Syrian refugee children are seen during a lesson at Fatih Sultan Mehmet School in Karapurcek district of Ankara, Turkey, October 2, 2015. Out of 640,000 Syrian children in Turkey, 400,000 are not at school.

Syrian refugee children are seen during a lesson at Fatih Sultan Mehmet School in Karapurcek district of Ankara, Turkey, October 2, 2015. Out of 640,000 Syrian children in Turkey, 400,000 are not at school.
Photo Credit: Umit Bektas / Reuters

UNICEF sounds alarm on child education funding in conflict zones

With about 24 million children in conflict zones out of school, education remains one of the least funded sectors of humanitarian appeals, UNICEF said Tuesday.

Nearly one in four of the 110 million children of primary and lower secondary school age—typically between six and 15 years—living in conflict areas in 22 countries are missing out on their education, the UN agency said.

South Sudan is home to the highest proportion of out of school children with more than half (51 per cent) of primary and lower secondary age children not accessing an education. Niger is a close second with 47 per cent unable to attend school, followed by Sudan (41 per cent) and Afghanistan (40 per cent), UNICEF said.

In Uganda, where UNICEF is providing services to South Sudanese refugees, education faces an 89 per cent funding gap, said Meg French, chief of international programs and public affairs at UNICEF Canada. In 2015, UNICEF had a 25 per cent funding gap for its response for Syria.

“We get more money for health, for shelter, for protection but not for education,” French said. “So we really need the support of Canadians and of the others in order to be able to make sure that we can continue to allow children to learn and to have that sense of normalcy.”

(click to listen to the interview with Meg French)

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Counting on Canadian generousity

She said the federal government’s recent extension of the deadline for matching donations to the Syria Emergency Relief Fund until Feb 29th is a great opportunity for Canadians to raise even more money for UNICEF and other organizations working with refugees.

UNICEF Canada has already raised $3 million dollars since September, French said.

The money raised by UNICEF goes towards programs to provide temporary schools, renovate and rebuild damaged and destroyed schools, as well as providing learning supplies for children – pens, notebooks, textbooks, backpacks and etc.

And UNICEF also helps provide specialized training for teachers to make sure that they are not only properly trained to teach the curriculum, but also have the skills to help children who in many cases have seen some “horrendous” things, French said.

Long-term impact

UNICEF faces enormous challenges in providing education to refugees.

While some of the children might be on the move, trying to escape war zones, in many cases the schools have been damaged or destroyed by fighting, or they are being used for other purposes either by armed groups or to shelter refugees, said French.

“There is clearly long-term implication,” said French. “When you have a generation of children who’re living in conflict and growing up without an education, they’re not learning the skills that they need in order to contribute to their country, to their economy in the long run.”

The lack of education simply perpetuates cycles of poverty and maintains the desperate situation that children in war-ravaged countries are already living in, French said. But there are also some very important short-term consequences, she said.

‘A sense of normalcy’

“Education is not something that normally comes top of mind when we talk about helping people in the midst of a conflict,” French said. “But it’s really important for kids. It gives children a sense of normalcy.”

Schools help children deal with their trauma, see their friends, to play and be around caring adults, she said.

The school is also a place that can protect children, French said.

“It’s more than a place of learning, it’s a safe environment for them,” she said. “Because when kids aren’t in school, they’re out of school, they’re much more likely to be abused, to be exploited and to be recruited by armed groups.”

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