500,000 children in Yemen targeted in Back to School Campaign
The Source: SANA"A/hadhramaut.info/sabanews.net - 12/10/2011
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Half a million children in Yemen, including IDPs and refugees, were being targeted by the Ministry of Education and UNICEF in collaboration with UNHCR, Save the Children, CHF and other development partners, in a major Back to School Campaign In a press release, UNICEF said on Monday that the campaign, based on the theme ‘Together we can make the difference; Let us send every boy and girl to school,’ has a national reach but will specifically target the conflict-affected governorates of Saada, Amran and Hajjah.
In Yemen, more than a quarter of school-aged children (6-14yrs) are out of school. However, in Sa’ada, Hajjah and Amran the problem is worse, with the majority of school-aged children out of school as a result of the conflict.
“These children have been deprived of education for too long because of the conflict,” said UNICEF Yemen Representative Geert Cappelaere.
Around the country, overall challenges to education, especially for girls, include: poverty; low level of female literacy; cultural practices such as child marriage, which can lead to child/teenage pregnancy; cost of education being a burden on families; requirements for access, such as birth certificates; and preferences for boys over girls.
“As we count down to the MDGs of 2015, we have fallen far short of our commitments and promises to the children of this country,” Mr. Cappelaere said.
“There is an urgent need for collective and accelerated action to ensure that all children, especially girls, not only access but are also able to stay and complete basic quality education.”The campaign is therefore geared towards mobilizing and sensitizing communities, especially parents, on the value of investing in children, highlighting the disparities, inequities and violations that continue to undermine learning, particularly amongst girls, and advocating for deepened commitments by government and other stakeholders in addressing Universal Primary education.
Some highlights of the campaign include provision of over 50,000 school kits to most vulnerable children in the targeted governorates as well as other IDP and refugee settlements, provision of teaching and recreation materials to over 300 schools, and training of 1,200 teachers.More than 300 banners and 50,000 brochures highlighting the value of education have been printed and distributed in Arabic, Oromo, Somali and English.The Yemeni government has also waived all access requirements to ensure that every boy and girl, especially the unreached and marginalized, can access schoo.
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