Story summary

HaileMichael, 58, lives in Adwa town of Central Tigray region. In 2000, Haile Michael established the Adwa Kindergarten Inclusive Education Center through his own initiative by utilizing two vacant rooms inside a Teacher Training College in Adwa where he had served as Students' Dean for over a decade. The kindergarten began serving 30 children, 10 of whom had physical and various disabilities. Rather than collecting school fees from parents, Haile Michael ran the school by requesting supportive materials and financial assistance from well-established business enterprises in the town who prioritize their social responsibility beyond their business.

The prolonged conflict in northern Ethiopia brought much destruction to affected areas, including the complete dismantling of large enterprises and companies that had voluntarily contributed financial support to nearby social institutions who voluntarily serve the local communities.

Haile Michael's Inclusive Kindergarten was among the social service providers operating for free to serve children with disabilities living in the town and surrounding region. In his efforts to avoid closure during the conflict which took all his support providers into the state of non-existence, he sought support from Save the Children for various teaching materials and to cover meal costs for students during class hours.

With the teaching aids Haile Michael received from Save the Children and the provision of snack biscuits for each child at every class starting in April 2023, student enrollment increased significantly to 100 students, 24 of whom have various disability conditions.

HaileMichael's story in his own words (Quotes)

"I started this kindergarten with my colleagues, with the ambition to provide learning opportunities for children who could not join regular schools due to disabilities, and for children whose parents could not afford to provide for them and send them to school".

"We started the school to provide educational services for students with special needs. We received respect and appreciation from the community, and many businesses enterprises provided us with materials and financial support for an extended period of time".

"Despite the occurrence of Covid-19 and a decreasing student population due to the conflict, we were able to manage the school with many students attending daily learning sessions".

"It was a very difficult decision to close the school due to a lack of financial support, as a number of students continued arriving every day with their parents even during times of conflict. During those difficult times when we could not pay teacher salaries, many teachers continued their work voluntarily, serving students in need of care and education".

"I would like to express my gratitude to Save the Children for the various supports we have received and for their efforts to support these children by giving them joy and hope".

"We are working with various partners to expand and upgrade the classes into regular sessions with grades by adding more classrooms and instructional materials. Together with the children's parents committee, we are planning to arrange a playground for students and hire professional teachers. Certainly, Save the Children and all other stakeholders will not abandon us in our need for support".

Background / Project information

Save the Children has been working to provide kindergartens and different schools in the Tigray region that have been impacted by conflict with a variety of resources. It also supports the regional government efforts to resume regular teaching and learning processes for the millions of children who left their beloved classrooms due to conflict.

With two distinct initiatives, Save the Children introduced emergency education. The first project is called "0-class" early childhood education and utilizes a play-based approach to provide psychological assistance for traumatized children via arts and crafts and other practices. For the past three years, this project has been running continuously in the "Adigrat IDP camp" centers, where over 250 students spend their daily time, and the "Mekele 70 Kare" child-friendly space. The second project involves providing 1st cycle primary school service and inclusive education to internally displaced people (IDP) children in Adwa Kindergarten, Mekele 70 Kare, and Shire. It is grade-based and offers formal curriculum-based instruction.

With financial assistance from Finland Project, Save the Children is currently determined to provide emergency education in the IDP centers established in Tigray region. During the 2023 financial year, Save the Children provided various supports, such as provision of learning materials to IDP centers and supply of energy biscuits to students, for about 69,615 children, of which 470 had different physical disabilities.