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.

Life on Natwarpara Char is extremely difficult. Most families make a living from growing rice or fishing. There is little economic development and few employment opportunities.

“There is no electricity, no services. There are no good schools, people don’t want to live here; there are no real advantages to living in the Char,” said primary school teacher Farida Yasmin.

The one thing people in the Char can rely on are floods.

© UNICEF Video

’Every year there is a flood’

“Every year there is a flood. Some years the floods are worse than others,” said Natwarpara Primary School Principal Mohammad Monwarul Islam Mukta.

He heads a school of about 170 students who, thanks to UNICEF’s support, are all well versed in how to deal with frequent emergencies.

“I was very scared during the floods. There was water everywhere. My whole family was worried. Where would we stay? What would we eat?” said student Farzana Tarafder Nishi.

Fortunately Farzana, 10, who is a star student, had a safe space—her school. It was re-situated and is now able to stay open during emergencies. She did not miss a day of school, even though her village was inundated.

Back on Track

The UNICEF-supported Education in Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition programme, also known as Back on Track, is an innovative programme designed to rebuild education systems, often in countries working to make the transition from crisis to normal development.

The five-year programme is funded by the Government of the Netherlands and the European Commission.

Back on Track also provides comprehensive instruction on disaster risk reduction, so students and teachers know how to stay safe during emergencies. The lessons are laid out in a book published by UNICEF and Save the Children.

“The book is called Tuni’s Rooster. I have learned from it that the school should be on higher ground. There should be a boat to ferry school children and the school should have a proper toilet and tubewell,” said student Tasmia Yasmin Trishti.

© UNICEF Video

Keeping families safe

Children also participate in drama, which reinforces messages on how they can keep themselves and their families safe.

“We also teach from what we have learned in the disaster preparedness training handouts. From that we inform the students and their parents about what to do during disasters. We conduct parents’ meetings. We tell them that their children will be safer here at school,” said Mr. Mukta.

In the past three years, natural disasters, particularly cyclones, have disrupted the educations of more than 1.5 million children. But recently classes at Natwarpara Primary School have continued as normal.

“Now even after a massive natural disaster we do find school attendance is high. We see that school attendance has not dropped significantly, and teaching systems have not really been affected,” said Director General, Bangladesh Directorate of Primary Education Shyamal Kanti Ghosh.

’I want to work for the people here’

Staying in school is vital for Farzana, who hopes to use her talent and her education to make life better in Natwarpara Char.

“I want to be a doctor when I grow up. We don’t have a good doctor in this village so I want to work for the people here,” she said.

UNICEF Disaster Risk Reduction and Education

Disaster Risk Reduction at UNICEF.org

DRRandEDbrochure

DRRandED brochure lowres

LAYYAH DISTRICT, Pakistan, 7 April 2011 – Pakistan’s catastrophic flooding last summer is leading to a change in attitudes towards sending girls to school.

VIDEO: UNICEF’s Malcolm Brabant reports on changing attitudes towards education for girls in rural Pakistan.

The floods, which affected the Indus River basin from the Himalayan foothills to the Arabian Sea, damaged approximately 10,000 schools, of which more than a third was completely destroyed.

Thousands of parents in rural areas have traditionally declined to send their daughters to school. But the flood waters forced them out of their villages into areas where UNICEF has set up temporary learning centres (TLCs) to try to minimise the impact of the disaster on children’s education.

© UNICEF video
Children attend classes at a temporary learning centre set up by UNICEF in the village of Mulla Wala in Southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Their coming into contact with education for the first time has been extremely encouraging, explained UNICEF Deputy Representative in Pakistan Karen Allen.

“We saw a real birth of motivation in the little girls but also in the parents, who said, ‘Maybe we should consider sending our girls to school because, well, look how happy it made them and they were really learning useful things,’” said Ms. Allen.

She added that such a mind shift is now more likely to continue when the children return home.

Child-centred learning

Noor Khatoon, 11, from Dadu District in Sindh province, showed me her school which has been declared unsafe due to waterlogging. In her classroom, there is a pile of books in a cupboard that have turned black and mouldy.

