The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is backing a new project in drought-hit southern Ethiopia to enable child laborers there to attend school, said the UNICEF earlier this week.
About 300 children who work in the Lake Awassa fish market will be able to continue their education at an informal school under the project.
At the informal school social workers will provide students with counseling, as well as clothes and other school supplies.
"Every child has the right to education," Felekech Basazinew, an official of the UNICEF project, said in a press release.
"These children have been forced to leave home because of the difficult circumstances their families are in. We are trying to make sure their rights are not denied," he said.
Severe drought across the Horn of Africa has forced many families to send their children away to find jobs.
UNICEF has already appealed for 49 million U.S. dollars to fund its emergency operations for children and women in Ethiopia, particularly in the south and southeast parts of the country where the drought is most severe.
An estimated 75,000 Ethiopian children are severely malnourished because of the drought, and another 4.6 million people need immediate humanitarian assistance.
Source:Xinhua
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