ACNUR Coronavirus NNA Refugiados Falta Acceso A Educación

COMING
TOGETHER
FOR REFUGEE
EDUCATION
Contents
Introduction by Filippo Grandi,
UN High Commissioner for Refugees4
Refugee enrolment -
what the data tells us 8
Family11
Community21
Government 32
Violence against schools 39
Final word by Mo Salah 42
Call to action 44
“As a refugee living in Greece, I faced a lot of difficulties. Whatever
happened, I never lost hope, I was always telling myself: it’s not
the end. There will be a new start. And I was right. At the moment
the whole world is suffering from this pandemic and especially
refugees. We should educate children. We should listen to music.
We should learn that all human beings are equal. The situation
that refugees are in is temporary and will pass. We should always
have hope. There is always brightness after the darkness.”
Jamil, 20, an Afghan refugee artist living in Greece, received a special mention for this painting which
was submitted to UNHCR’s inaugural 2020 Youth with Refugees Art Contest.
© UNHCR/JAMIL KHAN
© UNHCR/JAMIL KHAN
U N H C R > C O M I N G TO G E T H E R F O R R E F U G E E E D U C AT I O N 3
INTRODUCTION
COMING TOGETHER FOR
REFUGEE EDUCATION
BY FILIPPO GRANDI,
UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
Anyone looking for inspirational examples of dedication,

perseverance, resilience and strength of character should look
no further than the students and teachers featured in this year’s
report on refugees and education.
From Ecuador to Jordan, from Iran to Ethiopia, The direction of travel is clear: over the past few
these young refugees and the adults who support years there have been gains which, while modest
them realize how much living a life in dignity and in percentage terms, nonetheless represent tens
preparing for solutions depend on access to full of thousands of refugee children and youth finding
and formal quality education. places in classrooms, learning centres and lecture
halls around the world.
The gap between refugees and their peers is still
wide, especially at the higher levels of education. A grave threat now looms over those advances.
Given the continued rise in the overall number of The coronavirus could destroy the dreams and
the world’s forcibly displaced, keeping education ambitions of these young refugees. It threatens to
enrolment rates steady is no small feat. cause a ‘pandemic of poverty’ in the world’s most
4 UNHCR > C O M I N G TO G E T H E R F O R R E F U G E E E D U C AT I O N
Introduction
The coronavirus could destroy the dreams and ambitions of these young
refugees. It threatens to cause a ‘pandemic of poverty’ in the world’s most
vulnerable communities, and the steady and hard-won increases in school,
university, technical and vocational education enrolment could be reversed
– in some cases permanently.
Children in every country are struggling with the

impact of COVID-19. An entire generation has had
its education disrupted, from nurseries and
pre-primaries to universities and apprenticeships.
But if you were a refugee child before the

pandemic, you were already at a grave
disadvantage – twice as likely to be out of school
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi meets as a non-refugee child.
Malian refugee students at a school in Goudoubo camp,
Burkina Faso. © UNHCR/SYLVAIN CHERKAOUI
For girls, meanwhile, access to education remains
as challenging as ever. Our data indicates that
girls continue to have less access to education
vulnerable communities, and the steady and than boys, being half as likely as boys to be
hard-won increases in school, university, technical enrolled at secondary level. A 2018 World Bank
and vocational education enrolment could be study shows why this matters both now and for
reversed – in some cases permanently. the future, finding that on average, women with
secondary school education earn almost twice as
As we strive towards Sustainable Development much as those with no education at all. In addition
Goal 4 – to ensure inclusive and equitable quality there are enormous beneficial effects: social
education for all – COVID-19 could put that goal capital and independence, reduced early marriage
beyond reach. and pregnancy, and general health and well-
being.
This is not only about school closures, devastating
though these have been. It is about the ability of The post-lockdown forecast for refugee girls is
refugee families on low incomes and in precarious particularly grim. By analysing UNHCR data on
livelihoods, in urban settings and in camps, to school enrolment, the Malala Fund has estimated
afford fees, uniforms, textbooks, travel, mobile that half of all refugee girls in school will not return
data and devices, on top of food and shelter. when classrooms reopen in September. For
countries where refugee girls’ gross secondary
INTRODUCTION
enrolment was already less than 10 per cent, all

girls are at risk of dropping out for good. That is a
chilling prediction, which would have an impact for
generations to come.
The risks to refugee education do not stop there.

