Report on Rapid Assessment for Schools Taiz

Report on Rapid Assessment for Schools Taiz

Report on Rapid Assessment

12-14 /12/2011

Taiz

Ø  Background

Due to the current civil unrest in Yemen and Taiz in particular, children and schools have been largely affected.

The previous and current school semesters since February until now have been hampered due to the following

reasons:

·  The study period was cut short.

·  Some schools have been closed as they were occupied or used as barracks by armed forces or armed groups.

·  Some schools couldn’t operate for the whole period as they were located in conflict areas.

·  Teachers’ strike and involvement of students in demonstrations.

Children have been suffering from severe distress as they have experienced or witnessed violent actions.

Hence, the importance of conducting this rapid assessment came into place to assess the impact on schools

and children.

Ø  Objectives :

-  Overall:

To rapidly assess the current situation in schools, including its impact to teachers and students in Taiz given the

current civil unrest/conflict situation.

- Specific:

1. To update/further validate the situation in schools and students.

2. To plan for relevant interventions in CP/Education.

3. To contribute to evidence based advocacy.

Ø  Geographical scope: 100 public schools have been chosen in highly affected districts (Al-Mudhafer, Al-Qaherah, Salah (Taiz city) and Al-Taezeyah (Taiz outskirt). (List of schools is attached.)

Ø  Steps of the process

·  Data collection Team was identified consisting of 10 people ( 5 from Education &MOSAL and 5 from NGOs)

·  One day orientation workshop on the mechanism and tools of RA and programme was held on 11 December 2011.

·  The data collectors started the assessment covering 100 schools in 4 highly affected districts in Taiz. from 12 to 14 December.

·  Data was entered and analyzed and the report written.

Ø  Tools used: Questionnaire of two sections : education child protection This questionnaire is filled through interviewing 100 head masters/ deputy , 100 teachers, 87 social worker and 100 children.

Ø  Key findings :

v  Reasons of Absence / Drop out:

“leaving to work” has been ranked as the highest reason ( 38%) for boys to be absent or dropped out from schools ,followed by early marriage for girls covering 33% then deteriorating security situation ( 25% for boys & 29% for girls) among both boys and girls. This result explains increasing number of working children in Taiz due to the bad economic condition .Early marriage continues to be a problem for girls to leave school and discontinue education.

v  Since the civil unrest started, as reported by respondents, 48 out of 100 schools has been affected.. The affected schools have reported about :

·  14 incidents of looting /theft

·  12 incidents of shelling

·  12 schools were occupied by armed forces or armed groups.

·  11 incidents of damaging some school facilities.

·  10 incidents of intimidation

·  6 incidents included direct attack on individuals

·  3 school buildings were tactically used.

·  3 schools were subject to Arson

·  1 school was aerially bombardment.

Theft/looting have been reported as the highest incidents followed by shelling . and occupation of buildings by armed forces or armed groups. Some of these incidents mentioned and others have resulted in closing of 32 schools for number of days varying from 1- 60 days as the table below:

31-60 days / 8-30 days / 1-7 days
6 / 16 / 10

-  The schools reported that during the last ten months, 4 children were killed and 23 injured, 2 staff was killed and 6 injured. 20 people from the school community killed and 18 injured.

-  17 schools reported that they witnessed violent actions during the last month (November) .Attacks on schools were the highest as it was 13 incidents.

v  24 schools reported about having children either in the school or the nearby areas participating in violent actions through joining gangs then pillage followed by attacking schools. Such violent actions might have been encouraged due to the current civil unrest.

v  WASH

-  Availability of Latrines in schools :

36 schools have latrines, 24 schools don’t have enough latrines, 23 stated that these latrines are not working

and 17 schools have no latrines.

-  Availability of water for washing in schools :

30 schools have water for washing, 35 don’t have enough while 35 have none

v  While the majority of respondents (62) said that they do not use physical discipline to students, 34 respondents mentioned that sometimes they use physical discipline to students. Given that the questions were asked to teachers, might suggest that physical discipline is commonly used among them.

v  Different perception between teachers and children themselves regarding the level of distress amongst children. Many children responded that they, during the last week ,were happy, (38 children) and energetic (44 children) all the time whereas only 4 teachers responded that children were happy and 10 teachers responded that they were energetic.

