In a month we will celebrate the sad anniversary of the Ukrainian war. A war that we have already normalized in our lives, but it is still there. At just 13, Olga already knows what it’s like to hide from bombs. He lives with his family in Kyiv. Some time ago he escaped from Ukraine and together with his mother they traveled to Moldova. After a few months, however, they returned to their country. He experiences his return with concern, because he doesn’t know when the sirens will sound and he’ll have to hide in an air raid shelter again. This is Olga’s life now, no different than Ticoro or Adama, who had to flee Mali due to attacks by armed groups, or Momtazul, who now lives in the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
The list of names of boys and girls who live in a context of crisis, be it the consequences of the climate emergency, wars or a lack of opportunities, is not endless, but almost. It is estimated that 222 million children and young people worldwide who are affected by humanitarian crises of all kinds do not have access to adequate education. The number has grown exponentially in just six years, considering it was 75 million in 2016. Each time these crises are longer and more complex. We’re talking about entire generations who only know what it’s like to live in precarious, uncertain circumstances and with an uninspiring future.
Experience shows us that the right to education is often a forgotten right
In these contexts, the first and most urgent is to secure the most basic things like food, water or shelter. Little thought is given to education when it is the main tool to eliminate social inequalities from the ground up. Education is also urgently needed. When a humanitarian crisis occurs, children drop out of school, but these children rarely have a second chance to resume their studies unless proper action is taken. They also run the risk of being victims of all kinds of violence: boys can be recruited by armed groups and girls can be forced to marry a man much older than they were before their time.
The right to education is a right of childhood. It is not a right that is lost when you live in the middle of a war, have to change countries or the legal situation is not settled. Children fleeing the war in Syria, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, gangs in El Salvador or famine in Africa’s Sahel continue to have this right. And you have to make sure it gets done.
Little thought is given to education when it is the main tool to eliminate social inequalities from the ground up. Education is also urgently needed
The loss of this right affects their future and also that of society as a whole, which loses basic social capital and its ability to recover from the crisis the country is going through.
But let’s talk about the present, what it means that they can keep learning. Going to class is one way of restoring some “normality” – quote marks – because living in a context of food crises or war is not normal at all. It refers to their friends and continues to learn, either in person in the classroom or through distance learning in case it is impossible to go to the educational center. Being in school means being in a safe and secure place because humanitarian law protects them and they should not be attacked. In many cases they get food and water there and can do something as important as play with their peers and forget about the reality around them for a while while learning to live with it.
Unfortunately, experience shows us that the right to education is often a forgotten right. Despite commitments from the European Commission, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or countries like the United States, which are the largest donors to education in emergencies, support is not reaching all the children who need it. In 2022, only 28.9% of education needs were met in crisis situations. This means that in the last five years, 40% of children and young people living in emergency situations have not been able to continue their studies.
The range of numbers is enormous and poses enormous challenges. With each passing year, we are further away from meeting the goal of ensuring everyone has access to inclusive, equitable and quality education by 2030. There is an urgent need to take concrete and effective action not to achieve this goal in seven years, but to reverse the situation. Education in emergencies must be seen in the long term. In other words, if you want to ensure this right in a humanitarian context, you need to do so based on a long-term strategy that is consistent with the most immediate actions that will be taken. There is no point in giving books to boys and girls if we don’t train the teachers who accompany them.
This strategy is also happening because states and international organizations are committing to increase their investment in education in emergencies and to increase the percentage of humanitarian aid devoted to education to at least 10% of their budget, as requested by the World Campaign for Education, to the Educo belongs part. These kinds of decisions need to be made urgently because education is for the present of every society and for all children in the world.
Pilar Orenes She is Director General of the Fundación Educo.
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