By Meena Bhandari

Six months after Typhoon Bopha took more than 1,000 lives and displaced more than a million people, teaching and learning are starting up again in elementary schools across affected parts of the Philippines.

NEW BATAAN, Philippines, 13 May 2013 – Glenn Larabez can’t wait to go back to school. The 8-year-old usually attends second grade in his village in New Bataan in the province of Compostela Valley. As he speaks about the typhoon that destroyed his family’s home and stole away his pet bird, Alimokon, his voice becomes quiet, matching his tiny frame.

NEW YORK, United States of America, 3 May 2013 – Last week, the Government of Denmark and UNICEF hosted the interactive discussion ‘Breaking barriers: Innovative partnerships creating exponential change in access to quality learning’. Moderated by journalist Femi Oke, the lively discussion brought together government representatives, leaders from the private sector, civil society and others to explore how innovations can surmount barriers for children in fulfilling their right to access to a quality education and, more importantly, quality learning.

By Shimali Senanayake

NEW YORK, 11 April 2013 – Teaching children to make peace in the classroom, on the playground, at home and in their communities can have a lasting impact on children to live in a world free of violence and conflict, said Grace Akallo, activist, formerly associated with an armed group.

Ms. Akallo spoke to UNICEF Television after a recent meeting on ways to end violence against girls in school.

“Millions of children inside Syria and across the region are witnessing their past and their futures disappear amidst the rubble and destruction of this prolonged conflict.”

–UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake

By Priyanka Pruthi

NEW YORK, 12 March 2013 – For the past two years, the world has seen crisis explode in the Syrian Arab Republic. Twenty-four months of chaos and conflict have cost the country thousands of lives, many of them children.

The wait for a political solution seems never-ending. It’s a wait that has torn a country apart and placed it on the verge of losing a generation to violence.

By Pi James

NEW YORK, 11 March 2013 – On the eve of International Women’s Day, a panel of five experts representing academia, government, civil society and the United Nations called for an end to violence against girls through better and earlier monitoring and interventions, improved education systems, and a coordinated multi-sectoral response.

Millions of girls are vulnerable to violence around the world, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta said, opening the UNICEF-convened side event Girls Growing up Free of Violence: Promoting tolerance, equality and respect for the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York.

“Violence against girls is truly a cross-sectoral issue, and we are committed to working together towards a day when girls and women can live free of violence,” Ms. Rao Gupta said.

Adjusting to life in a camp in the Niger is difficult, for Malian refugee children – but school provides a place to learn, play and forge friendships.

By Shushan Mebrahtu

UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles reports on a UNICEF-supported programme in the Niger ensuring that Malian refugee children are able to continue their education.

MANGAIZE, Niger, 1 March 2013 – It is the first day of class for Malian refugee children at the primary school in Mangaize camp.

Adjusting to a new life in the camp, which stretches over the Sahara Desert, is not easy, particularly for children who have escaped the violence back home.

But, at this school, they are trying to return to normalcy. They are excited to learn, play and socialize with their friends.