World’s largest refugee camp strains to keep kids in school
BIDI BIDI, Uganda — At this kindergarten on the edge of the world’s largest refugee camp, there are no notebooks. When it’s time to practice writing skills, children sit under a tree to doodle in the dirt while teachers use a blackboard.
“Maybe this term we will provide the books,” said Kevin Afura, who teaches at the school for 500 children operated by the aid group Save the Children. “They write on the ground.”
Schooling is the latest challenge in this overcrowded refugee settlement where basic facilities like toilets are in short supply. This school’s only classroom is a tent in which dozens of kids swarm an overwhelmed teacher. She soon releases them to the playground, where they either swing and slide or simply go home.
One recent morning, parent Reida Yeno pointed dismissively and said the children like her 4-year-old son are falling behind in their studies: “They are just only playing.”