© 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.

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To wrap up the year, UNICEF podcast moderator Femi Oke spoke to United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Kishore Singh.

Sustainable progress

The past year has seen major educational achievements on several levels, Mr. Singh says. There has been sustainable progress in expanding education, greater recognition of the critical importance of education on the UN development agenda, serious country initiatives to advance secondary education, and stronger emphasis on technical and vocational training around the world.

Girls’ education has also improved significantly, even though girls still comprise more than half of all children out of school.

© Photo courtesy of Kishore Singh
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Kishore Singh says there is a need for more innovative and equitable education systems around the world.

“One of the biggest impediments [to gender equality in education] is the social misconception,” says Mr. Singh. “Girls in many developing countries are still viewed to be not equally entitled to education.”

Educating children in emergencies

In his latest report to the UN General Assembly, Mr. Singh estimates that around 28 million children of primary school age who live in conflict-affected countries are currently out of school. Around 875 million school children live in high seismic-risk zones and millions more face regular floods, landslide or other natural disasters.

Educating children in these areas is vital, not only to recovery but also to preventing humanitarian emergencies in the first place.

© Anders Thormann/2011
Anthony Lake speaks at GPE Pledging Conference in Copenhagen.

By Joan Howe

Copenhagen, 9 November 2011 – Leading donors at the first-ever Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Pledging Conference promised an initial US$1.5 billion over the next three years to put millions more children in school.

The multi-partner global partnership met on 7-8 November in Copenhagen, Denmark, where donors also pledged to increase bilateral funding to support education investment and achieve concrete results in access and quality of education. The pooled education fund aims to secure predictable funding to put 25 million more children in school over the next three years. Developing countries pledged to increase domestic funding for education by more than US$2 billion.

“Millions of children depend on your pledges today. And we know who most of them are,” UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake told ministers from donor and partner countries, high-level officials, heads of UN agencies, CEOs, and leaders from Civil Society Organisations (CSO), teachers’ unions and development bankers. “They are the poorest children living in the most isolated places, suffering from exclusion and discrimination, often struggling to grow in the midst of conflict or humanitarian catastrophe.”

Mr. Lake gave examples of how education has helped to restore a sense of normalcy for children growing up in countries like Haiti, Liberia, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, proving that progress is possible even in the most difficult situations. He highlighted Afghanistan, which has made significant strides in education in recent years, increasing the number of children in primary school from 1 million ten years ago to nearly 5 million today, with a total of approximately 7.3 million children enrolled in all grades.

The Executive Director also emphasized that in Afghanistan today, more than 4 million children are still out of school, the majority of whom are girls. “Afghanistan’s future depends on investing in the potential of all its citizens,” said Mr. Lake. “Indeed, no country has ever become strong and remained so, without such investments.”

UNICEF has been working in partnership with the Government of Afghanistan to achieve national education objectives. Afghanistan’s Minister of Education, Mr. Farooq Wardak, described the government’s efforts to put communities at the heart of a strategy to open schools and keep them open by protecting students and teachers. In provinces with the lowest enrolment, there is a special emphasis on girls going to school.

Mr. Peter Crowley, UNICEF representative in Afghanistan, emphasized that education is essential to achieving peace and stability. Recognizing the long journey that the country has already made since the Taliban banned girls from school, Crowley observed that “Afghanistan has begun to achieve real momentum in education; by continuing to support these gains, they can become self-sustaining.”

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0985/Noorani
A young girl studies at a new government primary school in Burshasoon Village in the central Bamyan Province. Students at the school previously attended classes in a tent.

By Rudina Vojvoda

NEW YORK, USA, 4 October 2011 – As school enrolment continues to climb throughout most of the developing world, the roles teachers play in our lives have become even more crucial. Tasked with providing a quality education to our current generation of students, teachers also have a significant hand in shaping the future by instilling in children essential cultural and social values such as tolerance, gender equality and open dialogue. Despite the heavy responsibility placed on their shoulders, in many parts of the world they are rewarded poorly and in some countries even subject to deadly attacks.

