WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

Attached is the 2010 UN Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education:

 

THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION OF MIGRANTS, REFUGEES & ASYLUM-SEEKERS

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UNHCR - UN Refugee Agency - http://www.unhcr.org

 

SUDAN - RIGHT TO EDUCATION - EDUCATION FOR REFUGEE GIRLS - UNHCR

 

Hassina

 

Fifteen-year-old Hassina, an Eritrean refugee in eastern Sudan, recently earned a UNHCR scholarship to attend high school after finishing top among students from 17 primaryclasses. UNHCR / K. Ringuett.

EDUCATION is a basic right for all children across the globe. But in the midst of conflict, education is often seen as a luxury for people who are also struggling for food and shelter.

Education is not only a right but an investment; an investment in the future.

For young girls in refugee camps the reality is even more challenging. Across the world, girls are the single largest group denied this basic right to a future.

Young girls are often kept at home to help out with domestic work, or due to cultural reasons and practices of early marriage. Sexual harrassment and exploitation by teachers and peers and a lack of female teachers can also make it harder for girls to regularly attend school.

In Sudan, for example, only 52% of girls attend primary school with numbers dropping to 32% for girls attendance at secondary school level.

Still, there continue to be success stories, and with your help hopefully this festive period we can make them the standard rather than the exception and spread some joy among those less fortunate. Read Hassina's story, here:

Hassina is a young, lively and ambitious girl from Eastern Sudan. She has dreams of one day studying medicine and giving back by providing medical care to her community. She was born in a refugee camp to parents who lost everything when they fled their home in Eritrea. Hassina graduated top out of 17 primary school classes and thanks to a UN refugee scholarship will start at the Alhuea Schools for Girls High School in the town of Kassala next year.

"Education has changed attitudes and especially refugees' understanding of health and hygiene...Students learn about it at school and they are instructed to take the knowledge back home and share it with their family." Hassan Idris Ahmed, a senior teacher at Hassina's primary school.

In the past year alone in Sudan the UN refugee agency has helped create temporary classrooms that have allowed an additional 500 children aged 6 - 8 to go to school.