UNICEF urges Côte d'Ivoire to hold annual countrywide school exams

Reacting to Côte d'Ivoire's indefinite postponement of school exams for children in the northern part of the country, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) today called on all Ivorian parties to guarantee education rights for youngsters.

"Cancelling examinations creates despair, fear and despondency about the future, and quite simply robs children of a year of hard work at school," said Gianni Murzi, UNICEF's West and Central Africa Regional Director.

Some 58,000 children are negatively affected by the postponement of exams in northern Côte d'Ivoire, according to the UNICEF.

Over the past few months, UN agencies have worked with their partners to mobilize the financial, logistical and human resources necessary to ensure the return of children to school and the holding of exams throughout the country.

Now UNICEF says the postponement of school exams in the north threatens not only children's educational development, but also their physical safety since thousands of children who should be concentrating on exams are out on the streets.