Because I did not receive any feedback from emails to international contacts, I have chosen the alternative assignment. I listened to the podcast with Meridas Eka Yora, who “is the founder and director of the institution Fajar Hiayah for Islamic Education and Director of the Yayasan Fajar Hidayah Foundation” (World Forum Foundation Radio, n.d.). Meridas has opened three orphanages that house children in and around the city of Aceh in Indonesia. These children are all survivors/victims of the violence in Indonesia and the tsunami in 2004 that killed hundreds of people. Meridas talked about the psychological trauma that all of these children have experienced. He said that all of the teachers have been trained to act as parents to the children first, before they try to educate them. Children cannot learn if they do not feel safe. He had hired many psychologists in the beginning, but found that the children were more comfortable speaking with their teachers with whom they bonded. This is a great example of the power that a teacher has in helping a child just by making sure that strong relationship is built.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is an organization that works on using education to eradicate poverty, bring an understanding of different cultures, and enable gender equity. They are a global organization that concentrates in Africa but has over 50 offices throughout the world.
UNESCO opened my eyes to many global issues. In the Arab States, UNESCO is housed in Beirut, where they work with many education entities and government officials to open up dialogue about education reform, and in particular, equal educational opportunities to for poverty stricken children and females. In Asia and the Pacific region, UNESCO is housed in Bangkok, where the main focus is to promote education as a fundamental right. I take it for granted that I have always had access to education; I’ve always had access to free education. Understanding that there are many people who do not enjoy that privilege is very important, and advocating for that is one of UNESCO’s main goals. Latin America and the Caribbean, UNESCO has a program called Institute for Higher Education which is located in Venezuela. This branch of UNESCO promotes the development of higher educational programs that can serve all population in the region. There are very few higher education programs in this area. The ones that are there are unavailable to young people in poverty.
“In the developing world, 10.5 million children under 5 die from preventable diseases every year. UNESCO advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning and which provide for children's holistic development. ECCE is part of a range of programmes that promote inclusive education” (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, n.d.).
References:
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org
World Forum Foundation (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.worldforumfoundation.org
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteGreat information about the children in Indonesia. I think the teachers there are awesome for what they are doing to help the children cope and continue to learn.
Thanks for sharing!
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post and bringing back the importance of teacher- child relationship. It just goes to show that without bonding with the children in our care as teachers we can't do much.