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This Wednesday will mark the annual celebration of World Teachers’ Day, and to commemorate the event, UNICEF’s podcast moderator Femi Oke spoke with Jamila Marofi, a high school teacher from Afghanistan, Gorma Minnie, a school administrator from Liberia and Professor Fernando Reimers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in America.

Empowering teachers

According to Professor Reimers, many societies expect teachers to be the sole factor in providing a high quality education, but this expectation often leads to disappointment.

“I think one of the sources of this lack of appreciation is a misconception that high quality teaching is an individual solo act,” he explained, adding that more emphasis should be placed on the construction of systems that would empower every teacher to be excellent.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0986/Shehzad Noorani
Afghanistan, 2009 (Standing, left-right) a teacher helps a girl during a lesson in a new government primary school in Burshasoon Village in the central Bamyan Province. Students at the school previously attended classes in a tent. The new building is centrally located, which reduces the children’s travel time. Nearly all of the 34 students in the class, including the youngest, work in the fields to help support their families.

Professor Reimers went on to highlight the need to provide educators with the proper training before and during the school year as well as creating an environment conducive to effective teaching.

Lack of resources

Sharing her experience as an educator in Kabul, Afghanistan, Ms. Marofi pointed to a lack of resources as the main challenge to teachers in her country. “They [teachers] have no materials to use,” she said, “they just teach from the book and the chalk.”

Ms. Minnie was more hopeful, stressing that although teachers in Liberia are facing similar challenges, there has been some improvement. “As we are speaking, the government is taking the lead to increasing teachers’ salary and encourage them to be in the classroom,” she said.

Finally, Proffesor Reimers invited everyone to celebrate the World Teachers’ Day by publicly recognising their favourite teacher, stating: “Shed light into the people who are doing good work and make it your task to let other people know the work of teachers.”

Related link:
Joint Message from UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF, ILO and Education International on the occasion of World Teachers’ Day – 5 October 2011

By Priyanka Pruthi

GANTA TOWN, Liberia, 16 September 2011 – War, bullets and bloodshed – words which generations of Liberians are still more familiar with than books or schools. It’s only been eight years since the country knew peace; the scars from its paralyzing 14-year civil war remain visible as its people try to heal. Today, the government is working to rebuild the infrastructure that was completely destroyed – large parts of Liberia doesn’t have roads and millions are living without basic access to water, healthcare or electricity. But ask any Liberian what they need most and the answer is the same – education.

Prince Manguo, 16, realizes that education is his only escape from a life of poverty. He left his family behind in their village in Bahn and moved to Ganta, the second largest city in Liberia, with the single-minded focus of finding a school that would help him turn his dreams into reality. “I want to be a mechanical engineer because I want to help the country build some houses,” he said.

Alone but determined, Prince found his way to the newly constructed Ganta Public School. With its sprawling campus, well ventilated classrooms, playgrounds, solar powered electricity, computer laboratories, clinic and cafeteria where students are served lunch free of cost.

© UNICEF Video
The construction of the Ganta Public School was funded by UNICEF and the Government of Netherlands. The project is part of an initiative aimed at building high-quality schools in Liberia.

Restructuring education sector

Constructed with support from UNICEF and the Government of the Netherlands, The Ganta Public School is part of an initiative that aims to build high quality schools in a country where overcrowded public schools with inadequate staff and infrastructure are the norm.

“All the physical facilities at the institutions of learning – basic, secondary and tertiary were destroyed (during war), both in the private and public sector,” explained Othello Gongar, Liberia’s Education Minister. “Fortunately this new government started with some
emphasis on restructuring the basic education sector with assistance from partners including UNICEF, USAID.”

Built on 25 acres of land donated by the community in Liberia’s Nimba County, The Ganta Public School is slowly charting a new course for the education system in the country.

“It is one of the 21st century schools in the Republic of Liberia in that it has a lot of modern facilities that will attract and make the children learn well, that will encourage the children to remain in school,” said Oswer Gbengan, the Principal of the school.

