Education for Child Soldiers

Voice 1:
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Marina Santee.

Voice 2:
And I’m Robin Basselin. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 1:
John lives in the country of Liberia, west Africa. He became a child soldier when he was only six years old. Rebels came to his community. They beat his father and they put his father in jail. Then the rebels asked John to join them and fight. John agreed. He was afraid that his father would be killed if he refused.

Voice 2:
The United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, is an organization that offers health services and education to children around the world. UNICEF estimates that there are 300,000 child soldiers involved in conflicts around the world. Some children are as young as six years old. Children fight, carry messages, and cook. Some children are used as sex slaves. Today’s Spotlight is on these child soldiers. Through education, organizations like UNICEF are offering former child soldiers hope for a better life.

Voice 1:
So what happened to John? The rebels took John and 175 other children. The children left their homes. Then the children trained for war. The training lasted for three months. The rebels took the children to the front lines of the war. Some of the children, like John, were so small that they pulled their heavy guns through the dirt. John told UNICEF,

Voice 3:
“…The rebels gave us lots of drugs to make us feel strong and brave and to follow their orders no matter what.”

Voice 1:
Today John is eighteen years old. He has been in school for seven years. He hopes to become a doctor. Rebels have asked him to fight again. But he has refused. He said,

Voice 3:
“My education is too important to me.”

Voice 1:
There are many organizations working around the world to try and end the use of children in war. There are many ways that these organizations try do this. First, they work directly with governments to negotiate to remove children from their armies. Then the children can begin educational programs. UNICEF is one of these organizations that tries to help. UNICEF works to protect children as they return to life away from the military. UNICEF returns children to their communities and helps them deal with their bad memories. But most of all, UNICEF provides children with three or more years of school.

Voice 2:
Education is a very necessary part of the life of former child soldiers. Education offers the hope of future work. Without education, the children are not able to choose another way of life. Many children have lost their whole family to the war. They do not have any way of learning the skills that they need for work. This means that they often do not have any place to go. Many times they become soldiers again.

Voice 1:
Mr. Jean Claude Legrand works for UNICEF as an adviser on the protection of children in war. He told the United Nations magazine Africa Recovery,

Voice 4:
“The best way to support a child is to provide him with education and an opportunity for an income.”

Voice 1:
The United Nations is also working to send former child soldiers to school. Mr. Olara Otunnu works for the United Nations. He represents children who are involved in military conflicts. Mr. Otunnu told Africa Recovery that requiring children to fight in a war is bad for the children and bad for the community. This is because they miss many years of school.