Education Disrupted For 222 Million Children — UN.
According to a United Nations study, multiple crises have disrupted the education of 222 million children and adolescents worldwide.
The study was conducted by Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and long-term crises.
When the organization was founded in 2016, there were approximately 75 million crisis-affected children whose education had been disrupted.
Multiple crises over the last six years, according to ECW Director Yasmine Sherif, have increased the number to 222 million across more than 40 countries.
“Conflicts are raging around the world…we know that, but they are also are more and more protracted.
"But the growing record high number of refugees and internally displaced, as a result of conflicts and climate-induced disasters, have also contributed to this number, as have, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sherif said.
According to the study, 78.2 million children worldwide have dropped out of school entirely.
Education experts reveals that those children are unlikely to resume their education, which will harm their prospects and earning capacity.
Sherif claims to have visited countries where the majority of children are currently not in school and witnessed what happens to children in crisis-torn countries such as Mali, Chad, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.
“When you do not go to school, you are very exposed to being — if you are a boy — forcibly recruited into armed groups, terrorist groups, militia, government groups,” she said.
“And, if you are a girl, you are exposed to becoming part of a gender-based violence at home, sexual violence, trafficking, early marriages, and early childbirth.”
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Sherif believes the new data should serve as a wake-up call to all leaders and policymakers, as more children are being left behind as a result of crises.
She believes that unless the international community does more to support their educational needs, there will be far-reaching negative consequences for human and economic development.
Education Disrupted For 222 Million Children — UN