There is a tented TLC in the playground, which holds classes for younger pupils.

“I want my school to be rebuilt so I can start going to school again,” said Noor.

© UNICEF video
Many girls are being offered the opportunity of an education for the first time through UNICEF-supported temporary learning centres, such as here in Dadu District, Sindh province, Pakistan.

UNICEF is targeting 1.3 million children aged between four and 12 with education response activities, and is aiming to strengthen education institutions by training over 12,000 teachers. To date, UNICEF-supported TLCs have reached about 240,000 children and more than 4,000 teachers have been trained in child-centred teaching methods.

Further north, in Mulla Wala village in Southern Punjab, Aqsa Rehman, 9, happily rocks backwards and forwards in an open-air TLC while reading aloud, her fingers tracing words in a paperback book.

Aqsa’s education was greatly disrupted by the floods when her school was destroyed. She has since begun classes at a TLC and is now reading with the full confidence of a fourth grader.

“We will come to school, even if we have to struggle for it,” said Aqsa. “We will help our people by replacing everything they have lost in the floods.”

Investing in the future

Aqsa’s father, Haji Abdur Reahman, works in a vegetable market in Karachi, hundreds of miles from his family. Nine out of his ten children attend school.

“I am educating them so that they have a bright future and a comfortable life,” he said. “When the girls get married, their in-laws will treat them with respect.”

© UNICEF video
Mohammad Haseeb, 5, a first grader, recites the alphabet at a UNICEF-supported temporary learning centre in Southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Hanging out the washing, Aqsa’s aunt, Iqbal Bibi, had a wistful but determined look as she explained that educating their children was a means to a better life.

“We hardly have enough to eat or to feed the children, but are still educating them so that they can become better people and get rid of poverty,” she said.

The biggest challenge facing UNICEF and the Pakistani authorities is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where the Taliban is engaged in a violent campaign against the education of girls and boys.

A total of 710 schools have been bombed in KP alone in the last two years and more than 640 schools have been destroyed or damaged in Malakand, the worst-hit region in the province.

© 2009 Carlos Vasquez
Myanmar 2009.

By Sandar Linn

DAEDAYAE, Myanmar, 30 March 2011 – Mary Myint, a six year old girl with a infectious big smile, warmly greets her friends, teachers, visitors at the Zalet Kone village’s Early Childhood Development (ECD)centre in Daedayae Township, Ayeyarwaddy Division.

Children leave the ECD centre at five years but Mary Myint is an exception. She suffered developmental delay due to lack of proper nutrition and care as a newborn. Then she needed to stay over her age of five years. Mary Myint comes to the centre everyday with her mother, Daw Than Nwet, 40, by boat from their home across the river.

Daw Than Nwet admits that taking her daughter to the centre everyday is not an easy job, however, she has been doing it for a year now and is determined to continue what is needed until she sees major changes in Mary’s growth. “That my daughter can walk and talk now is a miracle in itself.

“She also sings songs and tells stories that truly fill our home with joy and laughter,” said Daw Than Nwet, a mother of four, as her eyes welled up with tears.

Daw Naw Le Htoo Whar, 29, an ECD teacher at the village ECD centre agrees with Daw Than Nwet on the progress made by Mary Myint since joining the centre.

“I still remember how it was when Mary Myint first came to the centre. She could not walk or talk. She acted timid and afraid in front of people, defecated openly and her hygiene behavior was very poor,” she said.

With patience and persistence, Daw Naw Le Htoo Whar and other ECD teachers at the centre, worked on Mary Myint’s case in every way possible. She is now an example to the community of children participating in ECD programmes who register improvements in health, cognitive abilities and social and personal skills.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1037/Markisz
UNICEF Early Childhood Development (ECD) kit.

Daw Naw Le Htoo Whar, a mother of two, joined the centre as an assistant in 2008 when the former facilitator left. She subsequently attended ECD teachers training conducted by a NGO, Kayin Baptist Convention funded by UNICEF.

“The ECD training that I received was a turning point in my life. I knew nothing about early childhood development before and the skills I learnt from the training contribute so much to my ability to help children like Mary Myint,” she said.

