From streets to classrooms
Recovering a lost generation of children living and working on the streets of Afghanistan
In a UNICEF-supported centre, teachers and counselors help 12-year-old Zainab to transition from a rough life on the street, learn to read and write and connect with other children.
At 10 years old, Zainab had never been to school and could not read or write her own name. She watched as girls and boys her age walked past her shoeshine box on their way to and from school. Zainab worked on the streets in Balkh, northern Afghanistan, for two years. She polished shoes near the town mosque from around 9 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon.
“The time passed by slowly on the streets,” recalls Zainab who often went without food as she waited for the next customer. She made 20 to 30 Afghani, less than 50 cents, a day. This, even added to what her two older brothers earned as market porters, was barely enough to feed their family of five.
Amidst multiple emergencies, girls and boys are being forced into hazardous labour just to put food on the table. Children like Zainab are missing out on education, on an entire childhood, and are exposed to various forms of violence, exploitation, and abuse.
A new beginning
With funding from the EU, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, UNICEF’s global thematic humanitarian pool, the German National Committee for UNICEF, the Governments of Japan, Norway and Italy, UNICEF works with local partners to support vulnerable children, especially girls and younger children and those who are engaged in hazardous work.
Social workers identify children who work or live on the street, children who beg, are lost or have run away from home to refer them to transition centres where they receive a comprehensive package of services including counselling, learning opportunities, recreational activities, food, medical care and family support.
These are typically children who have lost one or both parents, have never been to school or are at risk of exploitation and abuse, just like Zainab.
A team from the UNICEF-supported transition centre for children found Zainab working at her shoeshine box and enrolled her after they went home with her to better assess her situation.
Saeeda Haydari, a teacher at the centre, recalls that when Zainab first enrolled, she hardly said a word and had trouble connecting with other children. The teachers and counsellors helped her to make new friends, to start learning and about good hygiene practices.
For nine months, Zainab studied, Dari mathematics and other core subjects. She attended counseling sessions to help her cope with the transition from street life and played volleyball and table tennis with other children. The centre also runs positive parenting sessions for parents and provides a small amount of cash to meet the children’s transport costs and other basic needs.
After patient instruction and counselling Zainab was ready for a new life, off the street and inside a classroom for the first time. She has made friends at her school where her favorite subject is Dari.
“I want to be a teacher one day,” says Zainab who is now in Grade 4.
After two years working on the street, Zainab has managed to catch up on basic literacy and numeracy and is now in Grade 4.
In the northern region alone, 123,000 children were living or working on the streets in 2022, exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation and missing out on important connections with friends and family.
Recovering lost opportunities
“When children live or work on the streets their development, safety and security are threatened.
They miss the opportunity to go to school and just be the children they are. The harsh life on the street also increases the risks of exploitation, abuse and criminal activities,” says Mariyampillai Mariyaselvam, UNICEF Afghanistan’s Chief of Child Protection.
A UNICEF-supported rapid assessment carried out in the northern region in 2022 identified about 131,400 boys and girls at risk of violence, exploitation, abuse, and family separation. Some as young as five years old. Across Afghanistan, children are recruited to collect items such as paper, tin, and metal while others work as porters or trade small items. They spend long hours on the street when they should be at school or at home.
Through its network of social workers and NGOs partners in Balkh in the north, UNICEF has supported 8,500 children and their families – 3,000 were enrolled in school, 1,600 in vocational training programmes while 1,500 families received cash assistance.
As Zainab looks to the future with hope, she wants a better life for her little sister Kinja.
“I don’t want her to end up on the street like me. I want to finish school and become a teacher so that I can help my family,” says the 12-year-old.
