[HOMS, SYRIA] In an unfinished housing complex in Al-Wa’ar neighbourhood, where many displaced families from other parts Homs have taken shelter … young boys and girls huddled closely together in the heated rooms, the sound of children’s laughter bouncing off walls decorated with brightly-coloured drawings and educational posters.
These makeshift classrooms are often the only form of education available for displaced children in Homs. “I wake up every morning excited to come to class,” said Oula, an 8-year-old girl. “I miss my old school. But at least here I can learn, draw and play with friends.”
(source: Children find a safe space to learn in conflict-torn Homs, Syrian Arab Republic)
“We don’t attend school,” says Yvette. “We wake up every morning, go to get clean and then go to pray. After that, I help my mother with lunch. We don’t have much else to do.”
UNICEF has partnered with Vision Jeunesse Nouvelle and Save the Children to provide organized recreational activities for children and youth at the transit centre. Child-friendly activities provide children with learning, play and entertainment activities. Such ‘child-friendly spaces’ are designed to serve as safe and protected spaces for children to be in times of emergency.
(via UNICEF - Rwanda - In Rwanda, helping Congolese refugee children be children again)
![DAKAR, 15 March 2013 (IRIN) - Aid workers and experts are calling for more attention to education in Mali, where 200,000 children are out of school due to the crisis but where money for emergency education has yet to come forward.
Though most schools in northern Mali are closed or thinly staffed, and thousands of children risk missing two years of schooling, donors have once again de-prioritized education to focus on what they say are more direct life-saving activities.
[ … ]
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says dozens of schools in the north have been closed, destroyed, looted or, in places, contaminated with unexploded ordnance. It estimates the education of 700,000 children across Mali has been disrupted by the crisis. In the north, some 5 percent of schools have reopened in Timbuktu; a handful in Kidal; and more in Gao, but only 28 percent of teachers were estimated to have returned to work there as of the end of February, said UNICEF. Many teachers are too afraid to return to the north, while already overcrowded schools in the south cannot cope with the influx.
(via IRIN Africa | Call to end neglect of emergency education in Mali | Burkina Faso | Mali | Mauritania | Niger | Chad | Aid Policy | Children | Conflict | Education | Natural Disasters | Refugees/IDPs)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/5fba142b8d208e063f50401d54a56b8b/tumblr_mjq5rhiMer1qb8rnio1_500.jpg)
DAKAR, 15 March 2013 (IRIN) - Aid workers and experts are calling for more attention to education in Mali, where 200,000 children are out of school due to the crisis but where money for emergency education has yet to come forward.
Though most schools in northern Mali are closed or thinly staffed, and thousands of children risk missing two years of schooling, donors have once again de-prioritized education to focus on what they say are more direct life-saving activities.
[ … ]
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says dozens of schools in the north have been closed, destroyed, looted or, in places, contaminated with unexploded ordnance. It estimates the education of 700,000 children across Mali has been disrupted by the crisis.
In the north, some 5 percent of schools have reopened in Timbuktu; a handful in Kidal; and more in Gao, but only 28 percent of teachers were estimated to have returned to work there as of the end of February, said UNICEF.
Many teachers are too afraid to return to the north, while already overcrowded schools in the south cannot cope with the influx.
[Lebanon] Language Barriers Prevent Syrian Children from Attending School
“I want them to go to school, but it’s so far away. I can’t afford the cost of transport. It’s also difficult because here they speak French or English at school. My children won’t understand anything”, explained Dima’s sister.
A critical problem facing Syrian children in Lebanon is that the education system uses French or English as the language of instruction, with Arabic only reserved for language courses and sometimes history lessons. Conversely, in Syria the education system is entirely in Arabic.
A rapid needs assessment carried out in late 2012 by the UN children’s fund in Lebanon (UNICEF) and Save the Children also cited language barriers as the principal obstacle for Syrians in Lebanon. The report found that most Syrians would like their children to learn either French or English as they see it as a “chance for upward mobility”.
[…]
In addition, the Lebanese education system is unable to cope with the influx of Syrians across the border. More than 160,000 Syrians are officially registered with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon and a further 71,358 are awaiting registration. This number is increasing rapidly as up to 3,000 Syrians are crossing the borders daily to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.
SYRIAN CRISIS: Challenges in the classroom (by unicef)
![[KENYA] DADAAB, 25 January 2013 (IRIN) - Close to 40,000 primary school children in Kenya’s northeastern Dadaab refugee complex have had their educations interrupted by a two-week-long teachers’ strike over unpaid salaries. Due to funding difficulties, the African Development and Emergency Operation (ADEO), a local NGO that was responsible for primary education in Dadaab’s Ifo camps, had to hand the programme over to another NGO, Islamic Relief, on 1 January. However, ADEO has not paid more than 600 teachers from 19 schools their December 2012 salaries. The strike has been ongoing since the school year started on 7 January.
(via IRIN Africa | Education disrupted by teachers’ strike in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp | Kenya | Aid Policy | Children | Education | Refugees/IDPs)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/5b26286782a9b39c89eb93eb1f66aed2/tumblr_mhf8cjZU3y1qb8rnio1_500.jpg)
[KENYA] DADAAB, 25 January 2013 (IRIN) - Close to 40,000 primary school children in Kenya’s northeastern Dadaab refugee complex have had their educations interrupted by a two-week-long teachers’ strike over unpaid salaries.
Due to funding difficulties, the African Development and Emergency Operation (ADEO), a local NGO that was responsible for primary education in Dadaab’s Ifo camps, had to hand the programme over to another NGO, Islamic Relief, on 1 January. However, ADEO has not paid more than 600 teachers from 19 schools their December 2012 salaries.
The strike has been ongoing since the school year started on 7 January.
[KENYA] Dadaab — A mix of cultural practices, such as early and forced marriage, as well as child labour, are depriving girls of education in the Dadaab refugee complex in eastern Kenya.
Out of Dadaab’s estimated population of 463,000 mainly Somali refugees, more than half are children under 18; of these about 38 percent attend school. The proportion of girls in the camps’ primary and secondary schools is 38 and 27 percent, respectively, according to the UN Refugee Agency. A third of girls aged between 5 and 13 in Dabaab go to school; for those aged 14 to 17, only one in 20 are enrolled.
DADAAB, Kenya (August 11, 2011) - As the influx of Somali refugees across the border to Kenya is increasing every day, CARE draws attention to the lack of sufficient primary education for children living in the refugee camps of Dadaab.
The latest numbers of officially registered refugees issued by the United Nations on August 8, 2011, list 399,346 people currently living in Dadaab, a number that is expected to keep growing. Amongst the total refugee population, approximately 114,000 are children at the age of 5 to 13, and only 38 percent are currently enrolled in school.
Liberian host communities support education for Ivorian refugee children (by unicef)
