Amira, Ibrahim and their Friends Help Save the Children in Yemen in their Advocacy Efforts
Amira, Ibrahim and her friends live in six small villages in the area of Al Houseini village, Tibn District in Lahej Governorate in the South of Yemen. The main school, called Abbas school is in Al Houseini
village. The villages are far from the school and Amira and her friends are too young to walk that far. Luckily support classrooms or satellite classrooms were build in 1990 near their villages. Now many children in the first three grades attend classes here; Amira and her friends too. Ibrahim is older but he also first attended the satellite classroom; now he attends Abbas school. Amira and her friends will also go to Abbas school after they complete the first three grades at the satellite classrooms.
Save the Children knows the benefit of satellite classrooms and has received funding from Dubai Cares Foundation for an Inclusive Education project in three southern districts in Yemen. The project aims at increasing access and quality of schooling for Yemeni children and satellite classes are an important tool to bring schooling closer to children, especially those children who are unable to walk long distances to school because they are too young, or with a disability for example. Initially, the Ministry of Education at the central level was not convinced of the importance of satellite classrooms and does not want to support it. Save the Children wanted to raise awareness of the importance of satellite classrooms for children and to change the position of the Ministry of Education. To do that, it was best that the children themselves tell about their experiences of attending a satellite classroom. Save the Children visited the satellite classroom where Amira and her friends were going to school and did a workshop with them and talked to their parents. Amira and her
friends told through role play and drawings what they thought of their satellite classroom. They explained that Abbas school was too far and that many children, especially girls, are not allowed to walk that far to go to school when they are very young. The satellite school made it possible for many more children to attend school. ‘We need the small school as we are small!’ as one of the children said.
Save the Children listened to the children and collected all the information to present to the Ministry but also to raise awareness of the importance of satellite classroom elsewhere. One of the fathers of the Father’s Council even presented the information at an UNESCO
Education Conference in Cairo! The Ministry is listening too and has changed its position on satellite classrooms. Save the Children with funding from Dubai Cares will support the building of more satellite classrooms as well as support the upkeep of present satellite classrooms.