© UNICEF Video
The construction of the Ganta Public School was funded by UNICEF and the Government of Netherlands. The project is part of an initiative aimed at building high-quality schools in Liberia.

Paving the path

But it’s not just the facilities that create a unique environment at the Ganta Public School. “This school has several components – it has a community center, a mini radio station, latrines for boys and girls…something you don’t have in other schools,” said Matthew Flomo, UNICEF Education in Emergency Officer.

UNICEF helped teachers become more attentive to the needs of their students, and also established a parent-teacher association to keep the community involved in the growth of the school.

“We gave initial support even in terms of school materials – copy books, pencils, toiletries, hand washing materials – basic materials to be able to first maintain the school,” explained Mr. Flomo.

A sharp contrast

Decontee Coffy, 17, feels the Ganta Public School is a sharp contrast to others she has attended.

“Over here the teachers are putting an effort,” she said. “I feel that I’m learning better, they encourage us to be creative.”

© UNICEF Video
Students attend a geography class at the Ganta Public School located on the border between Liberia and Guinea.

The school is now nearing end of its first academic year with over 450 students in classes till the eighth grade but the progress remains slow. Many of the promised facilities are still not up and running

“We have a library, we have a science lab, we have a radio station, we have an auditorium – we have so many facilities but the radio station is not in function and the library has no books,” explained Decontee.

Hope despite hurdles

For the Pastor of the local church, who is now Prince’s caretaker, the Ganta Public school has brought with it precious opportunities that are invaluable to children in the community.

“I’m a father of six children and things are very difficult but we are here together,” said Pastor John G.B Kennedy. “We are thankful for the Ganta Public School where we don’t have to pay fees so Prince can go to school.”

At the end of the day, even the smallest push goes a long way for students like Prince – students who are waiting for a chance to break away from their country’s violent past and claim their future.

Liberian host communities support education for Ivorian refugee children from UNICEF: Back on Track on Vimeo.

Creating opportunities from crisis

By Priyanka Pruthi

GRAND GEDEH, Liberia, 20 July – In a nation still recovering from a ruinous civil war – a place where many people have no access to electricity, safe water or health care – hundreds of communities have opened their doors to refugees from neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire.

Eight months after a political crisis erupted in that country, more than 150,000 Ivorians remain in Liberia. Most of them are being hosted by families in remote villages dotting the Liberia-Côte d’Ivoire border.

At the Barker C. Gaye public school in one border community, Zleh Town, Liberian students are sharing their playgrounds and their classrooms with Ivorian refugees like Sophie (not her real name), 13.

Displaced by violence

“My parents would have been proud to see me do so well in the mathematics class here,” says Sophie, who doesn’t know where her mother and father are or when she will see them again. “There has been no news from them. I haven’t heard from them in a long time,” she explains.

Sophie’s family members were amongst the hundreds of thousands displaced by the violence that followed presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire last December. They fled from their home in Abidjan, fearing for their lives. Sophie made it to the Liberian border with her sister, but the siblings got separated from their parents.

“The journey was very long,” she recalls. “We walked for an entire day. There was no water or food on the road. I was really afraid, it was so dark…. We couldn’t see anyone for miles.” she says.

Solace in books

As Sophie struggles to find her way in a foreign land, her only consolation lies in books and the company of her new friends.

© UNICEF Liberia/2011/Scott
Over 450 Ivorian children attend classes at this primary school in Zleh Town, located in Grand Gedeh County, Liberia.

Nearly 450 Ivorian children are studying along with her at the Barker C. Gaye school, which is supported by the Liberian Government. Regular academic programmes for Liberian students take place in the morning, and classes for Ivorian students are held in the afternoon. The special shift was organized by UNICEF along with its partner Plan International.

UNICEF has been advocating for the use of government school buildings to provide educational services for refugee children throughout Liberia. Recently, the Ministry of Education issued the regulation that allows public schools to hold ‘catch-up’ classes for Ivorian children in an effort to prevent them from missing a school year.