The centre was also provided with ECD Emergency kit, play materials and illustrated children’s as one-time support. A hand book on use of ECD Emergency Kit was also provided together with the kit.

Toy making training for community members was also conducted so that the community has to initiate and create developmentally appropriate play materials for children by using local materials.

“We all have the best intention for our children; we just need to do more to offer them the best support to start their lives. Living in poor communities, many children have no support or access to early learning and development,” said Daw Naw Le Htoo Whar.

At present, about 26 children from Zalet Kone village and nearby villages attend the ECD centre. The centre began functioning as a pre-school established by the Kayin Baptist Church in 2005.

In 2007, the pre-school was transformed into an early childhood development centre supported by UNICEF. Despite the devastation endured by the village by Cyclone Nargis three years ago, life has slowly came back to normal and the ECD Centre located in the village are unrelenting in its effort to in spite of its limited resources, to give children the best start in their lives.

During Cyclone Nargis (May 2008) over 450 ECD Emergency kits were distributed to about 450 communities that benefited over 9000 children mainly under 5 years age and some other children over 5 years. In October 2010 Giri Cyclone, 50 ECD Emergency kits were distributed to Emergency area 5 townships.

If you would like to know more about the ECD Kit please contact Vijaya Singh, Emergency Specialist at vijsingh@unicef.org

Related link

Building Peace in Early Childhood

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.

Are such catastrophes easily preventable? Why do some schools collapse and not others? Is it simply a matter of better construction?

Earthquake experts, architects and humanitarian aid workers have been working to set higher building standards – especially where children are concerned. What more can they do to ensure communities that their children will be safe at school?

About this Podcast

Discussion on natural disasters and school construction, with a focus on the recent earthquake in China and the experience of the 2004 Asian tsunami, featuring these guests:
Kate Stohr, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity and co-editor of the book, ‘Design Like you Give a Damn’; Dr. Brian Tucker, founder and President of GeoHazards International; and Dr. Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF’s Representative in Indonesia.

Listen to the Podcast in Streaming MP3 Format

Listen to the Podcast in RealAudio

Natural Disasters and School Construction – Podcast 8

Click here to listen to other podcast in the “BEYOND SCHOOL BOOKS” series.

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.

It has been over two months since the cyclone hit Myanmar. In the Irrawaddy Delta, where the most severe destruction occurred, recovery and relief efforts have progressed well, enabling the area to rebuild schools. Just a few weeks ago, schools reopened, giving more than 6,000 children more hope for a better future.

UNICEF and its partners have set up large tents that serve as safe learning spaces for children whose schools were destroyed. So far, 123 school tents have been set up in six townships in the southern Irrawaddy Delta, and 56 of the temporary schools have also received classroom furniture.

Ma Nandar Hlaing, a student at a Laputta Township school that reopened with support from UNICEF, hopes to become a teacher one day. In addition to the school tents and furniture, latrine pans and water tanks are being distributed to schools in Laputta and Bogale.

Thinking about the future

“Our primary school was totally collapsed and everything was destroyed,” said Daw San San Maw, a teacher in Laputta. “But UNICEF provided the school tent, essential learning packages and furniture so that children can now continue schooling.”

The reopened schools in the cyclone zone have begun to restore children’s sense of well-being, providing them with safe and nurturing places to learn. Returning to school has given these children a chance to resume the rhythm of a normal life and to think about their future.

“I want to become a doctor. Science is my favourite subject,” said six-year-old student Mg Nyein Htet Aung.

According to the latest UN estimates, Cyclone Nargis killed 84,530 people, and 53,836 others are still missing.

Watch the UNICEF YouTube Channel Video

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwCcoNO37zA 310 255]

Watch the Video in RealMedia

Click here to watch the Myanmar children returning to school video (RealMedia Format)

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.

UNICEF Child Protection Specialist Amanda Melville views movement and dance as a way for children to reconnect to their normal lives after emergencies.

“It can be a way of getting people back in touch with what’s happening in their bodies, but also a way of releasing some of that stress,” she said. Dance and movement have been shown to alleviate symptoms of aggression, anxiety and depression.

