Combining work and school - a group of young bangle makers take part in UNICEF-supported non-formal classes in Uttar Pradesh, India. By allowing them to both work and study, the project aims to give these children some hope for the future.
UNICEF India/2001/Lisa Heydlauf
Children who are excluded from society are also more likely to miss out on school. Yet the hardest to reach children need education more than ever. Children who are homeless, orphaned, or who have to work, find it more difficult to get to school. Children who are abused, exploited or the victims of trafficking can disappear from education, support and from society as a whole.
Orphans are more likely to miss out on school. In Cambodia, a joint study by the Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance and Family Health International found that about one in five children in AIDS-affected families had been forced to start working in the previous six months to support their family. One in three had to provide care and take on major household tasks. Many had to leave school to work or care for their families.
Making school free and accessible can help to educate some of the hardest to reach children. When Kenya abolished school fees, families who previously couldn’t afford the $133 tuition or the $27 for a school uniform began sending their children to school. As a result, the rate of primary school enrolment for all of Kenya has now increased to 78%. In the Coast Province, more than 80 per cent of children are now enrolled in school, and the drop-out rate is less than 5 per cent in most districts. Similar experiences have been reported in Malawi, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Kenya’s primary education programme has also had knock on effects in other areas. For example, the high enrolment rates which have emerged as a result of free primary education has made it possible to reach a large percentage of school-age children with tetanus vaccines, thus improving the health of many children too.
Outreach programmes and community schools can also help to identify excluded children and get them back into the education system. Schools should be child-friendly, diverse and flexible to the differing needs of the children, and care about what happens to children, before they enter they system and after they leave the classroom.
Disabilities
Most children with disabilities in the developing world have no access to healthcare or support services, and many cannot get a formal education. Disabled children are often withdrawn from community life. Even if they are not ignored or abused, they are often left without proper care.
Where education is available for children with disabilities, it often involves separating them from other people. For example, a recent report showed that in CEE/CIS and Baltic States, some 317,000 children with disabilities were living in residential institutions. Cut off from their families and community from an early age, they are often segregated in large facilities and special schools.
Ethnicity
Children from minority ethnic groups often face discrimination and exclusion. Almost 900 million people belong to groups that have experienced prejudice as a result of their ethnicity. This can have a serious impact on their education.
Around the world, some 334 million people face discrimination because of their language. In over 30 sub-Saharan African countries, for example, the official language is different from the one most commonly used. As a result, only 13 per cent of children in these countries are taught at school in their own language. Obviously, this makes learning more difficult.
Indigenous children can suffer discrimination as well. They are less likely to be registered at birth, which can prevent them from being able to enrol at school. In most countries, children from indigenous groups are less likely to go to school. This can be because of scarce facilities and teacher shortages, because they live in remote areas where there aren’t any schools, or because their parents don’t think school is relevant. Prejudice can keep these children out of school.
Conflict
Armed conflict disrupts education. Schools are disrupted because it’s too dangerous to get there, or because there aren’t enough teachers. Children have to flee from their homes, so they can’t get to school.
Often, schools are directly attacked:
• In September 2004 more than 150 children and even greater numbers of adults were left dead after a school siege in Beslan in the Russian Federation.
• In Aceh, Indonesia, as part of the conflict between government forces and rebel groups, 460 schools were systematically burned to the ground during May 2003 alone.
• In Nepal, schools are regularly used as centres for propaganda and recruitment by groups opposing the government. Attacks on and abductions of both teachers and students are frequent.
How UNICEF helps
UNICEF’s commitment to the rights of all children will include supporting special measures to ensure that no children are excluded from learning, and that quality education reaches every child regardless of gender, class, race, religion, ethnicity, disability and location. This includes working children, children of ethnic minorities, children affected by violence and HIV and AIDS.
UNICEF is committed to helping adolescents and young people, out of school for whatever reasons, who are in need of a ‘second chance’ at education. And it works with those children whose lives are disrupted by conflicts or crisis. Restoring education for them as quickly as possible in safe, child-friendly spaces will continue to be one of UNICEF’s first humanitarian actions in emergency situations.