Thursday video: "A cup without a handle"
Heading into Memorial Day, most American students I know are thinking of summer vacation, getting a job at the ice cream parlor, or perhaps what to wear during that beyond-silly-last-week-of-school when desperate teachers organize "pajama day" and "inside-out day" to keep their classes somewhat distracted from the summer outside.
But for much of the world, school vacation is not something to be relished. This week's video is about a girl in Afghanistan who goes to school so she can be an engineer, and a journalist, and also a doctor. The problem is, she lives in a place where violence regularly keeps her from school.
Heading into Memorial Day, most American students I know are thinking of summer vacation, getting a job at the ice cream parlor, or perhaps what to wear during that beyond-silly-last-week-of-school when desperate teachers organize "pajama day" and "inside-out day" to keep their classes somewhat distracted from the summer outside.
But for much of the world, school vacation is not something to be relished. This week's video is about a girl in Afghanistan who goes to school so she can be an engineer, and a journalist, and also a doctor. The problem is, she lives in a place where violence regularly keeps her from school.
Elizabeth Kiem is the online producer of unicefusa.org
Heading into Memorial Day, most American students I know are thinking of summer vacation, getting a job at the ice cream parlor, or perhaps what to wear during that beyond-silly-last-week-of-school when desperate teachers organize "pajama day" and "inside-out day" to keep their classes somewhat distracted from the summer outside.
But for much of the world, school vacation is not something to be relished. This week's video is about a girl in Afghanistan who goes to school so she can be an engineer, and a journalist, and also a doctor. The problem is, she lives in a place where violence regularly keeps her from school.
Earlier this week we lamented the fate of Afghan schoolgirls who surmount unbelievable and often deadly obstacles to getting an education. We mentioned the recent attacks on schoolgirls in Kunduz Province, after which a local official acknowledged "if the poisonous gas attacks on school girls in Kunduz continue - most of the families in that province may not allow their children to attend schools."
To quote Shugufa, "If they don't let girls go to school, Afghanistan will be like a cup without a handle."
Shugufa's story is one in a series produced by Wide Angle on PBS. The series "Time for School" looks at the challenges of providing quality education around the globe.
Here at the U.S Fund for UNICEF, nobody wants to rain on your holiday weekend. But we do want you to consider the value of the classroom where you and your children and your children's children will likely let their minds wander far from the textbooks. Consider how valuable that education could be to a child with less access.
Next week we will be unveiling the new website of TeachUNICEF - a portfolio of UNICEF-focused resources designed and collected by the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Education Department for educators, afterschool instructors, and parents. Check it out. Use it. It will teach you not only about child survival in sub-Saharan Africa and climate change in Southeast Asia ... but about the wealth of information available right here at home.