Preserving cultural traditions

In addition to providing children with opportunities to draw, sing and perform in plays and skits, UNICEF-supported child-friendly spaces in post-emergency situations around the world make use of movement and dance. Such programmes emphasize the importance of helping communities retain and strengthen their cultural traditions.

Girls and boys dance outdoors at a UNICEF-supported summer camp for vulnerable children in the village of Vasyshchevo, in Ukraine. The children include orphans and second-generation victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
“We have to validate and base our work with movement and dance on the local traditions as a starting point, and that’s really important,” said Ms. Melville. “If we want to connect with something that is meaningful for the children in those situations, you have to start from where their traditions are coming from.

“Very often, what you see is that cultural traditions such as dance get disturbed or disrupted by the emergency,” she added.

Means of expression

At the same time, dance and movement can transcend cultural boundaries to offer a universal language for children to express their pain. Even children who are unable to communicate verbally can often express themselves through dance in a safe environment.

Through the use of dance and movement in child-friendly spaces – informed by more than 60 years of experience by psychiatrists and psychotherapists using movement as a therapeutic tool – UNICEF hopes to provide children in distress with an alternative to their isolation and a way to reclaim their childhood.

Watch the Video in RealMedia

Click here to watch the video on UNICEF’s child-friendly spaces using movement and dance to help children heal (RealMedia Format)

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.

Since Nargis swept across the Irrawaddy Delta on 2 May, the former storage space has served as a playground for some 250 children. Approximately half of the people who have taken refuge at the women’s association centre in Yangon are children.

At one end of the room, boys play a spirited game of football, while at the other end small children try to knock over miniature bowling pins with plastic balls. In other parts of the room, tired mothers read stories to sleepy toddlers, a group of girls draw and paint pictures, and children gather to sing together.

A sense of stability

With UNICEF support, this storage room turned playground is one of the many ‘child-friendly spaces’ now operating in Myanmar. These locations are designed to serve as safe and protective places for children in times of emergency.

The spaces provide children and young people with a sense of stability and support, while at the same time assisting them in overcoming their distress.

Saw Leh Ler Shee, 12, in Laputta township, has not been able to locate his parents and siblings since Cyclone Nargis struck on 2 May.

“I like playing football the most,” said Saw Leh Ler Shee, a 12-year-old boy from Laputta township who fears that he lost a brother, a sister and both of his parents in the cyclone. “I like it here. I don’t want to go back to the village anymore because many people died and there will be a lot of ghosts there.”

Just before the cyclone hit, Ler Shee set out for the grocery store to buy some things for his mother – but he never managed to get there. The relentless wind and rain forced him to take refuge at a neighbour’s house, which was soon destroyed by a surge of water. Ler Shee managed to survive by clinging to a tree until the next morning.

Children cope with stress

“I saw many dead bodies, dead cattle and debris everywhere,” the boy said, bravely recounting those terrifying hours. His sad eyes showed a true glimpse into the events he had witnessed. “I went back home and saw that my house had collapsed. I tried to find my mother but I couldn’t,” he added.

Unable to find anyone from his family, he walked for an hour to a nearby village, where a boat came to pick him up along with other survivors in the area. He was taken to a temporary, church-managed shelter where he met his aunt and grandmother. They, in turn, brought him to the women’s association centre.

“It is terrible to imagine what these children have gone through,” said UNICEF Myanmar Chief of Child Protection Anne-Claire Dufay. “We are very concerned about the emotional stress faced by children who have been caught up in the aftermath of the cyclone.”

Recreation and education

The United Nations estimates that 2.4 million people have been severely affected by Cyclone Nargis. UNICEF estimates that of those affected, about 40 per cent – or nearly 1 million – are children.

“In any situation where you have children living under extremely stressful conditions, both physically and mentally, it is important to provide them with a place where they can feel safe and are well cared for,” said Ms. Dufay. “Such a place can help them begin to return to a bit more of a normal life and start the process of recovering from what has happened to them.”

In addition to engaging in recreational activities, children at the child-friendly spaces learn life skills. Non-formal education activities such as reading and writing instruction are provided as well.

