The study Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis released by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on August 29 reveals that within the last year alone there has been an alarming increase of half a million refugee children that are without access to school, bringing the total to 4 million.
By the end of 2017 there were 7.4 million refugee children across the globe. A modest 61 per cent attend primary school, just 23 per cent attend secondary school an only 1 per cent will have access to higher education.
“Based on current patterns, unless urgent investment is undertaken, hundreds of thousands more children will join these disturbing statistics.” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
According to UNHCR, 92 per cent of the world’s school-age refugees are hosted by developing regions. The agency urges “more sustained financial support from the international community” and calls for “stronger partnerships with the private sector, humanitarian and development organizations and governments to increase sustainable solutions for refugee education.”
Photo: (CC) EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, December 2011
This article appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin . You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.