In December 2011 we launch Youth, Skills & Work, a new blog where young people can make their voices heard on education and skills needed to get decent jobs. Youth, Skills & Work is open to young people around the world. You can submit text, a photo, a drawing, a poem, or join the conversation by commenting on what others have contributed.
We are gathering opinions from young people as part of our work preparing the 2012 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, which will focus on the chronic mismatch between education systems and labour markets that plagues many regions of the world.
Young people who never attended school, who left early or who left without the skills needed to thrive in literate societies, are particularly vulnerable. The 2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report will ask what kinds of policies are needed to give all young people – regardless of where they live, or their gender, ethnicity or wealth – access to employment-relevant training to help them gain access to secure work that pays a living wage.
What do you think about the need for skills and training? Share your thoughts, questions, solutions and experiences at Youth, Skills & Work.
And pass on the word to friends! You can also share the movie clip above.
A quality education is the cornerstone of every child’s rights, yet across the developing world millions of children’s futures are stunted because they don’t have the opportunity to learn. UNICEF is addressing this deprivation with an innovative approach that aims to remove barriers to success in primary school by giving preschoolers the knowledge to successfully enter first grade. Called ‘Getting Ready for School: a Child-to-Child Approach’, the programme is a low-cost way to provide supplemental education to preschoolers, especially the most marginalized.
We asked UNICEF education staff around the globe to tell us about their most inspiring moment they experienced in 2011. Something that they would not forget and reminded them why they chose this profession. Here are some of their stories.
Elena Duro
Education Specialist
UNICEF Argentina
One of the most moving and motivating experiences this year was a visit to an indigenous rural school in the province of Salta, located at an altitude of 3,500 metres. There are many difficulties with regard to access in this area.
Arriving at the school after a long journey, we shared breakfast with children who had walked for hours through the mountains to get there. We spoke with teachers and principals who make daily sacrifices to provide these children with not only a quality education but also affection, comfort and shelter – this really inspired and motivated my daily work.
That school is one of 1,500 around the country participating in an educational quality self-evaluation programme. This participatory and democratic methodology, developed by UNICEF in partnership with provincial governments, instills an evaluation culture in schools (both primary and secondary) and has the main objective of increasing inclusiveness and quality of education.
John Ekaju
Education Specialist
UNICEF Afghanistan
I visited a Jogi community school in Mazar-i-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan with colleagues from the education section and Save the Children. This minority group is excluded from mainstream society as well as formal schools because of their cultural and linguistic background. Negative stereotypes and biases that have existed for generations have led to extreme discrimination and disadvantage.
Jogi children don’t have Afghani citizenship or birth certificates, rendering them stateless in their own country. Because of discrimination and derogatory language, they are forced not to attend regular government schools.
UNICEF, in partnership with Save the Children, initiated classes for these communities in Mazar-i-Sharif. The special classes provided an opportunity for the children to learn with a renewed sense of self-esteem and confidence. They are excited to come to their own school, where they do not face prejudice and discrimination. The young volunteer teacher we met was trained in pedagogy by UNICEF and Save the Children, thus ensuring that the classroom was interactive and the children enjoyed the learning experience.
A recent qualitative survey organized by UNICEF revealed signs of an emerging Jogi identity, with an increasing awareness about their rights and a growing, if still limited, assertiveness in denouncing the discrimination they suffer. I am excited to be part of this drive to advocate for these children, who are the hope for the future generation of this great country.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
To wrap up the year, UNICEF podcast moderator Femi Oke spoke to United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Kishore Singh.
Pre-school is a luxury in most of Bangladesh, where fewer than 23 per cent of children aged 3 to 5 receive any type of early childhood education.
Chinipara is no exception.
“We live in a remote area. We have a lot of poverty here. All the students are children of day labourers and farmers,” Chinipara Primary School assistant teacher Sarkar Faruk Shana.
For Mr. Islam, the chance to see his daughter step onto the education ladder, even before primary school, is very satisfying. “When I was a child I had wanted to study,” he said. “In 1985, there was a drought in this area, and since we were poor I had to start working in the fields at a young age.”
Education can play a key part in the prevention and transformation of violent conflicts. In an effort to investigate what role UNICEF can play to realize this mission, a team of researchers presented their global findings at a brown-bag discussion on Friday, titled “Education and Peacebuilding in Conflict-Affected Contexts.” The research team set out to collect evidence on the role of education in peacebuilding, how education interventions could have a stronger role in the UN peacebuilding structure and more specifically, how UNICEF can contribute effectively to peacebuilding through education.
Deved is a newly established NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland that aims to change attitudes and approaches to education in the developing world by focusing on the delivery of relevant education, both in terms of content and teaching methods.
We believe in respect for people, culture and the environment. Education is key to our development both as individuals and as a society; it reduces inequality and increases opportunities. We see development as communities developing on their own terms, we approach this from a holistic perspective.
Our mission is to empower communities through relevant education, to increase opportunities and improve livelihoods prospects amongst young people in developing communities.
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