Education is a human right. This is clearly enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Geneva Convention on Refugees. In its Sustainable Development Goals, the UN therefore aims to ensure "inclusive, equitable and quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all" by 2030.
Worldwide lack of educational equity
The reality, however, is different: According to the latest UNESCO World Education Report from 2020, millions of children worldwide still lack educational opportunities. In middle-income countries, for example, only 75 percent of young people attend school after the age of 15. Of these, one in two attains just basic skills. Moreover, according to the UNESCO report, identity, origin and aptitude determine educational opportunities to a decisive extent. Compared to high-income countries in Europe and North America, less than 20 percent of low-income countries complete secondary school. In at least 20 countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, it is primarily poor and young rural women who are completely denied secondary school completion.
COVID-19 exacerbates inequality
The pandemic has further exacerbated these disadvantages. Children and young people who were already struggling to gain a foothold in the education system have been particularly hard hit by COVID-related school closures. This affects children and youth worldwide - but specifically refugees who already had gaps in their schooling due to crises before Corona. "Education prepares an important basis for a better perspective and a life in dignity", says Mathias Anderson, Executive Director of arche noVa. "Therefore, it is important that we enable especially children and young people in crisis regions to reconnect to the regular school system with informal education programs", says Anderson.
The story of Walaa: Education brings hope to children in Syria
The story of Walaa: hope thanks to education
The story of the girl Walaa Al-Hemide Al-Sheikh from northern Syria shows how this can succeed. When the war reached her village in 2019, she had to flee with her family. She has not seen her house or her village since. As a refugee, Walaa could not go to school for a long time and instead had to help with the harvest on farms in the surrounding area. Thanks to the education program of arche noVa in Northern Syria, which prepares children and young people to enter the formal education system again, Walaa can now go to school again and gets a perspective for a better life.