On September 9, the world will mark the first
International Day to Protect Education From
Attack. While I welcome this new campaign, it is a
tragedy that it should be necessary. Yet as our
partners have warned – and as we highlight in the
pages of this report in a dispatch from Burkina
Faso – attacks on schools are a grim reality. They
must stop immediately.
Yet this report gives me hope, too. Refugees and

host communities, teachers, private sector
partners, national and local authorities, innovators
and humanitarian agencies have found numerous
ways to keep education going in the face of the
pandemic. This has taken resourcefulness and
ingenuity. It has been a hi-tech and low-tech
endeavour. And it has required partnership,
generosity and creative thinking.
The pandemic has exposed gaps not just in

educational provision but in connectivity, access
to clean water and good sanitation, housing,
transport and employment opportunities – all
of which have a direct impact on a child’s ability
to learn.
But there are solutions to these challenges, if we and organisations – charities, NGOs, cities,
act in concert. Enabling policies and laws are states, the private sector and the refugee
crucial. Forging alliances with businesses, delegates themselves – are determined to turn
scientists, universities, NGOs and campaigners, things around.
the United Nations and its many partners, and
individuals are equally critical. COVID-19 has forced us to rethink several aspects
of our lives – the structure and resilience of our
At the end of last year, the hundreds of pledges societies, the precarious nature of so many things
made by Governments and partners at the Global we took for granted. It has also spurred us on to
Refugee Forum showed just how many people innovate, from medical science to health provision
Introduction
Faida, 20, from Rwanda, submitted this drawing called ‘Rain of Love’, for UNHCR’s 2020 Youth with
Refugees Art Contest. His drawing was one of seven selected for animation. © UNHCR/FAIDA GASTON
to entertainment. This includes building all to the passion and determination of millions of
momentum to implement the Global Compact on young people – it would be a huge step forward
Refugees, with countries including refugees in for refugee resilience, self-reliance and
their national planning response for COVID-19 opportunity.
– sometimes for the first time.
As I said at the beginning, if you are seeking
If we could bring the same spirit to the field of inspiration, read on. The stories that follow will
education – developing meaningful technological provide it.
solutions docked in to formal schooling, forging
lasting alliances across sectors, and harnessing it
CHAPTER 1:
REFUGEE ENROLMENT
WHAT
THE DATA
TELLS US
Nine-year-old Masha, who fled Ukraine with her family in

2014, designs computer games at a programming class in
Minsk, Belarus. ©UNHCR/EGOR DUBROVSKY
Refugee Enrolment: What the data tells us
The most recent data on school enrolment once again highlights

how the educational options for refugee children dramatically fall
away after primary school.
The methodology used in compiling the data in For girls, the picture is particularly stark. Almost all
this year’s education report has changed in order the gains made at secondary level in 2019 were in
to improve accuracy and insights – hence the favour of boys: while 36 per cent of refugee boys
figures will look different from previous years. were enrolled in secondary education, only 27 per
cent of girls were.
At primary level, gross enrolment of refugee
children in school stands at 77 per cent, a level At the level of higher education – including
that has remained constant since last year. technical and vocational education and training as
well as university courses – 3 per cent of refugee
Yet the contrast between primary and secondary youth were enrolled in courses, the same
level enrolment remains stark. Less than half of percentage year after year.
refugee children who start primary school make it
to secondary school. Only 31 per cent of refugee According to the updated methodology, more than
children were enrolled at secondary level in 2019, 1.8 million children are out of school across the
although that was a rise of 2 points on the 12 countries sampled – or 48 per cent of all
previous year, representing tens of thousands refugee children of school age – are out of school.
more children in school.
Refugee Enrolment: What the data tells us
This report serves not only as a reminder of the

