Wars, conflicts and disasters worldwide mean that millions of children and young people are denied their right to education. The recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria also showed that school buildings are often destroyed or misused in the event of disasters. At a United Nations donor conference in Geneva this Thursday, funds are to be collected so that children can have access to education even in emergency situations.
Goal: The United Nations wants to spend 1.5 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) by 2026 so that all minors worldwide have safe rooms, care and education even in times of crisis. The UN fund “Education Cannot Wait”, founded in 2016, wants to use the money to finance projects in 44 countries. The money always goes to aid organizations, not to governments.
Praise for the commitment of the federal government
Development Minister Svenja Schulze is taking part in the Geneva conference on behalf of Germany. “The children did not cause the crises in the world, but they suffer the most from them,” said Schulze of the German Press Agency (dpa). Around the world, 222 million school-age children are affected by conflicts, ongoing crises and emergencies. That’s three times as many as in 2016. “We can’t afford to lose this generation.”
The German government is by far the largest donor to the fund. “It has enabled us to bring quality education to seven million children in the most difficult conditions,” said UN Fund Executive Director Yasmine Sherif.
hope through education
When children are forced to flee as a result of disasters such as earthquakes or conflicts, the first thing that matters is sheer survival. School is often not one of the priorities. This has fatal consequences, often for life, because people fall into a poverty trap.
“Of course you need food, clean water, medical care, a roof over your head to survive,” Sherif told dpa. “But you also need hope to survive, and that comes with education.” Girls are protected from sexual violence at school, while boys who go to school are less likely to join militias or gangs. And: “We always talk about dignity and that people have to be able to help themselves in the long term. How is that supposed to work if they can’t read and write?”
cwo/AR (dpa, educationcannotwait.org)
