5 Aralık 2013 Perşembe

United Nations Struggles With Education Access, Quality in Mauritania Refugee Camps


In the Mbera refugee camp in eastern Mauritania, the UN agencies UNHCR and UNICEF are doing work to give better education to young children. According to the help agencies’ estimates, only four,298 of the 14,000 principal school-aged kids in Mbera refugee camp are enrolled in camp colleges.


The agencies are struggling with the challenge of receiving enough schools constructed and enhancing education top quality in tough situations. The companies also want to construct colleges for Malian refugee young children to cover long-term needs, in accordance to IRINnews.org.


Joelle Ayité, head of education for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Mauritania, stated training has been a forgotten sector considering that 2012. In the Mbera camp, half of the refugees are of student age. She mentioned that funding for training has been coming in steadily, but “it’s not enough to cover the wants.”



If secondary school-age kids are incorporated in the total, just 17% of young children in the camp are attending official schools, even though some attend informal colleges run by dad and mom or retired teachers.



In Mbera, there is a serious shortage of classrooms. A number of of the original schools had been constructions of plastic sheeting above a wooden framework, and have been ripped apart by fierce desert winds. In accordance to Hovig Etyemezian, who runs Mbera camp on behalf of UNHCR, a contractor team tasked with building more resilient schools absconded with the funds.


UNICEF and its spouse, NGO Intersos, prepare to develop 88 semi-long lasting colleges employing nearby components. This ambitious task is still in its early stages.


In Mbera camp, every single teacher is paid $ 60 per month by UNHCR and UNICEF and also receives added foods rations for his or her family members. But most teachers complain the remuneration is inadequate. Backott Ag Madelhadoui, a teacher, explained he could make a lot more operating a camp store. “We commit 6 hours teaching every day and function every night to prepare lessons – we need to be paid more. We have young children to assistance.”


But aid companies are unable to spend a lot more due the lack of money. Two of the twelve officially employed teachers in the camp are Malian state teachers and therefore continue to obtain salaries across the border – the rest are neighborhood teachers. Students in refugee camps in Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso follow the Malian curriculum, even though some lessons at Mbera are in French and Arabic.



UNICEF mentioned it is encouraging households to send their youngsters – notably women – to school. The vast majority of Malians in Mbera are nomadic or semi-nomadic and usually do not send their youngsters, notably women, to classic colleges. Many children attend Koranic schools, identified as madrassas, as the secular state schools do not meet their priorities.



UNICEF identified that a lot of kids – 75% of them women – aged 12-19 had been illiterate and has set up literacy instruction groups for them. “It’s a extremely good chance to educate kids who have not had the likelihood,” explained Ayité. The idea is to train them in a trade that they can use back house.


UNICEF continues to perform with the Mauritanian authorities to supply all returnee kids with a certificate of attendance and validation of their program-operate.



United Nations Struggles With Education Access, Quality in Mauritania Refugee Camps

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