“It was touching to see these children playing, enjoying themselves and smiling – these same children who only a few days ago had only blank stares and looked withdrawn and bored,” said UNICEF Child Protection Officer Uzma Hoque, who has been helping to set up child-friendly spaces.

Hopeful for a reunion

As of 27 May, UNICEF and its partners had established 30 child-friendly spaces in temporary shelters and communities in the Yangon and Irrawaddy Divisions, and another 60 spaces were in the process of being set up.

To date, more than 230 separated children and 50 unaccompanied children have been documented. Relatives registered another 60 as missing missing children at the Myanmar Red Cross office in Laputta township. Along with Myanmar’s Department of Social Welfare and several non-governmental organizations, UNICEF is working on tracing family members and following up on family reunification.

Although no one can yet confirm whether Ler Shee’s parents or siblings are alive, he hopes that one day soon he will be reunited again.

“I have a lot of new friends here, but I still miss my family, especially my sister,” he said. “Sometimes I cry before I go to bed because I miss them.”

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0562/Naing
Boys 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, the Ministry of Education and local communities have been working together to distribute building materials to schools that were damaged or destroyed by the cyclone. Essential school supplies, learning materials and recreation kits for primary schools also have been distributed.

Dressed in school uniforms, the children – some accompanied by their parents – strolled into the lane leading towards Post Primary School No. 32 in Hlaingtharyar township, one of the worst affected areas in Yangon division. The children, excited by this return to normalcy, began to arrive at six in the morning, an hour before classes were scheduled to start.

‘Thankful to UNICEF’ for materials

Some students and parents helped the school to reopen by carrying benches into the classrooms. As some were still registering, other children looked for their friends or sat on the benches awaiting their lessons.

“I am very thankful to UNICEF,” said school principal Daw Khin Thandar Aung. “UNICEF provided us with 200 roofing sheets, two sets of School-in-a-Box, and a recreation kit. We also received 5 roofing sheets for building an extra latrine.

“These supplies have allowed us to repair the roof in time, and today I am glad to know that 95 per cent of the registered students are attending school,” the principal added.

First-grade students on the first day of the reopening of State Primary School No.11, Yangon, where there are over 120 students in the classroom with just one teacher.

Sense of security

In any disaster, the opening of local schools is an important recovery measure. Children in particular rely on their daily routines for a sense of security, including the routine of attending school.
“Getting children back to school is an essential step in helping children recover from distress and improve their quality of life,” said UNICEF Representative in Myanmar Ramesh Shrestha.
“I am very happy to be back to school as I can meet my friends and teachers, and I can study again now,” said Kyaw Myo Khine, a fourth-grader at State Primary School No. 11, also in Hlaing Tharyar township.

Not all children in Myanmar can head back to school just yet. Due to the extent of damage in the hardest-hit areas, the Ministry of Education has delayed the opening of schools in seven townships in the Irrawaddy division and in one township in Yangon division.

Parents face new challenges

Parents in Myanmar traditionally place a high value on education. The estimated national net primary school enrolment rate is 80 per cent for boys and 92 per cent for girls. Education is considered a priority across different socio-economic, ethnic and political groupings, and amongst all levels of society.

Unfortunately, the disaster that lashed some parts of Myanmar on 2 May posed new challenges for many parents. In the midst of dire hardship, some children from poor backgrounds will likely drop out of school in order to help their families cope.

As a single mother who came to enrol her two daughters in school put it: “My elder daughter, who wants to go to the ninth grade and dreams of becoming a lawyer, will have to quit schooling this year. She needs to find a job and help our family overcome the hardship.”

Watch the UNICEF YouTube Channel Video

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH9wTWizKb8 310 255]

Watch the Video in RealMedia

Click here to watch this Myanmar Video (RealMedia Format)

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0560/Naing
A 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.

The Government of Myanmar aims to reopen schools in some cyclone-affected areas by 2 June. UNICEF has already distributed roofing sheets as well as School-in-a-Box and recreational kits to 23 primary schools in Kawhmu township, Yangon Division.

“I want to go back to school, because I want to be an educated person,” said Kyaw Thu Shein, 12.

