There are more refugees and displaced people in the world today than ever recorded, and more than half of them are children. For them, and for millions more living in conflict-ridden and fragile states, education is often their only protection against becoming a lost generation, unable to bounce back from adversity without any employment prospects or a secure place in society.
The value of education is widely recognized and understood among aid workers, world leaders and refugees themselves, but in crisis situations, the sector is the most underfunded, receiving only 2 percent of humanitarian aid in 2014. As a result, 65 million children caught in conflict or crisis are out of school or at risk of dropping out, and according to the Overseas Development Institute, the world needs an annual $4.8 billion more to ensure that no child really is left behind.
“It’s an issue of increasing numbers in a context where we are faced with decreasing funding levels,” Barbara Zeus, education specialist at the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told Devex.