Educating Kids When Fighting Breaks Out
This colorful African proverb describes the dilemma faced by 28 million of the 61 million primary school-aged children not in school. They can't go to school because of a crisis or war.
Mali is just the latest example where kids suffer because of conflict. The situation in Mali, a West African country, has been deteriorating since fighting broke out in early 2012 between government forces and rebels. According to the United Nations more than 370,000 people had to flee their homes, including 150,000 who have sought refuge across Mali's borders.
It is estimated that about half of all school children fled northern Mali in 2012 when Islamist groups took over much of the north and shut down many public schools, dismantled the curricula, and sent some children to Koranic schools. According to UNICEF, Mali's primary school attendance rate was about 58% before the conflict. With the conflict this percentage is expected to drop even further.
The Global Partnership for Education has recently approved $41.7 million for schools, school supplies and teacher training in the areas most affected by the conflict.
How has children's education been affected by the recent conflict in Mali?
How does the Global Partnership for Education help Mali?
Will Mali's children be able to catch up on missed education?
Last September in New York global leaders from governments, international organizations and civil society endorsed an urgent Call to Action to ensure the world's most vulnerable children and youth receive a good quality education by protecting schools from attacks, significantly increasing humanitarian aid for education, and planning and budgeting for emergencies before they occur. Read more here and take a look at the infographic which explains the dire situation for millions of kids in conflict who want to go school. GPE also pledged to raise $500 million to help children in crisis get a quality education.
Right now GPE is working in 20 countries in fragile contexts, adding 6 such countries in the past year. Our goal is to make sure that all children, no matter how difficult their situation, can exercise their right to receive a quality education.
We hope you'll get involved in helping children learn and grow, and join our conversation on Facebook and Twitter.