The facts are stark. In 2014, UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency – estimated that 51.2 million people were living as refugees or internally displaced persons globally. What might seem like a temporary predicament often leads to a long-term reality. In fact, the average length of displacement for refugees is 17 years, and 20 years for those internally displaced.
Successful implementation of Millennium Development Goal #2 will ensure that all boys and girls everywhere will be able to complete a full course of primary school. As we know, although great progress has been made, worldwide there are still more than 58 million children of primary school age who are not in school.
The 6th of December was a warm winter morning when we, the Didis (Nepali for elder sisters and what the girls call us mentors), and the Rukmini Scholars (bahinis = younger sisters) gathered together. It was a very meaningful day for all of us for many reasons.
Educate The Children works intensively in a specific geographic area for a period of several years, and in mid-2014 we began working in a new area. We have identified and begun working collaboratively with the personnel at 31 public schools, all of which will receive various types of support in the years to come.
From the 25th of November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to the 10th of December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world.
Every Spring, our foundation welcomes a new group of girls to become Rukmini Scholars. Our mentors, program officer, selection committee members and other volunteers visit villages surrounding the Pharping area (Pharping is roughly 20 KM South of Kathmandu, Nepal) to identify girls whose families may be facing hardships in trying to continue their schooling.
On a sunny day late in September, I tagged along on a lobbying visit to the Brazilian Embassy in Washington – led by Kailash Satyarthi, with colleagues from the Child Labor Coalition and the International Labor Rights Forum. Following this fall’s swirl of activities at the UN General Assembly and a myriad of meetings about the Beyond-2015 plans (Sustainable Development Goals) including education, Kailash is focused on one thing…ENDING CHILD SLAVERY.
In Nepal, despite the adoption of policies designed to promote universal access to education, ECE programs exist in some places but not others. Rural public schools in particular often do not have ECE programs. Therefore, many students enter Grade 1 unprepared to succeed, and their teachers are insufficiently trained to help them thrive. The results are predictable and unfortunate.
If you are anything like me, you hate the phone. I would much rather someone text me or email me—hey even tweeting me is better than a phone call. But sometimes a good old fashioned phone call is what is going to get the job done and on June 16, we are asking you to dust off the landlines or fire up the cell to place a call for an important cause—the millions of children around the world that are out of school.
The group of mothers sitting in the sun in a village in north India was happy to chat. We talked about children and about their school. “Are they going to school?” I asked. “Of course,” said the mothers proudly. Some went further to say, “we even send them for private coaching after school.” “How are they doing with their education?” The common word for education in Hindi is the same as reading-writing. The chatter stopped. One mother looked at me sternly and said, “How do we know? We are illiterate. Anyway, that is the business of the school and of the teachers.”
