In the News

Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations (UN) global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises have announced a new $2 million grant to address insecurity, school closures and escalating refugee crisis in Niger.

The new investment which will be delivered by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with local strategic partners, will reach 22,000 girls and boys impacted by instability, displacement and school closures in the border region with Nigeria.

(New York) – More than 9,000 students, teachers, and academics were harmed, injured, or killed in attacks on education during armed conflict over the past two years, according to Education under Attack 2022, a 265-page report published today by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA). More than 5,000 separate attacks on education facilities, students, and educators, or incidents of military use, took place in 2020 and 2021, a significant increase over the previous two years.

NEW YORK, JUNE 1: Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, on Wednesday announced $2 million grant in financing for a new education in emergencies response that will reach 22,000 children and adolescents impacted by instability and the growing refugee crisis in Niger.

The new investment will be delivered by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with local strategic partners and will address the impact of insecurity on the closure of schools and the endangerment of out-of-school children in the Maradi and Tahoua regions of Niger.

In an interview with Tec Review, he explains the consequences that the pandemic has left on education and how the gap has widened in the poorest countries.

Las crisis migratorias en América Latina y el Caribe han dejado en vulnerabilidad a niños, niñas y adolescentes migrantes, refugiados y desplazados que no cuentan con las condiciones mínimas para su desarrollo social, no tienen acceso a servicios de salud, protección y educación. El rechazo y la discriminación a los que se enfrentan son causantes en muchos casos de depresión, baja autoestima y miedo para afrontar los nuevos entornos en los que viven. 

Kebba Omar Jajursey, national coordinator of EFANet, has urged the government of The Gambia to consider increasing the size of the education budget to meet the global and continental target of 20% of the domestic financing.

Jarjusey made these remarks on Saturday during the Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) 2022 commemoration organized by Education For All campaign Network in The Gambia (EFANet) held in LRR.

With leaders gathering at this year’s World Economic Forum, it’s time to prioritize the impact investments in education bring to businesses, economies and beyond.

As all eyes turn to this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, we call on world leaders and world-leading businesses to put education at the heart our global social and economic agenda.

Against a backdrop of ongoing social changes, education is becoming increasingly important for success in life. But with disasters, pandemics, armed conflicts, and political crises forcing children out of school, a future of success is often placed far out of reach.

Despite data showing the number of children living in the deadliest war zones rising by nearly 20 percent, according to Stop the War on Children: A Crisis of Recruitment 2021 report, education in emergencies is a chronically underfunded aspect of humanitarian aid.

Despite tremendous progress over the past few decades, rates of extreme poverty are rising, as is global inequality.

Humanitarian crises abound, including in Ukraine and Tigray, while the environment and climate are in peril. The United Nations' Global Goals — which aspire to end hunger, achieve human rights for all and advance gender equality by 2030 — are further out of reach than ever.

Yasmine Sherif, director of Education Cannot Wait, a UN-funded non-profit organization, said education can play an essential role in helping children like Bertukan and Mune build resilience to trauma. “When you see family members, parents and siblings raped, killed, injured, a child is traumatized and that's why mental health and psychosocial services are another essential component of education,” she told Voa. She added that while food security and access to water are essential for people displaced by war, education is essential in the long term if countries are to be reborn and avoid future conflicts.

For the thousands of students entering their war-torn third school year in Tigray, the consequences are likely to be felt for the rest of their lives.

A total of 1.39 million children in the Tigray region are currently missing out on education because of Ethiopia’s civil war, according to the United Nations.

While journalists are banned from entering Tigray, VOA was able to access the neighboring Amhara region, where schools are beginning to reopen, after Tigrayan forces that occupied much of the region withdrew in December.

Over the past few years, institutions have cracked under multiple strains, including disasters that have disrupted the education of a full 90% of the world’s children and displaced legions more. But through it all, the LEGO Foundation has rarely missed a chance to help vulnerable children.

During the COVID pandemic, the foundation has balanced a strategic commitment to the power of play with clear-eyed investments in health and safety measures, totaling more than $200 million. It has also stepped up in crisis situations. When a major earthquake rocked Haiti last fall, the foundation and LEGO’s owners committed $16 million in support. And when war broke out in Ukraine, it came through again, to the tune of $16.5 million.