[hr-education] Education for All week brings teachers on board in Yemen

SANA’A, 25 April 2006 – During ‘Education for All’ week, Yemen is stepping
up efforts to overcome barriers to universal primary education.

This year’s theme ‘Every Child Needs a Teacher’ strikes a major chord in
Yemen, where the number of teachers lags far behind the actual
requirements. Meeting the looming teacher shortage is one of the greatest
barriers to education in Yemen, where the number of female teachers is
especially short, particularly in rural areas.

Achieving universal primary education by 2015 is a UN-set Millennium
Development Goal, one that governments, UNICEF and its partners are
working towards around the world.

Despite Yemen’s commitment of energy and resources, the country’s primary
school enrolment rate is only 46 per cent and the number out-of-school
girls in rural areas is close to 70 per cent. The task is a large one, and
national leadership must mobilize and support all partners to realize
children’s right to education. The Ministry of Education, UNICEF and
partners are working to achieve universal access to primary education,
increase girls’ enrolment and improve the quality of basic education.

The Ministry of Education and UNICEF have stepped up efforts to support
‘Education for All’ by giving priority to basic education and gender
equity programmes, focusing on the country’s most vulnerable groups.
UNICEF supports Yemen’s Basic Education Development strategy and
emphasizes accelerating girls’ education through a novel approach in six
Governorates: Sana’a, Hodaida, Abyan, Lahej Dahle. There, the Ministry of
Education and UNICEF are conducting a series of district workshops to help
communities and community leaders find ways to overcome barriers and
challenges to girls’ education. The workshops are designed to stimulate
active roles of people with influence, teachers, religious leaders and
parents to help them understand the issues that impact girls’ education
and generate an increase in girls’ enrolment and retention in schools.

Yemen is involved the UN Girls’ Education Initiative (www.ungei.or), a
lynchpin of efforts to achieve education for all, and urgent efforts to
promote girls’ education are needed. UNICEF is mobilizing the media and
has supported field visits by journalists to create awareness on gender
parity and barriers to education.

In a practical demonstration of its commitment to the issue regionally,
UNICEF is supporting the meeting of the Second Arab Media Forum in Dubai
from 2-4 May on the Rights of the Child, where girls’ education will be in
sharp focus. Leading media representatives from the Middle East and North
Africa will discuss the situation of girls’ education in the Arab World in
terms of enrolment, drop-out rates and social factors that influence
girls’ education. A team of Yemeni journalists will participate in the
Forum and share stories from the field.

‘Education for All’ week is a GCE and UNESCO effort to drum up support for
the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education and takes
place from 24-30 April. Globally, an estimated 115 million children are
not in school; the majority are girls. Getting more girls into school is
an essential step towards transforming the dream of universal education
into a reality.

****
About UNICEF:
For 60 years UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children, working
on the ground in 155 countries and territories to help children
survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The
world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF
supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation,
quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of
children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded
entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses,
foundations and governments.

For more information please contact:
Naseem-Ur-Rehman – Chief of Information & Communication, UNICEF
Yemen, +967-1-211400, ext. no. 138

 
 


======== Global Human Rights Education listserv =======
Send mail intended for the list to <       >.
Archives of the list can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-education/
**You are welcome to reprint, copy, archive, quote or re-post this
item, but please retain the original and listserv source.