barriers young refugees face in fulfilling their
dreams and ambitions; it highlights the strong
partnerships that are needed to break down those
barriers and open the doors to the classroom.
Data methodology
Statistics on refugee enrolment and population
numbers have been drawn from UNHCR’s
population database, as well as education data-
collecting tools (such as school administrative
data, registration data, and household surveys) in
12 countries (Chad, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya,
Lebanon, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Sudan, Since refugee populations and education systems
Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda). Data refers to 2019. in these 12 countries cannot be assumed to be
representative of the situation of the global
The total refugee population for the selected refugee population, we cannot infer universal
countries is 10,539,446; more than half the 20.4 conclusions from this education data. However, it
million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate. helps provide indications of challenges and trends
in refugee education.
This report uses Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER)
rather than net figures as in previous years. This Finally, the 3 per cent figure in tertiary education
means that we include all children enrolled in represents the approximate portion of refugee
school, regardless of whether they are in the right youth known to be enrolled in tertiary education.
class for their age. We have not included children Because tertiary enrolment data is not centrally
in non-formal education. recorded in most countries and is rarely
disaggregated to reflect refugee status, this report
Calculating how many children are in or out of has to rely on a variety of self-reported, public or
school accurately requires age-specific enrolment other easily accessible sources. The 3 per cent
data at all levels, which is challenging in many figure is based primarily on known scholarship
parts of the world. In addition, some countries data (on national higher education, national
include displaced children in their national technical and vocational education and training
education systems but do not disaggregate based and DAFI), connected education and third-country
on international protection status, further clouding scholarship enrolment, as well as the limited
the picture. national tertiary refugee enrolment figures
available. Global enrolment is likely to be higher
since much refugee tertiary enrolment data is
unavailable or unreported.
CHAPTER 2:
FAMILY
Sudanese refugee Maab Yusre (right) holds her younger sister Leen while they
wait to register at the UNHCR premises in Cairo. ©UNHCR/PEDRO COSTA GOMES
family
THE VIEW FROM:

ECUADOR
Star pupil
battles to find
her feet and
shine again as
the ‘new kid’ in
school
Forced to flee her native
Venezuela aged 13, Emily initially
struggled to adapt to her new
school environment. Just when
she thought she was back on
top, she then had to face the
challenges of virtual learning.
At home in Venezuela, Emily had attended the same
school since she was three. Happy and thriving
among friends and teachers, she was the top
student in her class.
So when her family fled the country and headed for

Ecuador, her world fell apart.
“I was scared to be the ‘new kid’ for the first time,”

