TDA: Teachers in Tigrai starved and collapsing in class; urgent action needed to help them and school children
Source: Globe News Net
Tigrai Development Association(TDA) says teachers in Tigrai are going to work with empty stomachs and collapsing in class while teaching their students.
TDA applauded the launching of school in Tigrai amidst a war situation and blockade. “However”, TDA said, “many primary schools in 17 woredas of Tigrai are being exposed to closure because of the inability of teachers to carry on their job. This reportedly results from the fact that teachers go to school empty stomach that in turn causes them to become fatigued and all in.”
TDA warned that if the situation continues this way, the number of schools to shut down is likely to increase, citing report by the regional Education bureau.
A study conducted by the Tigrai education bureau in 2,054 primary, elementary and secondary public schools and two teachers’ training colleges showed that more that 88 % classrooms have been severely damaged and more than 95 % of most school instruments vandalized and destroyed. The study also showed that the class to students ratio has hyped to shocking 434 a class from just 39 in Primary schools before the war. In high-schools, the ration has gone up to 365 from just 43 before the war.
Human Rights Watch in May 2021 said that schools in Tigrai were being targeted, occupied, attacked, and pillaged.
Many believe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and regional allies have deliberately destroyed everything that is potentially usable by the civilian population in Tigrai, during the war. For example, MSF in March 2021said that Ethiopian and Eritrean forces were deliberately targeting health facilities, rendering them non-functional for the public.
TDA reminded that teachers and other employees in the region have never received salaries since June 2021.
“Every passing day for them is a day of anguish. They are starving to collapse and eventually to death”, TDA said.
TDA called Tigrayan business community, diaspora and international community to extend their helping hands to save lives of teachers in Tigrai.
The war began in November 2020 when Ethiopia’s army, backed by Eritrean and Somalia national armies and troops from Ethiopian regional states, moved to oust a TPLF-led regional government in Tigrai after a long-standing political hostilities between Abiy’s ruling party and the TPLF. The other dimension of the war was a genocidal campaign that has been brewing by elites from Amhara and Eritrean government. The trio combined their forces to unleash the November 2020 ‘war-of-annihilation’ on Tigrayans.
The more than 17-month-old war was marked by extreme brutality, including the use of rape and hunger as weapons of war, massacres and ethnic cleansing against Tigrayans. As a result, the conflict has left thousands dead and forced many others to flee their homes with hundreds of thousands driven to the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.
Since June, Tigrai has been put under a total humanitarian blockade by the Ethiopian government, with only less than 10 % of the needed essential aid allowed to enter the region and no aid reached the region since December 15, 2021. This has resulted in man-made famine to more than 900,000 people in the region and more than 5400 deaths as a result.
The World Health Organization last month called for “unfettered access” into war-wracked Tigrai, saying its first delivery of life-saving medical supplies since July last year had stalled due to lack of fuel. The UN has also said last month that nearly 40 percent of people in Tigrai, a region of six million people, face “an extreme lack of food” , according to a study by WFP.
The UN rights office last week reported that at least 304 civilians had been killed in air strikes in the north, particularly Tigrai, since November.
A recent study by Mekelle University and the Regional Health Bureau showed that 120,000 women have been raped by either Ethiopian, Eritrean, or Amhara forces. Researchers say that the figure was only a tip of the iceberg, considering the sexual conservativism in Tigray into account. Tigray regional health bureau announced today that 7.3 % of the women who have been raped have been contracted with various sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and 5 % have been infected with HIV.
Beneath is the full text of the statement by Tigrai Development Association
The situation in Tigrai has been so dire and so concerning in a sense that the life of every Tigraway is totally at risk. Many people, irrespective of age, sex, educational status, living standard, and so on, are dying away. Life is extremely as miserable and unbearable in every part of Tigrai as any human being cannot imagine.
It is terribly sad to hear shocking reports of school teachers often falling down to the ground amidst of teaching before their students as the result of hunger they are experiencing. Since the deliberate imposition of brutal siege over Tigrai and its people, government employees in general and teachers and their families in particular have been going through a great ordeal. Never have teachers and other employees received salary and thus can’t buy food and other necessities that are helpful for their survival. Every passing day for them is a day of anguish. They are starving to collapse and eventually to death.
It’s to be recollected that the government of Tigrai had announced the launching of schools in various parts of Tigrai where safety and security is relatively good. Subsequentially, schools started receiving children albeit the worst circumstances therein.
However, the latest report the Tigrai Bureau of Education has released indicates that many primary schools in 17 woredas of Tigrai are being exposed to closure because of the inability of teachers to carry on their job. This reportedly results from the fact that teachers go to school empty stomach that in turn causes them to become fatigued and all in. The report also reveals that if the situation continues this way, the number of schools to shut down is likely to increase.
Therefore, TDA, on behalf of teachers and many others in dire need, implores the Tigrian business community, diaspora and international community to extend your helping hand to save their lives, and many thanks for your urgent assistance.
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