This is the VOA Special English Education Report, from http://voaspecialenglish.com | http://facebook.com/voalearningenglish
Conflicts around
the world are keeping tens of millions of young people from going to school.
Many have physical or emotional injuries that make it hard or even impossible
for them to learn. Later this year UNESCO will release its 2012 "Education for
All Global Monitoring Report." UNESCO is the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization. The yearly publication is part of a global
campaign to provide primary education to all children within the next three
years. The report documents the situation in countries that have made the least
progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. These goals require universal
primary education and equality for boys and girls in schooling by 2015. Pauline
Rose is the director of the report. She says at last count, in 35
conflict-affected countries, there were 28 million children out of school. In
some countries, schools are not even accessible in conflict zones. There are no
teachers and the schools are sometimes attacked. The Geneva Conventions bar the
targeting of public places like schools and hospitals. In some cases, schools
are targeted because they represent the government. In other cases, schools are
targeted for religious or political reasons. Pauline Rose points to Afghanistan,
where militant groups have attacked girls' schools to keep girls from getting an
education. In other parts of the world, schools are often caught in the
crossfire of violence. Conflicts also put girls and boys at risk of sexual
violence and of being forced into war. Under international law, refugees are the
only displaced people with a guaranteed right to education. But that guarantee
often means little. Last year, Pauline Rose visited camps in northern Kenya that
shelter more than 250,000 refugees from Somalia. She says half the children have
no access to school, and there are classes of over 300 children. What if
conflict states in sub-Saharan Africa moved just 10 percent of their military
spending to education? UNESCO says they could educate more than one-fourth of
their out-of-school population. And in Pakistan, it says, 20 percent of the
military budget could provide primary education for all children. Experts say
one country has been a real success story. For years, Botswana has used its
wealth from diamond exports to finance universal primary education and to create
a skills base for its growing economy. For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn
Presutti. (Adapted from a radio program broadcast 21Jun2012)
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