On Feb. 4, UNICEF moved to open more than 100 temporary classrooms in the Central African Republic capital of Bangui for 20,000 children displaced by the country’s ongoing conflict. Over 40 of the temporary classrooms are already operating, and UNICEF has trained more than 160 teachers in early childhood development to work in the temporary spaces. All schools in the capital have been closed since December, 2013.
The UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, estimated that as of mid-2013, there were over 400,000 people are internally within the CAR. That number has increased during a recent spate of violence centered in the capital. One report estimates that 300,000 people were displaced from Bangui in December 2013 alone. UNICEF reports that of 176 schools inspected across the country in the last year, 114 have been looted. “I want the children in my class to forget the bad things they have seen. I want to make sure that they don’t turn to violence and retribution, but learn honestly and gentleness,” said Antoinette, a teacher at UNICEF training.
“Children have lost several months of schooling since the crisis started,” said UNICEF Deputy Representative in the CAR Judith Léveillée. “If the displaced children cannot go back to schools, classrooms should come to them,” she added.
This UNICEF program in CAR closely resembles another UN program in similarly war-torn South Sudan, where students were able to sit exams in refugee camps. Though the temporary camps in CAR are not designed to be a permanent solution, given the recent escalation in the conflict, there is no telling how long students might remain in these temporary spaces.
Creative Commons Love: UK Department for International Development on Flickr.com
Written by Alex Leedom