Educate A Child and the UNHCR Work Together to Build a Better Future for Refugee Children in Chad
She snaps off peanut pods by day. “This work is exhausting,” she says. “I’d rather be in school, but classes started months ago. Every year I miss half the programme, but I have no choice. I have to support my family.” Radia’s father, Ibrahim Issou, regrets that his children are out of school. “I would prefer that my children were studying now. But our situation is critical, we barely have enough to eat.”
This region in eastern Chad is impoverished. Nonetheless, since 2003, the government has welcomed more than 460,000 refugees. Despite Chad’s generosity, approximately 25,000 refugee children are unable to attend school. For these reasons EAC and UNHCR have partnered to redress the barriers preventing children from completing a full course of primary education. Since 2012, this partnership has allowed more than 13,000 refugee children to enrol in primary school.
Still, poverty is a looming threat to a refugee child’s education. Abderahman Rakia, a mother of four at Djabal, explains, “I received 40,000 CFA (about US$65) from UNHCR. I bought our, sugar, and beans. Using this money,
I cook cakes that I sell at the market. Without the 3,000 CFA (almost US$5) profit I make weekly, my children would have to leave school.” She continues, “I am certain that Mariam, my oldest daughter, will complete her studies.
I don’t want her to make the same mistake I made and get married at 16, because of a lack of money. If necessary, she will study until she is 55, but she will become a doctor!”
In response to this need, the EAC/ UNHCR partnership will provide scholarship awards to 22,000 destitute refugee households. However, scholarships are not enough. That is why over the last three years, EAC and UNHCR have also implemented a nine-month training programme and transformed 167 refugees into qualified teachers.
Lawe Abraham, a Chadian teaching at Djabal, observes, “My students were mostly born in Chad; they know nothing about Sudan except for war stories. It is therefore vital that they fit into our society by learning French and Arabic. For their part, they’re making extraordinary progress. No doubt, their strong motivation will allow them to benefit from their stay in Chad.”
