National Foundation of Chess. AP / Charlie Litchfield
Etta Simpson Ray weeps as she holds the honorary degree presented to her at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. In 1961, Ray was among 14 students from the school who took part in the Freedom Rides, which were bus trips designed to challenge segregation in the south. Their participation led to arrest and expulsion from Tennessee State, and honorary degrees were presented Thursday. AP / Mark Humphrey
Students from Clear Springs and Clear Creek High Schools, both in League City, Texas, volunteer in loading water for residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in Bacliff, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008. AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez
A Living Flag made up of 2,500 school children, was created on the grounds of Montpelier,the home of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, as part of the Restoration Celebration which unveiled the $24 million, five-year restoration of the building. While the children held colored placards, Eric Greene of the Virginia Opera Company sang "The Star Spangled Banner." The event took place on Constitution Day Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. Madison is generally referred to as Father of the Constitution. Richmond Times-Dispatch / P. Kevin Morley
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