It takes a village…

When children live in conflict affected areas or in camps for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), their education will be one of the first things to be compromised. But when communities and local officials realize the future of those vulnerable children can be brighter through education, then it will be possible to keep children learning even in difficult circumstances.  

Grade 4 IDP children, originally from Zup Mai Yan village of Ingyanyan Township, learning Geography at Tang Hpre IDP camp, Kachin State on 15 November 2018.
©UNICEF Myanmar/2018/ Nyan Zay Htet

By Fre Yilma

In Kachin State, following the conflict in April 2018, children from villages in Njang Yang Township, including students and teachers from Zup Mai Yang village, took shelter in Tang Hpre IDP camp. Initially, the children were not able to start the 2018-2019 academic year. However, with the collaboration of the local community, State Parliamentarians and district education authorities children like Hkun Mai are now able to learn within the camp.

Going blue for children in Myanmar

By Htet Htet Oo

Every year, 20th November, marks the day when the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, was adopted. In Myanmar, this year, children and adolescents took centre stage making it a day ‘for children, by children’. From the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, to Mandalay Region and Rakhine State, children and adolescents urged adults to recognise their rights and to hear their concerns and aspirations. Here are some of the voices of children and adolescents that UNICEF and the Department of Social Welfare helped to elevate throughout the country.

U-Reporters at the Union Parliament singing 'We Are the World' in Burmese
©UNICEF Myanmar/2018/Nyan Zay Htet