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| Children in an SOS Hermann Gmeiner School. Photo by Claire Ladavicius |
March 1, 2011: In the wake of last year’s contentious presidential election results, about 800,000 of
Ivory Coast’s children have been unable to attend school due to violence. In Moyen Cavally and Dix-Huit Montagnes alone - two western regions where new skirmishes broke out on February 22 - 180,000 children are missing school.
These observations were made on February 24 by a United Nations assessment team visiting Ivory Coast for nine days. According to AlertNet, education has been interrupted even in areas where basic services remain functional.
Fighting between supporters of the nation’s incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara, recognized as the winner by world governments, has forced more than 80,000 people to flee their homes.
The children of 45,000 Ivory Coast refugees who have sought safety in Liberia are unable to attend school there due to differences in language and curricula.
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| SOS teacher handing back a paper. Photo by Christian Lesske |
Children Prefer to Be in the Classroom
Political differences have spilled into Ivory Coast’s youth population, causing tensions among secondary and college students. AlertNet reports that some 4,000 students have had books and backpacks destroyed by fellow students.
"I’ve been really frustrated to not be able to go to school," said one girl in Abengourou in eastern Ivory Coast, reports AlertNet. "We had restarted classes again on February 1st in the morning, but then people came and chased us out of class. I don’t know why. I was so happy to be able to go back to school and see my friends."
The unstable situation in Ivory Coast has compelled SOS Children’s Villages, which has been raising and educating children there since 1971, to evacuate children from one of its Villages.
Violence Forces SOS to Evacuate Children
On February 25, SOS decided to move children and SOS mothers from the Abobo-Gare Village to its second village, in Aboisso, 68 miles east of the former capital, Abidjan. If the violence swells, SOS may evacuate both its Ivory Coast villages to SOS villages in Togo. Currently SOS is closely monitoring the situation. At the moment, all the facilities in Abobo-Gare, including the kindergarten, medical center, youth center, and family strengthening programs, are closed.
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| Three SOS boys in Africa. Photo by Katja Snozzi |
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