Protecting children`s rights in rural schools
In 2010, the NHRF grantee Self Help Development & Relief Agency (SHDRA) completed a project aimed at improving the human rights situation for students in secondary schools in Sinoe County in south-eastern Liberia.
Corruption and physical abuse of students by teachers is commonplace in schools in rural areas, despite the laws in place to protect students. Through combining awareness raising about rights and advocacy efforts targeting school administrators, SHDRA reported on encouraging results.
In the awareness raising campaign, more than 3000 students and teachers participated in training sessions on human rights issues. Several human rights debates were organised in schools, and students formed human rights committees to identify and highlight violations and find tools to hold perpetrators to account. As a result of this intervention, many students successfully claimed the right to free primary education, which is guaranteed in the Liberian Constitution but often not implemented at a local level. Previously normal occurrences, such as children working on the farms of teachers and purchasing palm oil as school fees, have ended in some of the targeted schools. Parents have also reported that they are no longer required to pay tuition for their children. Progress was also made in the area of abuse and violence against students. In most schools targeted, a ban on beating students for wrongdoings or failure has been enforced. In one case, flogging of students was banned as a result of the SHDRA intervention.
Based on these achievements, the NHRF renewed support to SHDRA in 2010 for a similar project targeting new schools in the area while adjusting strategies based on the lessons learned from the first phase of the project.