“We will make sure that accelerated learning programmes and catch-up classes and summer schools take place and target the biggest number of refugee children,” says UNICEF Liberia’s Education in Emergency Coordinator, Francesca Bonomo. “We will advocate the Government of Ivory Coast to ensure that the certification issued to the children in Liberia is accepted in Ivory Coast once students go back.”

Education as a lifeline

UNICEF has also acquired the Ivorian curriculum and distributed it to the major counties in Liberia. Qualified Ivorian teachers have been identified from amongst the refugees and trained in helping children cope with these difficult circumstances.

© UNICEF Liberia/2011/Scott
UNICEF and its partners have organized classes for Ivorian refugees in existing government school buildings in Liberia.

For thousands of children feeling lost in the aftermath of the conflict that uprooted them, school is proving to be a lifeline. The routine has provided them with a sense of familiarity and normalcy despite the disarray.

While the Ivorian children are slowly beginning to get comfortable in their new surroundings and finding the strength to believe that the worst might be over, the strain on the limited resources of their hosts is increasing. Liberia’s education infrastructure is too weak to accommodate the influx of refugees.

“There is an urgent need to provide the students with adequate protection,” says UNICEF Education Officer Matthew Flomo. “There is a lack of drinking water and sanitation facilities. There aren’t enough benches or supplies in classrooms, making them extremely overcrowded.”

‘What goes around…’

Even though the capacity of the public school in Zleh Town is being stretched beyond its limits, Liberian students and teachers say they’re willing to counteract the pressure with whatever it takes.

“They are not the first ones to be refugees,” says second-grade teacher Philomena Quiah. “We ourselves were refugees in Africa for so many years. We went to school there, we sent our children to school and achieved an education before we came back to our own country. So when this has happened to them, we need to embrace them.”

Her sentiment is echoed throughout the school’s campus. The stories of support and survival are astounding.

“There are five refugees living in my house. But there is no space for all of them, my mother, grandfather and sisters – so I sleep outside in the fields,” says one 18-year-old student. “It’s really hard for us. I’m the only one who is studying and also earning for my family. But we Liberians say, ‘What goes around shall come around.’ So what happened to them today, it may happen to us tomorrow. That’s why we need to take care of them.”

By Priyanka Pruthi

NIMBA COUNTY, Liberia, 24 June 2011 – Forty-year old Philippe Cheugui used to teach history and geography at a school in Danane, a town in western Côte d’Ivoire. He was a successful teacher and public spokesperson, an inspiration to many.

Today, he finds himself seeking refuge under a tarpaulin shelter in Liberia’s Bahn camp. He watches his wife cook beside the tent with despair and relief in his eyes. He knows they are fortunate to have survived.

Caught in the crossfire

Philippe and his family, like a million others, were victims of the fierce political wrangling that gripped Côte d’Ivoire following last November’s presidential election. “I left Côte d’Ivoire as a result of the violence, extreme physical abuse and deaths that took place after the presidential elections,” he says. “Given that I was a teacher and someone who spoke about the problems facing our society publicly, I was targeted and beaten very severely.”

© UNICEF Liberia/2011/Scott
Children are taught the Ivorian curriculum at the UNICEF-supported primary school in Liberia's Bahn camp. Filled to capacity, there is now urgent need for a second school.

After spending several days hiding in the jungle, Philippe made his way across the border to Liberia. Aid agencies moved him and his family about 50 km further to the Bahn camp in eastern Liberia, one of the largest refugee camps for Ivorians in the country.

More than six months after violence erupted in Côte d’Ivoire, more than 4,000 people continue to seek refuge here. The majority, however, are living with Liberian families in remote, inaccessible villages scattered along the border. Estimates indicate that more than 140,000 refugees remain in Liberia.

Philippe is tired of the uncertainty of his situation, but an unexpected opportunity is keeping his spirits high. He is now the principal of a primary school for Ivorian refugees supported by UNICEF and its partners. Around 800 students attend classes from first to sixth grade. They are taught the same curriculum they followed back home by a team of 19 Ivorian teachers.

