$1.84m plan to educate Djibouti children

Dubai: Dubai Cares on Sunday announced the launch of the first project in its aim to educate one million children, with a $1.84 million plan in Djibouti that is expected to benefit up to 100,000 students in the long term.

With the attendance of the Djibouti Minister of Education Abdi Ebrahim Absieh and Unicef's (United Nations Children's Fund) Djibouti representative Dr Aloys Kamuragiye, Dubai Cares announced a detailed plan to increase access to education in the country and boost the school enrolment rate from 66 per cent to 75 per cent by the end of next year.

Dubai Cares, in conjunction with Unicef, aims to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 2 and 3, which aim to achieve universal primary education and empower women through gender equality respectively.

Project review

"Since the Dakar conference [in 2000 on Unesco's Education for All initiative], we have taken the net school enrolment rate from 24 per cent to 41 per cent, and the education budget from 12 per cent to 24 per cent of our national budget," said Absieh, noting the government's commitment to improving development in his country would only be strengthened with the support of Dubai Cares. "This campaign will greatly benefit poor countries, one of which is Djibouti."

Omar Shahadeh, Dubai Cares' external affairs adviser, said that there will be a review of the progress in September this year of the $1.84 million (Dh6.75 million) plan following which an expansion of the project would be considered.

According to the UN's MDG Monitor, Djibouti is "on track" and "very likely to achieve" MDG 2 and 3. Dr Kamuragiye of Unicef said he was encouraged by the Djibouti government's commitment to achieving the goals. He spoke about the government's education policy, which he said was implemented in 1999 with the support of Unicef.

Pointing to the government's education budget, he said the country's education policy was 'number one' in the region.

"If you look at other countries in the region, even middle income countries, you won't find many governments allocating a quarter of their budgets to education," he told Gulf News.

According to statistics provided by Unicef, Djibouti managed to raise enrolment rates in primary schools from 43 per cent in 2002 to 66 per cent in 2006. Nonetheless, the organisation stresses that a "special boost" is needed to ensure that the country will achieve its MDGs.

Launched during Ramadan last year, Dubai Cares aims to contribute to the UN Millennium Development Goals of providing primary education to one million children in poor countries.

Features: Boost to education

• 3,000 children in five communities will benefit from the building or rehabilitation of schools by the end of 2009
• 10,000 schoolchildren expected to benefit from a better schooling environment
• 60,000 children to benefit through innovative tools and life skills education
• 1,700 teachers will be trained to provide better education
• 2 per cent fall in drop out rate is expected
• Schools to be built in remote areas will rely on solar power for electricity