Ata (13) has been out of school since age 11.
MH: Why did you stop school?
Ata: it was a problem of [financial] means.
MH: What was the problem?
Ata: My parents did not want to support me and me myself I did not have the possibility to earn money to buy school supplies.
MH: Why do you think your parents do not want to support you?
Resp: I will try my best to get back into school this year.
MH: How?
Resp: I pray to God and maybe He can help me and give me some money, that could help me to buy notebooks and pens, to go to school.
One of the most important reasons why children are not in school is because they cannot afford the school fees, including the money needed to buy pens, notebooks, a backpack, clean clothes, soap…It seems in that case “the right to education” does not mean much. Who is supposed to pay for school? The parents – but they often have many children and cannot afford to send them all to school…The government? The NGOs? Children themselves? God?
