A new school for a new beginning
As in Walirdé’s school in Sévaré, the support of UNICEF and its partners makes it possible to provide a complete Covid-19 prevention to pupils - from masks and handwashing sets to school kits.
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Sévaré – It is on the rooftop of the home that Ali Sy finds the peace he needs to study his lessons. His house is also home to 20 other members of his family who arrived in Sévaré in May 2019 after fleeing violence in Bankass, a town in central Mali. The family found a shelter in the Walirdé neighbourhood and their children joined the school that bears the name of the locality.
"This school is very different" Ali, aged 14 calmly explains. "There are no fences or guards and above all l no longer have friends around. "Nostalgic, the teenager often remembers his former classmates and where he used to live. "I miss it, I was born there, I grew up there, that's all I knew," he says. The child has been welcomed in his new environment: "The students at the school quarrel but it's the same with everyone, no more and no less than they do with the displaced children. Here, there are displaced children in every class... Except in 7th grade!" he says with the smile of a boy who has just entered the 8th grade.
"Last year I also received everything I needed: notebooks, pencils, etc."
Casting a benevolent gaze in his direction, his grandmother, Kadiatou Barry explains: "I didn't go to school, I just did adult literacy in Fulani and thanks to that I can read and count," she glances at what her grandson is writing in his school notebook. "I want my children to study so that they can find a good job," concludes the 50-year-old head of the family.
Thanks to the intervention of UNICEF and the partner NGO APIDEV, supported by “UNICEF Norge”, all the pupils and teachers in Ali's school received masks for Covid-19 prevention, as well as school kits containing four notebooks, two pencils and materials for math (ruler, compass, eraser).
"Also, for the last academic year, we were given notebooks, pens, a slate and everything I needed" Ali explains during recess before returning to his desk. "I like French and biology a lot, I don't know what I want to do later, maybe banking... But most of all I want to go back to Bankass. »
Thanks to the support of “UNICEF Norge”, 8,000 Malian children like Ali, received school kits.
