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UNICEF - Pakistan - Pakistan flood crisis, one year on - 0 views

  • PUNJAB, Pakistan, 3 August 2011 – “Before the floods, this village had a one-room Masjid [mosque] school. Most of the children sat under a tree. We now have this beautiful school, and the children love it,” says Mukhtar Ahmad, Headmaster of the Government Primary School in Mullanwala village, located in the Muzaffargarh District of Pakistan’s Punjab Province.
  • Last year’s unprecedented floods in Pakistan forced the bulk of the population in Mullanwala to relocate to safer areas. When the floodwaters receded and people returned, they discovered that not a single structure in the village was standing – not even the one-room Masjid school.
  • Now, a year after the floods, the TLC has turned into a transitional school housed in semi-permanent buildings. As part of its initiative to quickly improve education facilities for flood-affected children in Pakistan, UNICEF plans the construction of 500 such transitional schools by December 2011. Indeed, the process is already under way.
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  • Its teachers use a ‘child-friendly’ approach to schooling that takes the needs of the whole child into account – including needs for protection, recreation, safe water and sanitation, and more.
  • “Before the floods, I used to go to a one-room school,” recalls Shahbaz. “When the floods came, we moved to high ground in Muzaffargarh. When we returned after the floods, our school had been destroyed. Then we got a tent school, books, bags and everything else. Later, they made us this school building.”
  • “Teaching without corporal punishment is something new in this environment,” she notes. “Since children don’t get beaten up in school, parents are also learning that physical punishment is detrimental to a child’s upbringing.”
Teachers Without Borders

IRIN Asia | CAMBODIA: Schools and students struggle post-floods | Cambodia | Children |... - 0 views

  • PHNOM PENH, 24 November 2011 (IRIN) - Schools damaged in Cambodia's worst monsoons in more than a decade may take up to a year to recover after flooding delayed the start of school for thousands of students nationwide, say aid workers and officials. As of late October, 323 schools out of 1,400 damaged ones were closed; some have since reopened. Though flood waters have receded, how well those schools are functioning and how many remain closed is still unknown, as the government continues its damage assessments in a dozen flood-hit provinces. At least 77 schools are beyond repair, while students and teachers were still pumping water out of dozens more, said the director of the education ministry's construction department on 21 November, Song Yen.
Teachers Without Borders

After the floods in Benin, school year starts under harsh conditions - 0 views

  • GANVIE, Benin, 16 December 2010 – In the past two months, Benin has experienced some of its worst floods since the 1960s. And now, students in the flood zone are returning to school under harsh conditions.
  • "In this classroom, we have children from two classrooms. Each of them had already around 90 children before the floods, " explains David Houngbadji, the Ganvie school's director. "Now in this very room, we teach a class of 185 children. We don't even have the benches to seat them all."
  • Most of the floodwaters have now receded and the United Nations, along with the government of Benin, is putting in place a long-term response to the crisis. Yet 105,000 school children across Benin are still unable to attend school on a regular basis. In some places, the classrooms are still unreachable.
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  • In Gogbo, near the Oueme River, the village school has remained under stagnant water for several weeks. While the buildings are still intact, most of the teaching materials have been ruined. "Every single school book we had to start the year has been completely ruined by the floods," says school director Ambroise Vignon Botondji. "We planned to start school in early October but we couldn't; the school was still underwater. My pupils are now two months behind."
Teachers Without Borders

Manual on school safety: preparing schools for a safer tomorrow - Educational Materials... - 0 views

  • This document presents a comprehensive methodology for school safety considering school-specific hazards, such as earthquake, flood, flash flood, cyclone, landslide, and tsunami. It also focuses on fire and road hazards and considers climate change related issues. This manual is specific to Bangladesh and aims to guide teachers and students to develop a disaster management plan that includes mitigation, preparedness and response planning.
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    This document presents a comprehensive methodology for school safety considering school-specific hazards, such as earthquake, flood, flash flood, cyclone, landslide, and tsunami. It also focuses on fire and road hazards and considers climate change related issues. This manual is specific to Bangladesh and aims to guide teachers and students to develop a disaster management plan that includes mitigation, preparedness and response planning.
Teachers Without Borders

Associated Press Of Pakistan: UNICEF to establish 1,550 TLCs in flood hit areas - 0 views

  • ISLAMABAD, Dec 9 (APP): United Nations International Children’s  Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has planned to establish 1,550 Temporary Learning Centres (TLCs) in the flood-affected areas. According to UNICEF Progress Report 2010, UNICEF took detailed assessments of school facilities and staff capacity.  In total, 150,200 women and children in flood-affected districts across the country benefitted from assorted school supplies, including tents, the report said. UNICEF has sent 2,600 tables and 2,500 chairs to flood affected districts as well as 930 temporary school in a box kits, 1,200 recreation kits and assorted stationary, including individual school kits and bags.
Teachers Without Borders