For UNICEF, the need to have educational facilities for children in times of crisis is a priority. “Education in emergency means that, on one side, we keep children in school for protection reasons so that they have a normal life and a structured routine and so that they are away from the street,” explains Francesca Bonomo, UNICEF Education in Emergency Coordinator, “but at the same time we want to ensure that there is quality learning taking place, and we do this through our supplies, through our books.”

© UNICEF Liberia/2011/Scott
UNICEF supports early childhood development activities for Ivorian refugees under the age of five at the Bahn camp in Liberia. Many families fled Côte d’Ivoire during the recent political crisis.

It also means ensuring there is official certification for what the children have learnt during their stay in Liberia, she adds.

Teacher training

UNICEF has been training the Ivorian teachers at the camp to help children cope with the crisis. ‘Child-Friendly Spaces’ have been set up where teachers involve children in activities that ease their fears and concerns. Many of them witnessed their relatives being killed, some had close encounters with death and others got separated from their parents as they made their way to Liberia.

“We are using mostly qualified teachers, but we realize in our assessments that most of them are lacking the skills that they need to deal with children who are affected by this emergency, so we are actually training them to be able to improve the life skills of children,” says Ms. Bonomo. This includes training in psycho-social support and hygiene promotion.

UNICEF is also supporting early childhood development activities for children under the age of five in dedicated spaces similar to pre-schools, where little children get to play and find comfort in each other’s presence. The children might not be able to comprehend recent events, but they have absorbed images that will be etched in their memories for a long time to come.

© UNICEF Liberia/2011/Scott
Ivorian children attend classes at a primary school set up by UNICEF and its partners in Liberia's Bahn camp, one of the largest refugee camps in the country.

But efforts to reach out to all the children in the camp are being hampered by a lack of resources. Despite introducing a morning shift at the school as well as an afternoon one in order to accommodate as many students as possible, a significant population is being left out. The need for a second school is urgent.

Battling the weather

With Liberia entering the rainy season, supporting even the most basic needs of the refugees is also turning out to be a herculean task. Food is already scarce and transporting supplies through forests and broken bridges will only get more difficult in the coming days. Agencies are racing against time to deliver supplies to remote areas and build reserves of food and essential commodities for the next six months.

With storms threatening the shelters and the dark clouds casting a shadow over the prospects of these refugees, aid workers warn that the rains might prove to be their biggest enemy yet.

Two girls choose crayons from a large bowl in a kindergarten class at St. Teresa Catholic School in the Mamba Point neighbourhood of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
©UNICEF/HQ07-2225/Pirozzi

NEW YORK, USA, 28 October 2008 – High-level talks about progress towards the Millennium Development Goals took place last month during the United Nations General Assembly. Special attention was paid to commitments and progress in some of the poorest African nations, particularly in the area of education.

“We have made a lot of progress, but the problem is much more complex than just access,” said Dr. Codou Diaw, Executive Director of the Forum for African Women Educationalists, citing low attendance rates in secondary schools across Africa. “We need to pay attention to both access and what makes learning happen.”

German philanthropist and co-founder of the ‘Schools for Africa’ campaign Peter Kramer remarked that education is also a critical issue for the private sector.

“The second Millennium Development Goal [on universal primary education] is the most important and most influential, and it costs just 15 billion US dollars to bring each child in the world to school. This is less than 1.5 per cent of what all governments are spending for military purposes each year,” said Mr. Kramer.

The international community’s effort to bring education to all children is “not a pleasure, it is a duty,” he added.

Rebuilding schools and societies

“Many countries around the world have made remarkable progress, both in terms of eliminating poverty and getting more children into school and improving health outcomes,” said Desmond Bermingham, who heads the ‘Education for All’ Fast Track Initiative (FTI), a global partnership between developing countries and donors to accelerate progress towards the goal of universal primary education.

