Photo credit: Unicef/Watad
A call to protect education in emergencies! #ProtectEiENow #GAWE2022
Conflicts, climate and environmental disasters and public health emergencies have a devastating impact on the right to education for millions of learners. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was facing considerable challenges in realising the right to education. It is estimated that 35 million children worldwide have been forcibly displaced and that almost half of refugee children of school age are not in school.
The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) is mobilising for the Global Action Week for Education (GAWEE) 2022, a key moment for education activists around the world. More than 100 countries, hundreds of local, national and international civil society organisations, and millions of people from all corners of the world are uniting to defend and advocate for the right to inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong opportunities for all, and to contribute to the achievement of MDG4.
This year the WSSE (#GAWE2022) is more important than ever; GCE calls on states, world leaders and the international community to protecting education in emergencies¹! There are several violations of the right to education for millions of people in emergency situations in the four corners of the world. The most recent case is the deliberate attack on schools in Ukraine, but there are many others that have been happening for years.
Yemen is still affected by nearly 8 years of war that has left an estimated 8.1 million school-age girls and boys in need².In Ethiopia, 2.7 million school-age children are out of school. In Ethiopia, 2.7 million school-age children are out of school, 240 schools are sheltering displaced families and another 2,500 schools are completely or partially destroyed.. In Bangladesh, the education of 78 % of young people is affected by climate change, whether it is flood-related school dropout (25 %) or impact on the way to school (23 %)⁴.
These crises are getting worse by the minute and the children in the emergency areas need our voice!
A week of action!
A different regional policy dialogue will be held on each day of the WEMF, focusing on education in emergencies. On the last day of the WEMF, the GCE secretariat will organise a high-level global event on education in emergencies, focusing on learning in displacement.
The events will take place as follows:
Monday 25 April 2022 The Arab region will launch the WAMS 2022 at thea regional policy dialogue on education in emergencies, organised by the Arab Campaign for Education for All. The event will start at 14:00 Palestine time/15:00 CET. Registration link: https://bit.ly/GAWEACEA
Tuesday 26 April 2022 The Latin American region will hold its WFS dialogue on theEducation in emergency contexts in Latin America and the Caribbean: gender, debt, digitisationorganised by the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education. The event will start at 11am Brazilian time/16pm CET. Registration link : https://bit.ly/GAWECLADE
Wednesday 27 April 2022 The Asia-Pacific region will hold its ADMM dialogue entitled Protecting Education in Emergencies: An Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue organised by the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE). The event will start at 1pm Manila time/7pm CET. Registration link: https://bit.ly/aspbaegawe
Thursday 28 April 2022 The African region will hold its regional WFS policy dialogue on theeducation in emergencies in AfricaThe event will be led by the African Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA). The event will start at 8am EST/12pm GMT/14pm CET. Link to registration: https://bit.ly/GAWEANCEFA
Friday 29 April 2022 Global Policy Dialogue of the WFSW will be led by the GCE Secretariat in partnership with the Jesuit Refugee Service and will focus on equitable access to learning in situations of displacement: Taking action against discrimination and marginalisation. The event will start at 8:00 a.m. EST/14:00 CET/20:00 Manila time. Registration link: https://bit.ly/GAWEGLOBAL
Call to action :
The Global Campaign for Education calls on States to protecting education in emergencies! including :
- Protect education from attack, and adhere to and comply with the 2015 Safe Schools Declaration.
- Provide safe and accessible learning environments for all learners in emergency contexts, without discrimination on the basis of gender, disability, race, ethnicity or any other factor.
- Develop and implement crisis-sensitive national education plans and budgets, and promote the equitable and sustainable inclusion of refugees, asylum seekers, returnees, stateless persons and internally displaced persons in national education systems.
- Ensure adequate protection, training and remuneration of teachers.
- Promote education that is truly transformative and a foundation for peace.
- Listen to the voices of those affected by emergencies, civil society organisations, communities, families, teachers, who are the first responders in these situations. Their experiences, perspectives and stories matter and must be fully taken into account in education plans and policies.
About the Global Campaign for Education (GCE)
GCE is a leading civil society movement that promotes and defends education as a basic human right. GCE has over 127 members, including 94 national education coalitions, 18 international NGOs and 15 regional networks and youth organisations. GCE defines education as the foundation of all forms of development and a catalyst for growth. As a transnational organisation, GCE believes that education is the key to sustainable and equitable economic growth, better health and social development.
For more information, please contact :
Philani Ndebele
Communications Officer (CME)
+27 11 447 4111
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¹.https://www.unicef.org/education/emergencies#:~:text=UNICEF-,A%20lifeline,health%20care%20and%20hygiene%20supplies
².https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/education-cannot-wait-announces-us17-million-grant-first-emergency-response-yemen
⁴.https://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/rising-challenge-0
