For many children and youth, education remains a dream. School-aged children are supposed to get 200 days of school a year. But according to a UN report, 3.5 million school-aged refugees had zero days of schools in 2016.
The latest global education monitoring report, Accountability in education: Meeting our commitments for 2017/18, reminds us of the challenges that the world faces in achieving a quality education for all and in moving us closer toward this goal.
Education for a life one can value
The world has made remarkable progress since 2000, when the first Education for All and Millennium Development (MDGs) goals were established – a set of targets for improving the lives of the world’s poorest people and ensuring quality education for all. Together they have produced the most successful anti-poverty movement in history.
But it hasn’t done enough. Despite considerable gains in the field of education, about 264 million children and youth remain out of school. Over six million of them live in conflict areas.
In September of 2016, countries adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda for the next 15 years. SDG 4 of this new agenda aims to secure an inclusive and quality education for all and to promote lifelong learning. Although great strides have been made in increasing school enrolment across the globe, enormous barriers still exist for young people born in countries affected by crisis and war. They struggle to sit in a safe classroom, to learn from qualified teachers, and to master the basics of reading and writing. As a result, the transition from school to work is often non-existent or very difficult.
As a joint Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) report found, this links back to how displaced young people value education in their lives. A 13-year-old boy in Democratic Republic of Congo explained: “With education I think I will have a future that won’t have to involve guns and fighting. This is my dream that I can look into my future and see that I have options and choices. Without school you have no choices in life, you are just trying to survive.”
With education I think I will have a future that won’t have to involve guns and fighting. This is my dream that I can look into my future and see that I have options and choices. Without school you have no choices in life, you are just trying to survive.
Meeting our commitments
As this report launches, we’re re-examining how stakeholders can provide education effectively, efficiently and equitably. The report looks into accountability mechanisms that are used to hold governments, schools, teachers, parents, the international community and the private sector accountable for providing a quality education. It puts forward recommendations that will help us build strong education systems around the world.
NRC promotes and supports the inclusion of displaced children and youth into formal education systems. Recognising that governments are the primary duty bearers of the right to education, we support them to uphold their duties, and put a strong focus on teachers’ professional development.
