School Doors: Bringing out-of-school children back into the classroom in Yemen / Improving Access to Quality Education in Yemen (IAQY)

The session aimed to strengthen the working relationship between the Governorate Office of Education (GOE), District Office of Education (DOE) and IRC. The number of children under Home-Based Learning (HBL) in Alarashi, Habeel Almendhal and Alwahda Alsakariya IDP camps in Al Dhale’e district remained high since IRC started supporting the camps from October 2021. The IRC requested GOE and DOE to combine the 3 HBL centers in the camps and establish three community-based centers (CBC) to ensure effective support of project activities. The IRC distributed PPE materials to 11 schools in Al Hussein, Ah Shuayb and Al Azareq districts to mitigate the risk of COVID-19. Materials distributed include hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer gel, and face masks. The schools reached per district are as follows: six schools in Al Hussein district, four schools in Al Shuayb district, and one school in Al Azareq district. The IRC conducted 8 community scorecard focus group discussion (FGD) sessions for 109 participants in Al Shuayb and Qa’atabah districts. The FGDs aimed to gather relevant project data to complete the input tracking matrix, a data collection tool under the community scorecard. The data collected indicates the schools' needs and requirements to make them centers of excellence. The IRC distributed a total of 4,333 student kits to 4,057 learners in schools and to 276 learners in CBCs. The kit included a backpack, 10 exercise books, a packet of 10 pens, a packet of 12 pencils, a packet of 12 colored pencils, a ruler, an eraser, and a sharpener. The distribution aimed to support learners to engage actively and participate during learning. The IRC also distributed top-up student kits to 3,885 learners in Al Hussein and Al Shuayb districts. The kits distributed aimed at replenishing material used by students following the previous March and September kits distribution. The kits included 6 exercise books, 1 sharpener, and 2 pens per learner. The IRC distributed 51 small whiteboards, 10 whiteboard stands, and 24 seating mats in CBCs and HBL centers in Al Azareq, Al Hussein, and Al Dhale’e districts. The distributions aimed to support children with a visible reference point during learning and also enable children not to sit on the floor in the absence of desks.