At CARE, we believe in educating motivated young women to become compassionate leaders in their communities. We are committed to teaching leadership skills to
every student in public schools in areas where we work. Girls participation in extracurricular activities, like sports and students’ unions (SU) are limited especially in joint
schools. Fatma Safwat, an 11-year-old girl shares her experience as a member of students union of Qasr Hor primary school in
Malawi district, Minya governorate. Fatma, one of the few girls in her school students’ union, is very enthusiastic
about her role in the union. “Eyeglasses for students with short sight” is her first initiative. It all started when Fatma saw some
of her colleagues are bullied for suffering from short sight issues. They were hesitant to share their problem with their teachers. Fatma communicated the matter with the
school management team that was not aware of the issue. She delivered a list of names of students who needed medical examination
and followed-up on the action taken by the management until students were medically examined and got their eyeglasses. Fatma says: “I feel proud of myself when I see my
colleagues happy and able to catch up with their studies”. She also helped raise the awareness of students against bullying. ‘Ana we Madrasty’ or ‘My school and I’ project,
funded by Dubai Cares, aims to improve the quality of education for children in a safe and attractive educational environment. It
provides students with leadership trainings and support social workers to empower SUs role in schools. Elham Zakaria, project
field supervisor at CARE Egypt explains:“The Student Union is one of the school’s most important solid bodies. Our goal is to
build the students’ as well as school staff’s capacities to encourage and support them in their initiatives”. Cleaning the school sidewalk” is her second initiative. Fatma headed the SU delegation meeting the city council to discuss the problem of garbage dispersed in front of the
school gate. “It is our role to speak up about this matter bothering everyone”, she explains. The school management in collaboration with
CARE team worked with the city council to remove all garbage. The roles of the Student Union are endless. Schools are not just about classrooms and textbooks, the Student Union gives the
students the discovery they need to create a living, evolving culture for student growth and success.
