In 2021 the school is a mirage for approx 132 million girls in the world. A huge number, destined to increase following the pandemic and which becomes even heavier when referring to the refugee population. For this today, March 8, on the occasion of Women’s Day, we have chosen to tell you the story of Nahid, who, at the age of 14, decided to fight to guarantee the right to school for all children in refugee camps.
“I can’t forget the situation in the camp, full of mice, with very dirty bathrooms”, says Nahid, a former student in the schools opened by the non-profit organization Still I Rise. “I have wonderful memories of Samos, when I could go to a place where I learned something. If I could change three things in the field first I would change the mentality and allow the children to go to school, this is the first thing. Then I would improve the living conditions of the refugees and thirdly I would ask people what they want ».
After a year in Samos, Nahid was transferred to mainland Greece, to the Ritsona refugee camp. Here she joined the “Youth Refugee Movement” to change the living conditions of the children in the camps.
“The first thing we fight for is the right to go to school. We want all children to be able to go to school and not just some of us ». To allow this, Nahid together with other young people from the camp transformed an old abandoned container into a classroom, where today 38 children study English with her.
It is estimated that in the world, already in the pre-pandemic era, 48% of refugee children did not have access to education, with a significant gap between primary education and secondary education: if primary education is attended by 77% of refugee secondary accounts for only 36% of boys and 27% of girls. At the end of the pandemic, half of these teenagers may never return to school (UNHCR data, 2020).
“To build the better world we expect tomorrow, we need to guarantee what should now be normal, nothing more”, says Michele Senici, director of education for Still I Rise. “At school desks around the world, we bring high quality education regardless of gender. By ensuring that 50% of our students are girls and through targeted activities, we fight discrimination and fight for a world where every child is treated with justice and respect ”.
Education makes you free, emancipated. Save life. According to a World Bank study (2018), women with a secondary education not only have a better chance of earning but also a better quality of life for themselves and the communities in which they are located. As it relates Still I Rise, other research reveals how each additional year of a woman’s education is able to reduce the possibility of infant mortality of her children by 5-10%.
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