Refugee children are five times more likely to be out of school than other children, a UNHCR report exposes this week. “Missing Out: Refugee Education in Crisis” compares UNESCO data on global school enrolment with UNHCR data on refugee education and disparities are evident; only 50 per cent of refugee children have access to primary education, while the global enrolment lies at 90 per cent.
UNHCR stresses that the majority of refugee are hosted in countries where government struggle to educate their own children. More than half of the world’s out-of-school refugee children and adolescents are living in seven countries: Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey.
“As the international community considers how best to deal with the refugee crisis, it is essential that we think beyond basic survival,” UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi underlined. “Education enables refugees to positively shape the future of both their countries of asylum and their home countries when they one day return.”