UNICEF - At a glance: Philippines - After flooding in the Philippines, teachers help st... - 0 views

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    CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines, 25 January 2012 - In City Central School, in Cagayan de Oro City, two teachers recently held their first day of classes since the devastating floods that swept through their community - even as their own futures looks uncertain. Vivian Benedictos and Marilou Gambuta, co-teachers and best friends, share a first-grade classroom at the school. It is a space they not only teach in, but now also live in.
Teachers Without Borders

In post-flood Pakistan, temporary learning centres offer education amid uncer... - 0 views

  • With UNICEF support, a Temporary Learning Centre (TLC), or emergency tent school, has been established in the camp. One of her brothers is a regular attendee, and Luxmi has started going as well. It is the first chance she has had to go to school, and it is opening up possibilities that were previously unimaginable.
  • “I want to learn more. When I grow up, I can start working like girls in the cities,” she said. ”Maybe I can become a teacher. But it is difficult. I have only just learnt my alphabet and counting.”
  • With 60 per cent of schools in affected areas damaged, UNICEF has established 2,070 TLCs, benefiting over 100,000 children in Sindh and Balochistan. Intended to ensure that education is not interrupted, the TLCs have also attracted over 39,000 children to school for the first time, including 16,000 girls.
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    With UNICEF support, a Temporary Learning Centre (TLC), or emergency tent school, has been established in the camp. One of her brothers is a regular attendee, and Luxmi has started going as well. It is the first chance she has had to go to school, and it is opening up possibilities that were previously unimaginable. "I want to learn more. When I grow up, I can start working like girls in the cities," she said. "Maybe I can become a teacher. But it is difficult. I have only just learnt my alphabet and counting." © UNICEF Pakistan/2012/Chaudhry Luxmi and her younger brother learn to count at a UNICEF-supported Temporary Learning Centre in Naukot, Pakistan. With 60 per cent of schools in affected areas damaged, UNICEF has established 2,070 TLCs, benefiting over 100,000 children in Sindh and Balochistan. Intended to ensure that education is not interrupted, the TLCs have also attracted over 39,000 children to school for the first time, including 16,000
Teachers Without Borders

IRIN Africa | ETHIOPIA: Drought, floods hit education | Ethiopia | Children | Education... - 0 views

  • ADDIS ABABA, 18 January 2012 (IRIN) - Parts of Ethiopia are still reeling from the effects of recent drought, flooding, conflict or a combination of the three, resulting in increased numbers of children dropping out of school, say officials. At least 385,000 school-children need "emergency education assistance this school year", Alexandra Westerbeek, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) communication manager in Ethiopia, told IRIN. "In addition, 70,000 children among [the] refugee population also need emergency education assistance." 
Teachers Without Borders

IRIN Africa | ETHIOPIA: Drought, floods hit education | Ethiopia | Children | Education... - 0 views

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    Parts of Ethiopia are still reeling from the effects of recent drought, flooding, conflict or a combination of the three, resulting in increased numbers of children dropping out of school, say officials.
Teachers Without Borders

BBC News - Water map shows billions at risk of 'water insecurity' - 1 views

  • Researchers compiled a composite index of "water threats" that includes issues such as scarcity and pollution.
  • Instead, they say governments should to invest in water management strategies that combine infrastructure with "natural" options such as safeguarding watersheds, wetlands and flood plains.
  • They have taken data on a variety of different threats, used models of threats where data is scarce, and used expert assessment to combine the various individual threats into a composite index.
Teachers Without Borders

Notes from the Field | Not again! - 0 views

  • And yet, there's an additional heartache for Haiti in hearing this news. Why was it so much worse here? Chile's quake registered at 8.8, about 500 times more powerful than Haiti's. But the numbers of Haitian dead have already surpassed 220,000 – close to the horrendous toll of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Chile's dead, at last report, number some 700 – a tragic loss, but orders of magnitude fewer than Haiti's. What explains this deadly disparity?
  • Where Chile had strict building codes, Haiti suffered from haphazard construction. Poor, rural people had for years flooded into the capital, living in precariously built shantytowns. Lack of enforcement, corruption and weak governance all contributed to grossly magnify the proportions of the catastrophe. It's easy enough to see the exceptions here, which might have been the rule if earthquake-resistant building codes had been enforced: a few solid structures still tower above the rubble – scarred and cracked, to be sure, but standing all the same.
  • I worry that, as so many times in the past, Haiti will quickly fade from public consciousness, once the world's TV screens are no longer broadcasting terrifying pictures from Port-au-Prince. All the more important that those of us who are working hand in hand with the Haitian people maintain our commitment for the long term, not just with material support but with the determination to rebuild safely and prudently.
Teachers Without Borders

Pakistan schools campaign hopes to avert 'education emergency' | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

