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many places at the same time, warm hands
to hold and a heart of gold with extra love
for the ones who need it most…”
Research shows that a good
atmosphere is crucial for children to
benefit from classes and learn – and the
teacher is the most important element in
creating such an atmosphere.
The Millennium Development Goals and
other development goals have for many
years focused on building schools and
enrolling as many children as possible in
the schools. There have been great results:
in the last 10 years the number of children
out of school has almost been cut in half;
55 million more children now go to primary
school. But there are still reasons to worry.
Even having attended school, more than
250 million students in the fourth grade
are not able to read and write.
A teacher
without
a school
WORDS NINA BULL JØRGENSEN PHOTO CHRISTINE NESBIT T
UNICEF Norway marks
the new school year
by paying tribute to
teachers everywhere
Norwegian and UNICEF have been working together for children since 2007. As a
Signature Partner to UNICEF, Norwegian supports the organisation’s work giving
children the best possible start in life, and a safe and happy childhood.
Issack Billow
Kusow teaches at
a classroom with a
difference in Kenya
‘‘A
– B – C – D…” Issack Billow
Kusow is guiding his
students through the first
crucial steps of learning
how to read and write. The
classroom is a clearing at the centre of a
thicket in a nomadic settlement near Bura,
a village in the north of Kenya. He is the
lone teacher in a mobile school, which
serves 85 students. Study sheets hang
from surrounding tree branches.
”A teacher without a school is far more
valuable than a school without a teacher,”
says UNICEF’s executive director, Anthony
Lake. “There is no use building wonderful-
looking schools if you don’t have
teachers who are able to inspire, transmit
knowledge and see the individual needs of
each student.”
This applies to Norway, Kenya or any
other country. Which is why UNICEF
Norway has decided to start the new
school year by paying tribute to teachers,
on behalf of the rising generation. The
message is: “Thank you for being our
teacher – with big eyes to see everyone,
good ears to listen to everyone, long arms
to embrace everyone, lots of knowledge
to share with everyone, quick feet to be in
“The time has come to focus not only
on the quantity, but also on the quality
of the education and the importance of
good teachers,” says Bernt G Apeland,
the secretary general of UNICEF Norway.
“Perfect school buildings, solid books and
high-tech teaching material – none of
these can replace a good teacher.”
The teachers of Norway have had a
well-deserved summer holiday ahead of a
new school year. In the meantime, Issack
Kusow will pack up his mobile school to
move on with the nomadic community,
which migrates seasonally. The new
classroom will be whatever he finds
outdoors. His students don’t have chairs,
desks, computers or any other modern
equipment. But they have a teacher who
cares about the future of each and every
one of them.
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