Refugees in the largest refugee camp in South Sudan say that the UN Children’s Agency (UNICEF) has not responded to requests for scholastic materials and support to start kindergartens.
Parents and teachers in Yida camp in northern Unity State told Radio Tamazuj that the education situation has deteriorated for their children, among fears of a growing phenomenon of homelessness among the children.
Najda Romi, a social worker in Yida camp, said that children there are suffering from the absence of a competent authority to provide an education policy and a suitable curriculum.
She said that the social welfare office has repeatedly addressed the issue to UNICEF but received no response. “We are faced with a lot of challenges like lack of educational aids like textbooks, plastics sheets, and a kindergarten curriculum,” she said.
“We are willing to use English as a mean of instruction in kindergarten classes,” Romi added. But the social worker pointed to a new plan to create a children’s cultural centre at the camp for child development.
The UN does not designate Yida as an official camp but rather a ‘temporary settlement’ because it is too close to the border with Sudan. Reportedly, no organization has contributed substantially to any of the schools in the camp, with the exception of Samaritan’s Purse which more than a year ago gave some chalk boards. The UN has said, though, that it is prepared to support schools in new camps to be established farther from the border.
File photo: A mother and children in Yida, South Sudan (Radio Tamazuj)
Related: UNHCR met by protest at Sudan refugee camp (31 October 2012)