By Chris Niles

NEW YORK, USA, 9 January 2012 – A quality education is the cornerstone of every child’s rights, yet across the developing world millions of children’s futures are stunted because they don’t have the opportunity to learn.

UNICEF is addressing this deprivation with an innovative approach that aims to remove barriers to success in primary school by giving pre-schoolers the knowledge to successfully enter first grade.

Called ‘Getting Ready for School: a Child-to-Child Approach’, the programme is a low-cost way to provide supplemental education to pre-schoolers, especially the most marginalized.

© UNICEF/Pakistan/2011/Gulnaz Jabeen Khan
MehreenYaqoob, ParveenMajeed and friends –Learning with joy at ECE Class in Government Girls Primary School Qadirabad, Tehsil Jampur, District Rajanpur

News note

ISLAMABAD, 4 January 2012 – UNICEF and partners today welcomed the opening of 35 new schools in Muzaffargah, Rajanpur and Rahimyar Khan in Southern Punjab, three districts hit by the 2010 monsoon floods. These schools have been constructed by the children’s agency at locations where schools were damaged or completely destroyed by the floods that devastated Pakistan from July to September 2010.

UNICEF education staff share their stories

NEW YORK, 4 January 2012 – We asked UNICEF education staff around the globe to tell us about their most inspiring moment they experienced in 2011. Something that they would not forget and reminded them why they chose this profession. Here are some of their stories.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1770/Pirozzi
A teacher assists Julian Goaheh, 6, in a UNICEF-supported school in Ganta Town, Liberia.

By Rudina Vojvoda

NEW YORK, USA, 28 December 2011 – In 2011, significant strides were made in improving the education of children around the world: More children are now enrolled in primary schools than ever before. Still, in spite of remarkable progress, civil unrest and natural disasters have slowed down improvements in affected areas.

Listen to the Podcast in Streaming MP3 format

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

NEW YORK, USA, 23 December 2011—Low-lying Bangladesh is one of the countries most affected by climate change, and the people who live in the Chars – small islands created by floods or erosion in the vast Ganges delta—are the most vulnerable of all.

By Chris Niles

NEW YORK, USA, 12 December 2011—Mohammad Azizul Islam, 28, is a trader in Chinipara, in the remote Rangpur region of Bangladesh. As a landless man, he has very few opportunities to make a living.

He wants his pre-school aged daughter, Akhimoni, to be educated and have a profession. Among his chief concerns is how he will pay for it.

At the moment, however, she is receiving an education. Once a week, she and another friend meet for classes that involve learning rhymes, counting and the alphabet.