“But there are significant numbers of countries, often affected by war or other kinds of emergencies, which – unless we do something different for them – are not going to stand a chance of reaching the MDGs,” Mr. Bermingham noted.

Major donors to education initiatives are addressing this problem. For example, the ‘Back on Track’ initiative, partially funded by the Dutch Government, is a multi-national campaign designed to protect children’s right to education in emergencies. Other programmes, such as FTI, are also based on an awareness that education in emergency and post-emergency situations is an area of critical need.

“The challenge is helping those countries rebuild after conflict and providing them with the kind of support they need, quickly and effectively,” said Mr. Bermingham.

Discussion on financing

In the context of civil war, poverty and poor health conditions, how are donors helping the poorest nations in Africa fight poverty through education? How is the international community helping to support and transform these education systems? What are the particular obstacles that female students face?

About this Podcast

UNICEF Radio podcast discussion on financing education in emergencies, featuring these guests:
Desmond Bermingham, Head of the ‘Education for All’ Fast Track Initiative Secretariat; Dr. Codou Diaw, Executive Director of the Forum for African Women Educationalists; and Peter Kramer, Chairman of the Hamburg Society for the promotion of Democracy and International Law, and co-founder of the ‘Schools for Africa’ campaign.

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Listen to Podcast 10 – Financing Education in Emergencies (RealAudio)

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

Liberian Minister of Gender H.E. Vabah Gayflor (left) and World YWCA General Secretary Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda take part in a UNICEF Radio discussion on gender equality in education.
© UNICEF/2008/Kamimura

By Gabrielle Galanek

NEW YORK, USA, 29 April 2008 – At the 52nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women last month, global leaders met to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing women and girls today. The theme this year was financing for gender equality and empowerment of women.

At the two-week session, education was identified as an important issue and a key to the advancement of women in countries emerging from conflict.

Ms. Gayflor, a participant in the discussions at the UN, has worked to include women in a variety of sectors during the transitional process in post-war Liberia. She reported encountering a number of obstacles in that effort.

“I think our psychosocial programs, following our conflict, have not worked. It’s not taking root,” she said during a UNICEF Radio discussion on education in emergencies. “So you find people disarming with guns, but their minds are not disarmed.”

World YWCA General Secretary Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda (left) and the Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN, H.E. Kirsti Lintonen, record podcast at UNICEF headquarters in New York
© UNICEF/2008/Kamimura

Schools as information centres

Ms. Lintonen stressed that education for young women must be a priority at the policy level in developing countries – especially those emerging from conflict, where girls may be particularly vulnerable.

The most important thing, Ms. Lintonen said, is for governments to provide equal access to education that is compulsory – “so that the girls are not just working for their families in the farms, but they are really going to school.”

Schools can also serve as centres for the delivery of critical information about health and protection challenges that disproportionately affect girls and young women. One such critical area is HIV prevention.

Ms. Gumbonzvanda spoke from personal experience about the toll HIV has taken on her own family. “When I lost two other siblings,” she said, “my mother had to sit down with the daughters-in-law and say, ‘How do we actually continue to educate the children?’”

Education is a tangible solution to help stem the spread of the disease and address the plight of children orphaned by AIDS, Ms. Gumbonzvanda pointed out.

About this Podcast

Featuring these guests:
H.E. Vabah Gayflor, Minister of Gender of Liberia; Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary of the World YWCA; and H.E. Kirsti Lintonen, Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations. All three guests participated in the most recent meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

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Gender Equality – Podcast 6

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

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0680/Susan Markisz
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman addresses UN Security Council members on the third anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1612.

By Yvette Bivigou

MONROVIA, Liberia, 27 February 2008 – UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman has just completed a visit here to gain firsthand insights into the situation of children in post-conflict Liberia.

“It’s a country that has come out of a difficult time,” she said. “It is a country where we are also seeing tremendous progress, yet so much more to be done.”