Ø  Other observations:

-  The assessors reported about bad school environments ( for some schools), poor infrastructure including shortage of furniture ( chairs for students)

-  Most social workers in the schools are not qualified to do the required job. They are not aware of what they are supposed to be doing.

Ø  Challenges:

-  Some respondents were afraid to answer some questions especially about the perpetrators of the attack and some might have been biased as they responded according to their affiliation to one party or another.

-  Some respondents felt shocked to answer questions on sexual violence as Taiz community is conservative and they don’t think that such an incident is there or should be addressed in public. This shows as no respondents were aware of reported cases of sexual violence; 73 respondents mentioned that children and adolescents would not seek help if he/she suffers from sexual violence;77 respondents were not aware of any place/services existing for victims of sexual violence.

-  It was difficult to get students data from some schools especially the ones related to last year. Some schools have no records for that .So that the data was obtained from marks record or from district office .The data somehow were reported contradictory between teacher and head master.

Ø  Recommendations:

-  Implementing effective programmes for working children to be back to school.

-  Working to reduce Child marriage cases.

-  Repairing those schools which have been damaged.

-  Working with authorities to improve infrastructure and provide chairs for students.

-  Awareness and close follow up for families not to allow and encourage children to participate in conflicts.

-  Working with the concerned authorities to put an end of children and schools being affected by the conflict by pushing all parties to respect the rights of children and protect them in accordance of national laws and international humanitarian and human rights laws.

-  Targeting children who participate in violent actions through peer education or other relevant programmes.

-  Improving records/data at school level.

-  Working with authorities to have and apply criteria for choosing social workers in schools. Training and follow up for their work.

-  Providing psycho social support for affected children through school and community based Child Friendly Spaces and identification of vulnerable children for further response and referrals.

Annex.01

1.  Background information about target schools :

1.1 Number & location

Total No.schools / Al-Mudhafer / Al-Qaherah / Salah / Al-Taezeyah
100 / 29 / 25 / 23 / 23

1.2 Types of schools

Basic / Basic/secondary / Secondary
42 / 57 / 1

1.3 Schools based on sex:

Males / Females / Mixed
14 / 13 / 73

1.4 Schools based on Shifts

Morning/Afternoon / Morning / Afternoon
66 / 33 / 1
2.  Students’ data

2.1 Number of Regular Students

Al-Taezeyah / Salah / Al-Qaherah / Al-Mudhafer / Year
22,425 / 28,768 / 37,432 / 43,788 / 2010
23,978 / 30,179 / 36,069 / 44,545 / 2011

2.2 Transferred students

a.  No. schools accommodating children from other schools/governorates

No.schools (accommodating children from other schools ) / Al-Mudhafer / Al-Qaherah / Salah / Al-Taezeyah
69 / 21 / 18 / 15 / 15

b.  No. Transferred Students

Al-Taezeyah / Salah / Al-Qaherah / Al-Mudhafer / Total No.students
138 / 1,039 / 1,760 / 405 / 3,342
Reason
Sex / Expenses / Illness / Going to work / Early marriage / Lack of separate toilets for boys and girls / Others
Negligence of family / Shortage of classrooms / Deteriorating security situation
Males / 29 / 17 / 38 / 1 / 1 / 9 / 2 / 25
Females / 25 / 22 / 15 / 33 / 2 / 0 / 1 / 29

2.3 Absence / Drop out reasons:

3.  Teachers’ data

3.1 Number of teachers

District
Year / Al-Mudhafer / Al-Qaherah / Salah / Al-Taezeyah
2010 / 2,026 / 1,998 / 1,550 / 822
2011 / 2,222 / 2,776 / 2,072 / 936
4.  Security situation of schools

4.1 School situation during the past 10 months:

a.  Number of affected and non-affected schools

Non-affected / Affected / Total No.schools
52 / 48 / 100

b.  Number of affected schools per district

Al-Mudhafer / Al-Qaherah / Salah / Al-Taezeyah
18 / 16 / 3 / 11

4.2 Level of the effect /damage

Limited damage, can easily be repaired / Occupied or looted but usable / Damaged, but can be repaired / looted and thus not usable / No damage but students were pushed to participate in demonstrations by other school students
34 / 16 / 10 / 1 / 1

