Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - In eight of the ten refugee camps in Chad run by the UN High Commission for Refugees this week school starts for some 18,000 children aged 5 to 17. In some camps adult refugees themselves had already organised lessons. For many of these children it will be their first experience of any sort of school.
UNHCR says that about 42,000 school age children do not go to school, partly because of scarcity of resources, school teachers and materials but mainly because parents need children to collect firewood, fetch water and other jobs. UNHCR is working with NGO partners and UNICEF to increase the offer of instruction for refugee children and also to promote awareness of the importance of education among parents.
A major problem is to find teachers. There are a few refugees from Sudan who are teachers with years of experience but most of the teachers recruited so far are still students themselves and they have little or no experience of teaching. So far 150 have been recruited but UNHCR aims to provide a teacher for every 40-45 children.
Guaranteeing schooling for children of all ages in refugee camps in eastern Chad One is a priority for UNHCR. Moreover, the agency is negotiating with the Chad government with regard to an official school diploma at the end of the lessons to ensure that the school year is recognised when children return to school in Sudan. In fact the lessons organised in refugee camps are given in Arabic and they follow Sudan’s national school programme. For the moment the programme is limited to basic notions of reading and maths and some camps offer also adult education.
In another sector of its activity, yesterday UNHCR received 700 tents for Sudanese refugees in Chad sent by the government of Japan. The tents will be distributed to refugees in Goz Amer camp and Djabal camp. UNHCR has expressed its deep gratitude to the Japanese government for this donation which will alleviate the suffering of many families. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 11/10/2004 righe 33 parole 423)
