Education is not
just a fundamental human right, but also an enabling right – essential for the
exercise of individuals and communities at different levels. It plays a
significant role in supporting survival, growth, development and well-being of
nations and its children. Enhanced investment in education also contributes to
higher income, individual empowerment and decreased poverty levels of the
countries, especially the ones ridden with conflict. The on-going humanitarian
crisis shows that there is no time more important for education than the time
of war as the conflict and violence become significant barriers to the goal of
providing a primary school place for all children.
As the economic
circumstances of families in the developing countries, especially in the
conflict areas become more desperate, the conditions in which children find
themselves are worsening. There is no shortage of evidence that the crisis is
pulling children out of school and pushing an ever-increasing number towards
exploitation in the labour market. For instance some 2.7 million Syrian
children are currently out of school, a figure swollen by children who are
forced to work instead. Many became pregnant, married as children or are pushed
into child labour. Many will never return to the classrooms. Many still do not
have a chance. The limited access these children have to quality education is
part of the problem; moreover, children who work are more likely to drop out of
education. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), children
in conflict affected countries are more than twice as likely, and adolescents
two-thirds more likely, to be out of school than in non-conflict affected
countries.
Children at the risk
of being out of school are also the most vulnerable to working in hazardous
conditions such as in global supply chains, domestic labour, armed conflict,
sexual exploitation, and illicit activities like organised begging and child
trafficking. Warfare and conflict has taken away from millions of children
their homes, families, friends and education. The total number of children
between the age of 6-15 years who are out of school, as estimated by United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), is more than 25 million across 22 conflict
and warfare ridden countries. Right now, in countries such as South Sudan,
Syria, Yemen and many more, schools and hospitals are under attack. For
example, in Syria to date, an estimated 5,000 schools have been fully destroyed
and close to a thousand more have been damaged since the beginning of the
conflict. Over 60 per cent of refugee children from Syria do not have access to
primary education. In Yemen, over 500 schools have already been damaged or
destroyed during aerial bombardments or ground offensives. The UNICEF reports
that a third of Yemen’s children have been out of school since air strikes
began in March 2015. Elsewhere, thousands of schools have closed their doors
because of insecurity, interrupting the education of millions of boys and
girls.
Education offers
hope and is a proven strategy to reduce and eliminate child labour and poverty.
Millions of children who are out of school and are pushed towards economic and
sexual exploitation are much more than victims of circumstances. Their
conditions are a key challenge to building peaceful and strong societies
envisioned by the new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that affirm
every child’s right to quality education, to leave no one behind and to
“endeavour to reach the furthest behind”. The SDGs also remind us that “there
can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without
sustainable development”. Yet, conflict
too often means the end of learning and development of the affected children.
For instance children recruited and used as child soldiers or the ones whose
education was interrupted for so long that going back to a regular school might
be difficult or impossible as they may have a hard time finding their place in
society once their ordeal is over.
If we do not
promote their repatriation, and help them find ways to contribute to their
communities and their own development through education and vocational training
opportunities, these boys and girls may grow up to contribute to the stalling
or, worse, the reversal of development. The new agenda therefore is not only to
provide quality and inclusive education to every child but also to transform a
world confronted with challenges on a scale not experienced in decades. As the
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Honorary President of Global March Against Child
Labour, Mr. Kailash Satyarthi puts it “A childhood without education isn’t a
childhood at all, and every youth who is out of school is one too many.” The
SDGs, especially with specific goals and targets on ensuring education (SDG 4) are
poised to make a real difference in the lives of the childhood of millions of
such children and young people affected by warfare and conflict who constitute
a large proportion of the world’s out-of school population. It is the need of
the hour to commit to developing more inclusive, responsive and resilient
education systems to meet the needs of children, youth and adults in these
contexts, including internally displaced persons and refugees.
One of the core
reasons conflict is taking such a heavy toll on education is inadequate financing. In 2014, education
received only 2 per cent of the humanitarian aid as many global appeals do not
cover all those in need. What is needed most now is for donor countries to
honour with sense of urgency and responsibility the globally agreed target of
allocating at least 4% of humanitarian aid to education.
According to the
UNICEF, at present conflict-affected countries, in particular, are spending
around 3%
of national income – below the global average of 4% and the
recommended target of nearly 6%. With so many of the world’s out-of-school
children and adolescents living in conflict-affected countries, investing in
education should be a priority for external donors when governments fail to do
so, but most countries in protracted crises do not receive enough humanitarian
financing. The developing countries and the ones affected by conflict should
commit to allocating at least 20% of their national budgets to education and
remove all financial barriers that prevent the most marginalised children from
accessing school. In defining national education budgets, countries should
consider the lost opportunities of not investing enough in education and the
impact this has on poverty, unemployment and marginalisation.
Recognising the
potential and power of education, Global March Against Child Labour has been
advocating for realisation of the fundamental right to good quality education of
all children by governments, as custodians of this right. As an organisation, it has also impressed upon
the need to ensure that education policies and programmes, include and target those
who are hardest-to-reach and likely to remain out of school such as those in
child labour, affected by trafficking, conflicts, disasters and other vulnerabilities.
In the current times, where this right to education is in jeopardy for millions
of children, Global March Against Child Labour especially calls on governments
to develop clear roadmaps to implement SDG 4 on education and to commit resources
to education to invest in the future of countries and the world at large. It also calls on to donor governments to
commit more resources for humanitarian aid to education for children affected
by conflict.
You can also
join hands with us and do your bit right now by supporting our work in this
#GlobalActionWeekForEducation and can pledge to support education for all and
advocate with your governments that its #TimeToDeliver and #StandUpForEducation
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