Education Cannot Wait: Helping refugee children stay in school
Education Cannot Wait: Helping refugee children stay in school
An education initiative has been launched by a former British leader to provide long-term assistance to 30 million refugee children who have had no access to schools due to conflicts.
3 min read
War and conflict has interrupted education for millions of children, including those in Syria [AFP]
A new global fund to help 30 million refugee children stay in school has been launched by Britain's former prime minister Gordon Brown.
The Education Cannot Wait Fund aims to raise $3.85 billion over a five year period, targeting governments, companies and philanthropists.
Around $800 million is needed per year to send Syrian children living in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to school, Brown said, adding that the aim of the project is to provide hope to a "lost generation" of children stranded in camps without access to schools.
Brown is to formally launch the initiative next week at the World Humanitarian Summit where international human rights organisations as well as world leaders are expected to meet in Istanbul amid the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.
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Around $800 million is needed per year to send Syrian children living in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to school |  |
While millions of refugees from Syria, Iraq and other parts of the world have flocked to the shores of Europe, around 75 million children worldwide are said to have had their education severely disrupted by wars, natural disasters and other crises.
Millions without the financial ability to leave their borders have also been affected by conflicts.
UNICEF and UNESCO's Institute for Statistics highlighted the devastating implications of armed conflicts or political turmoil several countries around the Middle East and North Africa region are experiencing.
As violence expands, millions more will be at risk of becoming a "lost generation" deprived of the knowledge and skills needed to be successful adults, the agencies stressed.
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As violence expands, millions more will be at risk of becoming a 'lost generation' deprived of the knowledge and skills needed to be successful adults | |
A refugee report this month revealed the number of internally displaced people has rocketed to 40.8 million due to last year's conflicts, with more than four million uprooted from Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
"This is the highest figure ever recorded and twice the number of refugees worldwide," said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), co-authors of the report with the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).
"Displacement has snowballed since the Arab Spring uprising in 2010 and the rise of the Islamic State group," said the report, with Yemen, Syria and Iraq accounting for more than half of the total.
More than 4.8 million of those displaced in 2015 were uprooted from their homes in Yemen, Syria and Iraq – all of which have suffered political instability, military action and a deepening security crisis throughout 2015.
The report suggests 2.2 million of those made to flee were from Yemen – the highest in the region.
Syria followed shortly after with 1.3 million internal refugees while 1.1 million Iraqis escaped violence and instability in the same year.
