Young Champions’ initiative is a programme of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). In Pakistan, it is conducted in partnership with the UNICEF Punjab office, Jahandad Society for Community Development (JSCD), and government social welfare and education departments.
Through the programme, educated youth are selected and trained to encourage families in their communities to enrol children in school.
“‘Young Champions’ … envisions involving adolescents as ‘young champions’ to become advocates and change-makers in their communities, to address gender concerns, increase girl child enrolment and decrease drop outs,” said UNICEF Education Officer Sehr Raza Qizilbash. “Over the last two years, this initiative has produced encouraging results and made a substantial contribution to UNICEF’s objective of enrolling every school-going-aged child in target districts.” (via UNGEI - Pakistan - Youth advocates help enrol of out-of-school children in Pakistan)
“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)
The Quebec Ministry of Education is proposing to allow four-year-old children from underprivileged families to attend elementary school full-time as part of a campaign to curb the province’s disturbingly high dropout rate.
More than one in three students in the province – 36 per cent – leave school without graduating. And studies showed that most of them come from poor families. For instance, a study conducted in 2008 by the Montreal Health and Social Services Agency concluded that 35 per cent of 5-year-old kindergarten students on the Island of Montreal were from needy families, showed signs of neglect and had learning disabilities that would likely impede their academic progress.
![[SIERRA LEONE] Thousands of children in Sierra Leone are paying for their own education or helping their families make ends meet by working as rock-breakers for the country’s construction industry.
Child labour is nothing new in Sierra Leone, but the brutal job of breaking stones with a hammer for hours on end in the baking heat has raised particular concern.
[…]
Education and child labour are often closely entwined in Sierra Leone, where schooling can impose a severe financial strain. Although primary education is nominally free, parents must pay for uniforms, books, pens, transport and in some cases contributions to teachers’ salaries. To send their children to school, therefore, many parents must also send them to work. (via IRIN Africa | SLIDESHOW: Children break rocks to pay for school in Sierra Leone | Sierra Leone | Children | Economy | Education)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/1797a9fe26a0f6bec91d5f305a04fd41/tumblr_mjv0ujxfxt1qb8rnio1_500.jpg)
[SIERRA LEONE] Thousands of children in Sierra Leone are paying for their own education or helping their families make ends meet by working as rock-breakers for the country’s construction industry.
Child labour is nothing new in Sierra Leone, but the brutal job of breaking stones with a hammer for hours on end in the baking heat has raised particular concern.
[…]
Education and child labour are often closely entwined in Sierra Leone, where schooling can impose a severe financial strain. Although primary education is nominally free, parents must pay for uniforms, books, pens, transport and in some cases contributions to teachers’ salaries. To send their children to school, therefore, many parents must also send them to work. (via IRIN Africa | SLIDESHOW: Children break rocks to pay for school in Sierra Leone | Sierra Leone | Children | Economy | Education)
[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.
We can’t do this. Can you? Students stretch during a training session at a gymnastic course at Shenyang Sports School in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China. Some 60 students, between the ages of 6 to 15, undergo a nine-year gymnastics program which includes foundation courses and gymnastic training courses at Shenyang Sports School, and those who are outstanding may be selected to join the national team.
![[NIGER] The effect of food insecurity on children’s health is obvious; children, particularly those under age 5, are vulnerable to life-threatening malnutrition.
Less obvious is the devastating impact of the crisis on children’s education. When there is not enough to eat, school can quickly become an afterthought.
This is the scenario now facing countless families in the Sahel region of Africa, where a food crisis is looming. Particularly at risk are children in Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and localized areas of Senegal. (via UNICEF - At a glance: Niger - Food shortages force children to drop out of school in Niger)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz3sttEvxi1qb8rnio1_250.jpg)
[NIGER] The effect of food insecurity on children’s health is obvious; children, particularly those under age 5, are vulnerable to life-threatening malnutrition.
Less obvious is the devastating impact of the crisis on children’s education. When there is not enough to eat, school can quickly become an afterthought.
This is the scenario now facing countless families in the Sahel region of Africa, where a food crisis is looming. Particularly at risk are children in Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and localized areas of Senegal. (via UNICEF - At a glance: Niger - Food shortages force children to drop out of school in Niger)
First classroom-less school debuts in Sweden (via Sweden debuts first classroom-less school | SmartPlanet).