said Emily, recalling her first day at school in a
satellite town just outside Quito, Ecuador’s capital,
where her family had sought safety. “It felt strange
because I had gone to the same school ever since I
was little.”
Emily, a Venezuelan refugee, in her new home in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito.
© UNHCR/RAMIRO AGUILAR VILLAMARÍN
family
Surrounded by new classmates and teachers, and As Emily learned the ropes at her new school, she
faced with different expectations and ways of turned things around. She made friends with her
working, her once-stellar grades dropped classmates and they started to ask her over to do
precipitously. As a 13-year-old teenage girl, the homework together. By her second year in
family’s move could not have come at a worse Ecuador, she had not only regained her habitual
time – “I was at that age when your friends start to spot at the top of the class but she was elected
invite you out and you start hanging out in groups,” president of the student council.
she said. “I was afraid I wasn’t going to have that
here.” “We were used to seeing our friends
having to leave – but we never imagined
“We were used to seeing our friends having to we’d have to go, too”
leave,” Emily added, “but we never imagined we’d
have to go, too.” There was more disruption to come. After about
two years in Ecuador, Emily’s father was offered a
On top of her social anxieties, Emily found herself job in the northern part of Quito and the family
struggling to keep up academically as she had to moved again. This time, finding school places was
grow accustomed to her new teachers and their much tougher – everywhere was full up.
different expectations. Even her strongest
subjects – literature and physical education – Worried that their children might fall behind again
were suffering. “Back in Venezuela I was always as they waited for places to become available, the
very good at those subjects and I really liked family signed them up for a Venezuelan online
them,” she said. course that covered some of the subjects they
had been learning in Ecuador. Although originally
More than 5 million Venezuelans have left their intended as a temporary solution, it did mean that
country to escape widespread insecurity, rampant when the coronavirus started to spread across
inflation and political instability, travelling mainly South America and schools were forced to close
to other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. their doors, Emily and her sisters had already
spent a few months getting accustomed to virtual
Most of the countries now hosting them have learning.
given Venezuelan children and youth access to
their formal education systems, though some still Again, they had a stroke of good fortune: a good
do not recognize Venezuelan certificates of internet connection at their home enabled them to
learning, while others require documents for get on with their studies. But according to
school entrance that displaced families did not Ecuador’s official statistics body, only 37 per cent
bring with them. of school children have internet access at home –
and the rate plummets among displaced families,
It might not have seemed like it, but in some ways who already tend to be living in precarious
Emily – who is now 16 – was fortunate. Ecuador, circumstances.
which has taken in some 400,000 Venezuelan
refugees and migrants, has enacted legislation While happy to be able to continue her studies
that guarantees all children on its territory the during the pandemic, online learning has taken an
right to study in its state schools, regardless of emotional toll.
nationality or immigration status. Thanks to this
policy, at least 43,000 Venezuelan children are “I’m a people person, so I’d really like to go back to
enrolled in Ecuadorian schools, according to school,” said Emily, adding that, under lockdown,
government statistics. she has not had the chance to make friends in her
new host city. “I don’t know when this is going to
be over, and I’m wondering whether I’ll be able to
graduate next year.”
family
THE VIEW FROM: JORDAN

Refugee children
eager to access
an online learning
platform set up
by the Jordanian
government
It is not unusual for siblings to argue over
which channel to watch, or to plead with
their parents for more mobile phone data
after watching too many videos. But
arguing over whose turn it is to use the
family TV and a single mobile phone to
keep up with schoolwork is much more
unusual.
Yet in the era of the coronavirus pandemic, this is what the five
children of Mustafa and Sherin, Syrian refugees in Jordan, have
had to do when they need to follow lessons, complete home
assignments and undertake tests and assessments.
Since schools closed in Jordan in mid-March as part of the