  • With millions of children out of school and one-fifth of teachers playing truant, Pakistan faces an "education emergency" that costs the economic equivalent of its flood disaster every year, a new campaign has warned.
  • One in 10 of the world's out-of-school children live in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state that last year spent just 2% of GDP on education.
  • The number of children absent from primary school – seven million – is roughly equivalent to the population of its second largest city, Lahore.Half of the population is illiterate and progress is painfully slow – at present rates the government will not deliver universal education in Balochistan, the largest province, until 2100.
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  • Campaigners want to raise awareness in a country that is becoming dangerously polarised. Pakistan's elite educates its offspring at expensive schools in Pakistan or abroad, and so education has slipped off the political agenda.
  • Politicians use schools as patronage, and although public teachers are relatively well-paid, 15%-20% are absent from class on any given day.
  • Critics said the campaign fails to focus on the outdated curriculum in Pakistani schools that promotes a narrow view of Islam, hatred of Hindus and other bigotry.
Teachers Without Borders

Disaster-hit children portray woes through art - The Express Tribune - 0 views

  • One hundred and fifty paintings and sketches drawn by school children from flood-affected areas are being exhibited at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in Islamabad, said a press release. The exhibition “Art for Future” has been organised by a UK-based NGO Islamic Relief in collaboration with PNCA. A total of 450 entries were received for the exhibition.
Teachers Without Borders

BBC NEWS | South Asia | The 'youngest headmaster in the world' - 0 views

  • At 16 years old, Babar Ali must be the youngest headmaster in the world. He's a teenager who is in charge of teaching hundreds of students in his family's backyard, where he runs classes for poor children from his village.
  • Murshidabad in West Bengal
  • Raj Govinda school is government-run so it is free, all Babar Ali has to pay for is his uniform, his books and the rickshaw ride to get there. But still that means his family has to find around 1,800 rupees a year ($40, £25) to send him to school. In this part of West Bengal that is a lot of money. Many poor families simply can't afford to send their children to school, even when it is free.
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  • But Chumki is now getting an education, thanks to Babar Ali. The 16-year-old has made it his mission to help Chumki and hundreds of other poor children in his village. The minute his lessons are over at Raj Govinda school, Babar Ali doesn't stop to play, he heads off to share what he's learnt with other children from his village. At four o'clock every afternoon after Babar Ali gets back to his family home a bell summons children to his house. They flood through the gate into the yard behind his house, where Babar Ali now acts as headmaster of his own, unofficial school.
  • Now his afternoon school has 800 students, all from poor families, all taught for free. Most of the girls come here after working, like Chumki, as domestic helps in the village, and the boys after they have finished their day's work labouring in the fields.
  • Including Babar Ali there are now 10 teachers at the school, all, like him are students at school or college, who give their time voluntarily. Babar Ali doesn't charge for anything, even books and food are given free, funded by donations. It means even the poorest can come here.
  • The school has been recognised by the local authorities, it has helped increase literacy rates in the area, and Babar Ali has won awards for his work.
Teachers Without Borders

43,000 Thai schools and hospitals pledge to uphold safety at national launch of United ... - 0 views

  • Bangkok – The Thai Government today launched the “One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals” initiative in Bangkok, with top government officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministries of Education, Public Health and Interior and partner agencies promising to make safety a priority at 43,004 schools and hospitals.
  • n recent years, Thailand has been experiencing intense disasters with increasing frequency. A series of flash floods in October and November 2010 – declared “one of the worst natural calamities” to hit the country – killed more than a hundred people, displaced thousands and affected six million in 38 provinces. Thousands of students were forced to evacuate their schools, with more than a thousand schools reportedly damaged.
  • “Our Government and partner agencies have pledged to spread awareness among 43,000 schools and hospitals to maintain or upgrade their safety standards.
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  • “Young people and their education are critical to a country's future. The Thai Government promises to make sure its schools can function, even in a disaster, which is a powerful statement about its commitment to human development and resilience.”
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    Bangkok - The Thai Government today launched the "One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals" initiative in Bangkok, with top government officials from the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministries of Education, Public Health and Interior and partner agencies promising to make safety a priority at 43,004 schools and hospitals.
Teachers Without Borders

allAfrica.com: Ghana: 129 Girls Benefit From WFP Scholarship - 0 views

  • A total of 129 Senor High School girls, from the three Northern Regions, are to benefit from a GHc 74,000 scholarship scheme to guard against school drop-out. The World Food Programme and the Ghana Health Service Girls Project seek to support the less privileged girls, who attained the aggregate 06 to 16 in the 2010 Basic Education Certificate Examination.
  • As part of the programme she said, girls who attended school of a minimum of 85 percent of the month were rewarded with a take-home food package of cereal, vegetable oil and iodized salt.
  • "We at WFP are proud of the success of the girl child education programmes, but we are equally wary of challenges, including inadequate classroom, high teacher pupil ration, floods and drought, which could slow down the nation's quest to achieve MDG two," he said.
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