A girl cries during a commemorative gathering for students who were killed when their school collapsed during the earthquake in Sichuan Province, China.
© UNICEF/ HQ08-0551/Dea

NEW YORK, USA, 25 June 2008 – With an estimated 10,000 child fatalities from school collapses in the Sichuan earthquake in China, safe school construction has become a central issue for parents, governments and the international development community.

Cyclone-affected children in Myanmar return to the classroom
©UNICEF Video

LAPUTTA TOWNSHIP, Myanmar, 22 July 2008 – The school year here in the southern Irrawaddy Delta region was supposed to resume last month. The destruction and damage affecting nearly 60 per cent of the area’s public schools in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, however, prevented classes from starting on time.

UNICEF’s child-friendly spaces use movement and dance to help children heal
©UNICEF Video

By Quinn Lundberg

NEW YORK, USA, 21 July 2008 – The tragedies of war and natural disasters leave children struggling to cope with deep psychological wounds. One of the ways that UNICEF and other organizations have helped to alleviate children’s emotional scars is through dance and movement.

This storage room turned playground at Yangon Kayin Baptist Women’s Association is one of the many child-friendly spaces now operating in Myanmar with UNICEF support.
© UNICEF Video

By Nattha Keenapan

YANGON, Myanmar, 5 June 2008 – At the offices of the Yangon Kayin Baptist Women’s Association, a room once used for storing office equipment and documents is now filled with laughing and playing children, all of whom were displaced by the devastation of Cyclone Nargis.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0562/NaingBoys at State Primary School No.11 in Hlaing Thar Township, Yapon, read an illustrated book on life skills

By Angela B. Thaung

YANGON, Myanmar, 3 June 2008 – A new school year has begun as children head back to classes, just one month after Cyclone Nargis damaged or destroyed more than 4,000 schools in Myanmar.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0560/NaingA teacher registers students for school on the first day of class since the cyclone, at State Primary School No. 32 in Hlaing Thar Yar Township

By Angela Thaung

YANGON, Myanmar, 27 May 2008 – As many cyclone-affected children are preparing to head back to school next week, UNICEF and its partners have been distributing essential school supplies by everything from truck to boat.