Child to Child Dialogue - Census, Which is Carried out by Children Themselves

This census was carried out by the members of the Ethiopian Teenagers' Forum and UNICEF-Ethiopia in 20 elementary schools located in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. In this activity, more than 550 children in grades from 2-7 participated.

Most of the students drew a map, showing the surroundings of their school and village. On their drawings, they showed the places which attract children and distract them from their education. For instance, bars, “chat houses”, places where children gamble, and the location of their friends who are out of school. The children also indicated the kindergartens, their school, other schools and the main roads around their village.

In addition, the participating children specified why those children who are out of school are unable to attend. They indicated that most of those children's parents are unable to afford the payment of school bills (68.8 percent) and the children have no sufficient educational materials like school uniforms, textbooks and stationery, like pens, pencils and other kinds (29.2 percent).

The eleven major reasons why children are out of school are:

1. He/she is an orphan: 15%
2. Lack of school materials like uniforms, books, textbooks and stationery: 29.2%
3. He/she (or his/her parents) can't afford school fees: 68.8%
4. He/she has to take care of younger sisters or brothers at home: 6.4%
5. He/she has to do the housework: 17.6%
6. He/she does not have sufficient food in their house: 14.6%
7. The school is too far from their village: 13%
8. The other students treat him/her badly or discriminate against them: 14.2%
9. There is no one who can take them to school: 7.4%
10. There are no sufficient desks, chairs, books and educational materials available at school: 7%
11. He/she has to walk long distances to fetch water before they go to school: 8.4%