4.3 Perpetrators:

Non-state armed groups / unknown / Yemeni Armed Forces / Both parties ( state and non state) / Republican Guards / Demonstrators / First Armored / Not mentioned
17 / 11 / 5 / 5 / 4 / 2 / 1 / 4

4.4 Number of Perpetrators

Two / Three / more than three / Not known
1 / 2 / 32 / 13

4.5 Type of the attack

Aerial bombardment / Arson / Tactical use of buildings / Direct attack on ‘individuals’ / Intimidation on individuals / Other damage to facilities / Occupation of buildings / Shelling / Theft/
looting
1 / 3 / 3 / 6 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 12 / 14

4.6 Closed schools due to the attack

a. General number of closed schools

Not closed / Closed
68 / 32

b.Number of closed schools per district

Al-Mudhafer / Al-Qaherah / Al-Taezeyah / Salah
18 / 10 / 4 / 0

4.7 Period of closure

31-60 days / 8-30 days / 1-7 days
6 / 16 / 10

4.8 Human impact during the past 10 months:

Others / Staff / Children
20 / 2 / 4 / killed
18 / 6 / 23 / Injured
5.  WASH facilities in the school

5.1. Availability of latrines

No / Yes but not working / Yes But not enough / Yes
17 / 23 / 24 / 36

5.2 Availability of drinking water

Yes / Yes but not enough / No
17 / 11 / 72

5.3 Availability of water for washing

Yes / Yes but not enough / No
30 / 35 / 35

5.4 Hygiene education

No / Yes but not enough / Yes
38 / 10 / 52
6.  Community participation

6.1 Availability of active community education committee/PTA

Very active / Somewhat active / Limited activity / Existing but not active / Not existing
10 / 31 / 21 / 24 / 14
7 .Child protection component

Ø  Causes and level of risk of death and/or injury to children

7.1 Main violent risks that have or could lead to death or injury of children since

the civil unrest

Political violence / Attack on schools / Criminal acts / Civil violence / Sexual violence
52 / 40 / 8 / 10 / 1

Ø  Types and levels of violence towards children in the schools and community

7.2 Incidents of violence (deaths, injuries and attacks on schools) affecting students or teachers during the past month (November).

No / Yes
83 / 17

7.3 Types of incidents

Intimidation / Civil violence / Political violence / Attack on schools
1 / 2 / 5 / 13

7.4 Presence of causalities

No / Yes
12 / 5

7.5 Number of Causalities (children and teachers) during the last month (November)

7-10 / 4-6 / 1-3
1 / 2 / 1 / Children
0 / 0 / 2 / Teachers

Ø  Existence of active participation of children in acts of violence

7.6

a. Presences of children in the school area who have been or are committing acts of violence

No / Yes
76 / 24

b.Types of violence committed by the children

Recruitment of other children / Civil violence / Attack on civilians / Attack on schools / pillage / Gang activities
2 / 2 / 3 / 6 / 7 / 8

c. Number of children participating in violent acts

>10 / 7-10 / 4-6 / 1-3
1 / 14 / 5 / 4

Ø  Specific risks of sexual violence for children

7.7 Reports of children and teachers of your schools being victim of sexual violence during the last month?

No / Yes
100 / 0

Ø  Common community practices in response to sexual violence against children

7.8

a. If a child or an adolescent suffers from sexual violence, would s/he normally seek help in?

Yes / No
27 / 73

b.To whom the child would seek help in case of sexual violence

Police officer / Religious leaders / Doctor /Health worker / Teachers / Friends / Father / Social worker / Mother
1 / 1 / 2 / 5 / 6 / 10 / 11 / 12

C. Do you know a place where people of this community can get help if they have suffered sexual violence?

Yes / No
23 / 77

d.Place that can help in case of sexual violence

Police office / The school / Akel(responsible of the neibourhood) / The family / Psychiatrist / Child rights committee / Family care Ass. / Sanatorium
10 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1

Ø  Sources of stress

7.9

-  For children:

a.The biggest sources of fear and worry reported by children since the emergency