Press
Centre
Press Release
Japan becomes UNICEF’s #1 donor on
Iraq relief
NEW YORK, 30 may 2003 – The Government of Japan
this week donated $10.2 million to UNICEF to support the
reopening of schools across the country, bringing its
total contributions to UNICEF’s emergency relief
efforts in Iraq to more than $15 million and making Japan
the leading governmental donor to UNICEF’s appeal
for Iraqi children so far.
“We are delighted that Japan has responded so quickly
and so generously to the urgent needs of Iraqi children,”
said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. “The
needs are very urgent and we are grateful for this strong
and early support.”
Reactivating the primary education system is one of the
most immediate needs in post-war Iraq. UNICEF has made
getting children back into a school an urgent priority.
Most of Iraq’s 8,500 schools need repairs or clean-up,
and another 5,000 need to be built to accommodate all
of Iraq’s 12 million school-age children. At present,
a shortage of safe school facilities and trained teachers
force many schools to operate on shifts. Poor hygiene
and sanitation in primary schools is also a serious concern;
less than half of all primary schools have access to potable
water.
UNICEF has begun delivering the first of more than 50,000
“school-in-a-box” kits to classrooms across
the country. Each kit contains learning supplies and teaching
aids to meet the needs of 80 children. When the deliveries
are finished, UNICEF will have provided supplies like
pencils, notepads and slate boards for some 4 million
children in primary schools.
Japan’s latest gift will support education, helping
more than 1 million children in three cities. About $3.5
million of donation will be used to help rehabilitate
70 schools– 30 in Baghdad and 40 in the south of
the country. The bulk of the funds, some $6.2 million,
will buy teaching and learning supplies.
Almost $700,000 will go towards teacher training to improve
the quality of teachers’ skills by updating it with
child-centered methodologies. Child -centered methodologies
will foster an approach encouraging students’ active
participation in the learning process, discouraging the
outdated top-down approach which has been the mainstay
of the Iraqi education system.
Other major donors to UNICEF’s relief efforts in
Iraq include the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia,
Canada, and the European Union.
* * *
For further information please contact :
Alfred Ironside,
Media Chief, New York: (1-212) 326-7261; aironside@unicef.org
Kate Donovan, Media, New York: (212) 326 - 7452; kdonovan@unicef.org
|