After observing UNICEF’s community-based programmes in Liberia, Ms. Veneman cited advances in child protection, health, immunization and distribution of bednets to prevent malaria. Nevertheless, she noted, the country’s mortality rate for children under the age of five – which is the main measure of child health – remains among the highest in the world.

To bolster UNICEF’s efforts, Ms. Veneman announced more than $19 million in additional assistance to the country, mostly for education, bringing the total UNICEF contribution to Liberia to around $35 million for 2008.

Accelerated learning

During Liberia’s 14-year civil war, which ended in 2003, children’s most basic needs were unmet, their families’ livelihoods were disrupted and their opportunities for education disappeared. UNICEF’s multi-pronged approach to child survival is helping the country tackle the reconstruction of its health and education infrastructure, as well as addressing child protection issues.

As a result of the conflict, Liberia is one of the few countries where the adult population is more literate than the younger generation. The war destroyed at least 20 per cent of the public primary schools and badly damaged a further 12 per cent. The majority of children – even if they are now in school – are therefore lagging behind behind.

This is where UNICEF comes in, supporting the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP), which reaches out to over-aged children who were associated with the fighting forces during the war. ALP, led by the Ministry of Education with support from UNICEF and a number of other international organizations, has come to the rescue of many children who missed out on schooling.

Support for business activities

Another strategy that is maintaining children in school, the Business Development Services (BDS) programme, works with demobilized children who graduate from vocational skills training and apprenticeships. The programme offers these graduates a range of skills and services to support the efficiency, profitability and expansion of the business activities they pursue.

“Before the skills training, we were all in the streets from one video club to another, but today we are grateful to UNICEF,” said one young BDS participant. “However, a special note to our mothers: Please listen to our cries, because our sisters and friends and brothers and relatives are still on the street.… They have to learn to be like us.”

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Video: Liberia Monrovia Visit

MONROVIA, Liberia, 4 January 2008 – “I was big when I started school,” says Benetta Nyemah, a 15-year-old student who attends primary school here in the capital of Liberia. “During the war, my parents left Monrovia and we went into our village to hide. There was no school in the village, and we used to work on the farm all day.”

When her family returned to Monrovia three years ago, Benetta says, there was no money to pay school fees. “My father used to break rocks just to send my two brothers and me to school,” she reflects. “That’s why I am now only in the fifth grade.”

Liberia’s 14-year civil conflict, which came to an end in 2003, claimed as many as 270,000 lives and severely disrupted the country’s education system, causing thousands of children to miss out on starting school at the appropriate age.

At first, Benetta admits, she felt ashamed of being in fifth grade at her age. “But when I walk outside the school fence,” she now says, “I see many others who are older than me and cannot even read or write.”

Education for every child

Around the world, one in six children of secondary-school age attends primary school because of starting school late or having to repeat grades. The number of such children is largest in sub-Saharan Africa, where substantially more secondary-school-age children attend primary school than secondary school.

The Government of Liberia recently introduced free and compulsory primary education nationwide. For the 2007-08 academic year, the Ministry of Education has provided instructional materials and free uniforms to primary-school students in two of the country’s most remote and disadvantaged counties.

“With the advent of free and compulsory education, our school is overburdened, with a student population of close to 800,” says Principal Cecilia Koise of J.W. Pearson Primary, Benetta’s school. “Many of those registered are over-age students who have fallen behind due to the war.”

With this huge influx, Ms. Koise adds, the school is in dire need of more teachers, furniture and other school supplies.

‘Off the streets and into the classrooms’

UNICEF has stepped in to provide school materials and supplies to all public primary and community schools across Liberia, and to support in-service teacher training conducted by the government for 750 primary school teachers.

“The civil war is over, but we have another fight on our hands,” says the Assistant Minister for Primary Education, Keturah Seibu. “That is, to mold the minds of our children who missed out so much due to war and poverty. We need to get our children from their homes, off the streets and into the classrooms.”

For Benetta, being in school is like a gift. “I am really happy that ‘Ma Ellen’ is giving us free education,” she says, referring to Liberia’s President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. “And I will try my best.”