Sounding the Alarm on the Global Education Crisis
New analysis from Education Cannot Wait indicates that 234 million crisis-affected children require urgent support to access quality education. Join ECW and UNICEF to keep hope alive as we race to deliver on our promise of education for all.
The global education crisis is having vast and unprecedented impacts on our world today. Without an education, an entire generation is at risk of being left behind, derailing development gains and putting the world further behind in our efforts to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Education is a catalyst for change, and the single best tool we have to ensure sustainable economic growth, peace and social development in our times. Education means an end to hunger and an end to poverty. Education means a chance at equality for girls who dream of growing up to be doctors, lawyers and engineers. Education means peace where there is war, and progress where there is uncertainty. Despite its clear return on investment, recent indicators show that humanitarian funding for education has dropped for the first time in a decade.
In the past three years, the number of crisis-affected children unable to access quality education has risen by 35 million
According to the United Nations, there is a $100 billion annual financing gap to achieve the education targets in low- and lower-middle income countries outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals. A new Global Estimates Report recently issued by Education Cannot Wait (ECW) provides a stark and truly daunting portrait of the state of education in the world today.
On the front lines of armed conflict, climate change, forced displacement and other protracted crises, nearly a quarter of a billion children — an increase of 35 million over the past three years — lack access to quality education. To put this number in perspective, that’s more than the total populations of France, Germany and the United Kingdom combined.
Five protracted crises account for nearly half of all children in need of support to access quality education
Of the 234 million school-aged crisis-impacted children and adolescents identified in the report, more than 85 million are out of school completely. Five protracted crises —in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Sudan — account for nearly half of these out-of-school children.
“As a global community, unless we start investing in the young generation – their education and future – we shall leave behind a legacy of destruction,” says Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises hosted by UNICEF.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest hit
Sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest hit, home to about half of all crisis-affected school-aged children globally. With the war in Sudan still raging, an entire generation of children are at risk of being left behind, while in neighboring countries impacted by the regional refugee crisis, governments are struggling to provide essential services including education.
According to ECW’s analysis, about 75 percent of school-aged children are out of school in Sudan — that's 11 million. This is a silent global emergency. According to the United Nations, without additional measures, by 2030 approximately 300 million students globally will lack basic numeracy and literacy skills. Children affected by crises are falling even further behind. Only 17 percent of crisis-affected primary school children achieve minimum reading proficiency by the end of primary school, according to the ECW report.
Vocational training, accelerated education and catch-up classes get students back to the safety of learning
Education Cannot Wait works with key strategic partners like UNICEF to keep hope alive through the power of education. In Burkina Faso, school closures have impacted the education of around 820,000 children. UNICEF and other local partners are getting girls and boys back to the safety of learning with vocational training, accelerated education and catch-up classes through an ECW investment that targets 90,000 children.
Over 1.6 million children are now out of school in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as a result of the violent conflict that has embroiled the region. Without the safety and protection of an education, they face a number of grave risks, from child marriage and recruitment into armed groups to sexual assault, killing and maiming.
The climate crisis is making matters even worse
ECW and its strategic donor partners have now invested over $35 million in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These investments have reached over 125,000 children. The investments provide a wide array of holistic supports, such as school-feeding programs, mental health services, conditional cash transfers, and community engagement and training to lower gender-based violence.
The climate crisis is making matters even worse. In Pakistan, for instance, floods in 2022 damaged or destroyed 30,000 schools and put education on hold for millions of children. Through accelerated learning programs delivered by UNICEF with funding from ECW, girls like 12-year-old Muqadas are back in school and thriving. In all the First Emergency Response reached over 100,000 girls and boys. “I am so excited to be back in school,” says Muqadas. “I am in grade 6 and hope to go to college and become a doctor one day.”
Education Cannot Wait and its strategic partners including UNICEF are calling on world leaders to make education a priority for humanitarian funding. With $600 million in additional funding, we can keep hope alive for the nearly quarter of a billion crisis-impacted children in urgent need of our help.
Make your individual donation today.
HOW TO HELP
There are many ways to make a difference
War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
Would you like to help give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? There are many ways to get involved.
