2007年VOA标准英语-Chad Schools Try to Stop Child Soldier Recruitm

By Phuong Tran
Habile, Chad
15 May 2007

Just this past week, Chad's government admitted there are child soldiers in its army. But schools along the troubled eastern zone, near Sudan, have long known that, when a child suddenly disappears from the classroom, chances are he may have joined one of the fighting groups. Phuong Tran visits one school, 60 kilometers from the Sudanese border, to see how its educators are trying to stop children from becoming young soldiers.

Until recently, this primary school in Habile, Chad, had 300 students.

But, after waves of violence forced families from surrounding villages to seek safety in Habile, more than 1500 students now fill the blue classroom tents in the desert.

Many of the teachers come from the displaced¹ community and most of the new students have never before attended school.

Here, the students face bigger challenges than just memorizing their multiplication² tables.

Attacks often force the school to cancel classes.

To help track students during these waves of violence, Jesuit Relief Services' School Project Director Gonzalo Sanchez Teran helped create a student registration³ system that started last month.

Teran says this is one way schools can protect children from the many armed groups that look for young soldiers.

"We can control when they are not there," he said. "We follow what is going on. What happens with the kid [who] has not gone to school one, two days? Why is he not there? Go to visit the families. Talk to them. Talk to the teachers and try to get him back to school."

He says schools in Chad do not normally⁴ have registration processes, which has made it hard for teachers to track students.

For example, in the nearby community, Gouroukoum - home to more than 10,000 displaced Chadians - one man remembers when his grandson did not come home from school, three years ago.

The 57-year-old man does not give his family's name, to protect his grandson.

The man says he learned⁵ his grandson, then 14-years-old, had secretly joined the Chad national army.

The year before, Janjaweed militia⁶ had killed the boy's father.

After having lost his only son, this man says there is nothing he can do to bring home his only grandson from the fighting.

1 displaced   

移动( displace的过去式和过去分词 )； 替换； 移走； 撤职

参考例句：

• Gradually factory workers have been displaced by machines. 工厂的工人已逐渐被机器取代。
• He was displaced by another young man. 他已被另一个年轻人顶替。

2 multiplication   

n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法

参考例句：

• Our teacher used to drum our multiplication tables into us.我们老师过去老是让我们反覆背诵乘法表。
• The multiplication of numbers has made our club building too small.会员的增加使得我们的俱乐部拥挤不堪。

3 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

4 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

5 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

6 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。