VOA慢速英语2012 Education Report - Mali Conflict Keeps Children Out of School

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From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。

Students and teachers are busy with the new school year in Mali and throughout West Africa. However, aid workers say most of the children in northern Mali are unable to go to school. Militants¹ including some from the group al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb took control of the north in April. The Islamists are enforcing their own severe form of Sharia law in the occupied territory.

马里和整个西非的师生都在忙于新学年。然而救援人员表示，大部分马里北部的孩子无法上学。一些包括伊斯兰马格里布基地组织成员（即北非伊斯兰基地组织）在内的武装分子控制了马里北部。这些伊斯兰狂热分子在被占领区执行他们非常严格的伊斯兰教法。

The United Nations Security Council is urging West African countries to speed up preparations for a military intervention² in northern Mali. There are concerns that the conflict might spread to other countries.

联合国安理会督促西非国家加快筹备在马里北部的军事干预。有人担心冲突可能蔓延到其他国家。

Large numbers of northerners have fled to the government-held south or to neighboring countries. Tom Mccormack is the Sahel director for the aid group Save the Children USA. He says there has not been enough information from northern Mali to fully³ understand the situation.

大量马里北方人已经逃到了政府控制的南部或周边国家。汤姆·麦考马克（Tom Mccormack）是救助儿童会美国地区的负责人。他表示当前没有足够的来自马里北部的信息来充分了解现状。

“We are very concerned that education is not being provided for all children. We’re concerned that funds need to be made available to assist children, particularly those who have been displaced by the fighting, have not been made available, especially for education in this emergency response that we and other actors on the ground here are trying to respond to.”

“我们担忧的是用于帮助儿童，特别是帮助那些因战争流离失所的儿童的资金没有到位，尤其是我们和当地其他参与者试图应对这一教育紧急状况的资金没有到位。”

Save the Children is part of the Education Cluster, a group created by the U.N. to coordinate⁴ the emergency response in Mali. The Education Cluster says the two hundred forty thousand students remaining in the north have little to no access to education. Cluster official Joa Keis says this increases the risk of children being recruited as child soldiers.

救助儿童会是联合国组建的协调马里紧急状况的教育小组的一部分。该教育小组表示，留在北部的这24万学生几乎没有受教育的机会。小组官员Joa Keis表示，这增加了这些儿童被招募为儿童兵的风险。

“It’s been shown that out-of-school children are particularly vulnerable to falling into the hands of armed groups given the situation in northern Mali. With the presence of several armed groups controlling the area, it is particularly important that we use education as a means of protecting children from the potential for ongoing⁵ use of child soldiers.”

“业已证明，在马里北部这种现状下，失学儿童特别容易落入武装团伙的手里。在几个武装团伙控制这一地区的现状面前，我们利用教育来作为一种防止儿童沦为儿童兵的手段就特别重要。”

Human rights groups say the Islamists are actively⁶ recruiting children as young as twelve years old.

人权组织称，这些伊斯兰狂热分子正在积极招募小到12岁的儿童。

The Education Cluster surveyed twenty five organizations in the north. Three-fourths of them said local schools had been vandalized or destroyed. Half reported that teachers had fled to the south. And one-third said armed groups occupy schools.

该教育小组调查了马里北部的25个组织，其中3/4的组织表示当地学校已被破坏或摧毁。半数组织报告称教师已经逃到南部。同时1/3的组织表示武装团伙占领了学校。

Save the Children also says flooding has affected⁷ an additional sixty thousand children across Mali.

救助儿童会还表示，洪灾已经影响了马里境内另外6万儿童。

Yet financial assistance for the country remains⁸ low. Joa Keis says last year's humanitarian⁹ appeals process met just four percent of the goal.

然而提供给该国的经济援助仍然很少。Joa Keis说，去年的人道主义呼吁流程只完成了4%的目标。

Teachers and local organizations say they have kept some schools operating in the north by negotiating compromises with armed groups. Subjects like philosophy and biology are often not allowed. Girls and boys must often be separated. And some schools are only allowed to teach in Arabic, a language that most of the students do not even speak.

教师和地方组织表示，他们通过与武装团伙谈判妥协使得马里北部一些学校得以继续运营。哲学和生物学一类的科目通常是被禁止的，男女学生必须分开。有些学校只允许教多数学生不会说的阿拉伯语。

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Contributing: Peter Tinti and Jerilyn Watson

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