Determined to resume classes

Before the cyclone hit, the primary school in Ye Phyu Twin village had three buildings. Now, one building has completely collapsed and the other two have lost their roofs.

The principal of Ye Phyu Twin’s school, Than Than Htay, is determined to resume classes. She understands that bringing normalcy back to the lives of the children in her village is very important.

UNICEF-supplied School-in-a-Box kits, recreational kits and roofing sheets arrive in Ye Phyu Twin village, Yangon Division, where two school buildings lost their roofs and one building completely collapsed.
“With the support of UNICEF to repair the school in time for reopening and reducing the cost of schooling for families, I am confident that I can encourage parents to send their children back to school,” said Ms. Htay.

More aid needed

Within the past two weeks, primary schools have received supplies and recreational kits as part of UNICEF’s rapid response to the cyclone. Other supplies such as furniture are still needed, however. Repairing school sanitation facilities is also a priority.

The Parent Teachers Association in Ye Phyu Twin village is not in a position to help the reconstruction of the middle school this year, but the principal there intends to reuse the scrap wood and roofing materials to build a small library.

However, there is still the fear that not all children will be able to get an education.

“As most families are in dire hardship, some children will most likely drop out of school in order to help their families,” said Ms. Htay.

Watch the UNICEF YouTube Channel Video

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH9wTWizKb8 310 255]

Watch the Video in RealMedia

Cyclone-Affected Children Return to School

© UNICEF/NYHQ2005-0153/Kathryn Grusovin
Children look at their drawings on a wall at St. Cecilia's School in the town of Batticaloa. The school has been turned into a camp for people displaced by the tsunami.

By Francis Mead

BATTICALOA DISTRICT, Sri Lanka, 5 November 2007 – Twelve-year-old Saranya’s school was close to the old front line between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lanka Government forces.

She remembers the day last February when she knew she had to flee her village. “We all dived under the tables and lay on the floor. Bits of the shell landed all over the school. We were really scared,” she says.

The fallout from the recent upsurge in fighting has undermined education in many communities across the country. School records and materials, as well as buildings, were lost and destroyed, and children were sometimes left in schools without teachers.

Their education badly disrupted through months of displacement, unpredictability and fear, Sri Lankan children are in urgent need of a way to effectively cover lost ground, and to reintegrate into the regular school curriculum.

Making up for lost schooling

To address these challenges, Sri Lanka’s education authorities have stepped in, with UNICEF support, to create a new consolidated syllabus specially designed for children who have been out of regular school for up to six months.

Educators in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province – one of the regions hardest-hit by civil conflict over the past 25 years – sifted through the existing school curricula to identify the key competencies children need to get during the academic year, and to successfully make a transition to the next grade level.

The result was a focused and pared-down syllabus specifically tailored for children who need to find their way again within the school system. However, redesigning the academic elements was not enough. The new school curriculum also needed to be sensitive to the emotional impact of conflict on children, their families and teachers.

Impact of prolonged stress

At Kanista Vidyalam School, located in the LTTE-controlled locality of Vallipunam, children frequently carry out drills to prepare for the very real possibility of aerial bombardment. Last year, scores of schoolchildren in the area were killed by bombs. Since the school cannot afford proper bunkers, the children run to open trenches and cower down inside them. The sound of fighter jets sparks enormous fear.

“The kids are not in a mindset for learning and listening, so it’s very hard to teach,” says a teacher. “Normally classes have no more than 40 students, but here we have classes of up to 120 kids.”

In order to address the psychological impact of prolonged periods of stress on children, a strong psychosocial component was added to the training for the new concise curriculum, which so far has been provided to teachers in Trincomalee and Batticaloa.

A holistic approach to education

In Sri Lanka and other countries in chronic conflict conditions, providing even the most basic educational services is an enormous challenge. Simply keeping students and teachers in the classroom is often a major achievement. But there is a need to move beyond that.

While Saranya says she is happy to be back at her school, she – like many thousands of other Sri Lankan children – still faces serious difficulties. The new combined training can bring a new understanding, and a more holistic approach, to providing education to children affected by conflict.