A long way to go for Vanuatu schools :UNICEF

Transcript

Today is day two of the 2015 school year after Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu and at least half of the country's schools remain damaged or destroyed.

UNICEF says it is working closely with the Vanuatu government and other partners to ensure children in Vanuatu have the best access to education and materials as possible under the circumstances.

The Executive Director of UNICEF New Zealand Viviene Maidaborn says help is coming in from across the globe for Vanuatu but it could be months before school returns to normal for many children in the country.

VIVIENE MAIDABORN:  The school infrastructure is the first issue and there's about 50% of schools damaged, to different levels though, but the second issue is education equipment.  The third issue is that because school is now disrupted, getting children back to school together with resources and a place they know to come is the immediate challenge , whether or not that place is their normal school building.

KOROI HAWKINS:  How important is it to get children back to school because there were some villages that I visited in Vanuatu, in the outer islands, that were quite incensed that the government was thinking of putting children back to school when they had not received any assistance or help in recovering?

VM:  Yeah.  I really understand the concern.  Obviously food and water have got to be first but school is much more important than many people think because it's about re-establishing a routine in children's lives and also having children come together in a safe place. One of the things that happens in a disaster like this is that children can be unsafe.  The environment is unsafe.  The adults who usually watch out for them are attending to a whole different variety of things and so we've learnt over and over again that getting children back to school is actually a critical success factor in them addressing the sort of psycho-social issues that arise in a disaster and also recapturing the school habit.  A real concern for us is that children don't lose that habit and then drop out of their schooling.

KH:  In terms of their infrastructure, I visited a lot of schools that were basically totally wiped out.  Materials gone, administration, all that gone.  How effective can they operate as schools and what are you doing to help them with that?

VM:  UNICEF is providing what we call our school in a box kit.  They're actually quite carefully designed and put together boxes of equipment that will provide all the resources for a classroom for about 30 kids and they can go anywhere.  We'll be distributing them,  we've already begun but over the next couple of weeks they will be distributed widely across Vanuatu.  Following hard on their heels will be tents for those areas where the school buildings are gone.  So, not just right today, or even tomorrow but over the next couple of weeks a temporary schooling system composed of a place and equipment will be in place in order that we can really prioritise children continuing their learning.  Right now in our minds, children at-risk, but also senior students who are due for exams, it is just such a huge impact in their lives if they drop out just now.

KH:  You have other partners obviously you are working with, will there be concessions for students?  Obviously studying for exams is probably the last thing on a child's mind at the moment.

VM:  Totally.  Just like you were saying, coming back to New Zealand is sort of like a mental effort.  It's so the mental effort required to get back to a normal routine but almost that's why it's important because the longer you leave it, the harder it is.  Of course we work with the Vanuatu government in partnership trying to identify the priorities and how it rolls out.  Save the Children are also involved in education and we're working closely with them.  The supplies both for the teacher and the school in a box kit and also the stationary supplies for the kids are coming directly through the UNICEF suppliers network from Copenhagen through Noumea and into Vanuatu just right now.

KH:  Is this a temporary measure and how long will it take to get back to normalcy for kids in Vanuatu and Tuvalu.

VM:  That's a big question.  In terms of the education tents and the school in a box kits are absolutely a temporary measure.  They are meant to bridge between now, right now and a more secure and solid system being put in place but we don't want to wait for that system to be in place because children will do other stuff.  For how long?  That's going to be different from village to village and community to community depending on the damage that we've seen.  Where it's a complete rebuild of a school, we know that it could take some months in some places and be sorted in weeks in others.  I hate to rely on generalisations but it's going to take as long as it takes given what the other priorities are in that community.      

UNICEF is also sending 'back to school packs' to cyclone-affected Tuvalu where a state of emergency is still in place.