country’s lockdown measures, Nour, 15, Fadia, 14, Nadia, 12,
Muhammad, 10, and Abed, 5, have been following a timetable
drawn up by their parents, keen to ensure their education does
not suffer, to access an online learning platform set up by the
Jordanian government.
Fadia, a 14-year-old Syrian refugee, undertakes an online test at home in Amman, Jordan while e-learning during the COVID-19 lockdown.
©UNHCR/LILLY CARLISLE
family
Before that, the four eldest were all at state Even though mobile phone companies are
schools (while Abed went to nursery), many of providing customers with free data to access the
which operate a double-shift system to meet platform, things don’t always run smoothly.
demand – normally girls in the morning and boys Mustafa has had to buy additional data because
in the afternoon. his children’s teachers send data-hungry videos
via the messaging service WhatsApp. The added
“Every evening we look at the schedule sent by the cost has forced the family to cut back on other
Minister of Education for classes the next day and expenses – and even then the data sometimes
try and come up with a rotation between what to runs out.
put on the TV and who gets to use the phone, so
that every child can try and do their classes,” “Yesterday, I had an online test,” says Nour. “They
says Sherin. “It is very difficult. The older girls sent us a link through WhatsApp and we had to
have priority, though, as they have important login and answer the questions, but I couldn’t get
exams to do.” the data to work.”
In addition to her formal studies, Nour, who wants An estimated 23 per cent of Syrian refugees in
to be a family lawyer, has been writing stories in Jordan have no internet access at home, while
her spare time, taking pictures of the paper on the two-thirds have limited phone data packages.
phone to send to her teacher for marking. According to a recent needs assessment carried
out by UNHCR and its partners in Jordan, 46 per
“Sometimes I talk to my teacher on the phone cent of those surveyed said their children were
when we can’t get the internet to work but not accessing the Darsak platform.
otherwise I have just been rereading some of my
books and helping my younger siblings with their As with so many refugees, the lockdown has hit
studying,” she says. the family’s income hard. Prior to the lockdown,
Mustafa used to collect discarded plastic and
All five children share the same bedroom. metal for recycling while Sherin cleaned houses in
“Sometimes I just want my own space – I try and the East Amman neighbourhood. The family who
close the door but the younger ones always come fled Syria in 2013 has been relying on 150
and annoy me.” Jordanian dinars (US$211) a month in cash
assistance from UNHCR to pay for food and rent.
“They sent us a link through WhatsApp “We feel very lucky – some of our neighbours don’t
and we had to login and answer the have this support and are really struggling,” says
questions, but I couldn’t get the data to Mustafa.
work.”
All of the children emphatically insist they
Nour and her siblings have been taking turns to preferred it when they could go to school.
access Darsak, an online distance-learning
platform launched by the Jordanian government “I could ask my teachers questions, and talk with
in partnership with the private sector at the my friends in the break,” says Nadia, 12. “Now I
beginning of the coronavirus crisis. just argue with my sisters over who gets to use
the phone.”
Darsak has been key in allowing children across
Jordan, refugees and nationals alike, to keep up
their education over the months of lockdown. With
videos in subjects from English and Arabic to
maths and science, more than a million students
have accessed the platform.
family
THE VIEW FROM: IRAN

Afghan girl
who waited
years for school
refuses to let her
enthusiasm wane
She was 11 before she saw the
inside of a classroom, so Parisa
was not about to stop learning
even under lockdown.
A few months ago, mornings at Vahdat Primary School when
the children arrived were full of enthusiasm and energy.
Bags bouncing on their backs as they ran through the gates

of their primary school, a group of girls skidded to a halt in
front of the main building, waiting for assembly. At the back
of a line of sixth-graders stood Parisa, the oldest in her class
at the age of 16 – her classmates were on average only 12
years old.
But Parisa was undaunted by the age gap and determined

to make the most of her time at Vahdat Primary, in the old
Persian city of Isfahan in Iran.
“I love school so much,” she said, clutching her books to her

chest. “My favourite subject is mathematics ... I love
multiplication and division – they are really easy.”
To have her education interrupted by the COVID-19

pandemic since then is doubly cruel given what Parisa had
to endure before she got her first taste of an education.
Afghan teenager Parisa, listens intently in her school class in Isfahan, Iran. Now 16, she had to wait until she was 11 to go to school for the first time.
©UNHCR/MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN DEHGHANIAN
family
A decade ago, her family fled Afghanistan after government, UNHCR and co-funding from the
the Taliban terrorized their neighbourhood in European Union, Parisa got her first taste of a
Herat. “If you went out to the bazaar, there was no formal education.
guarantee you would return,” recalled Besmellah,
67, Parisa’s father. Today, some 480,000 Afghan children in Iran
benefit from this inclusive education policy, of
The extremists also threatened to kidnap any girls whom 130,000 are undocumented Afghans like
who dared to go to school. “Then they started Parisa. At Vahdat Primary, 140 young Afghans rub
planting landmines in schoolyards,” added shoulders with 160 Iranian students.
Besmellah. “We had no choice but to come to
Iran.” But the pandemic threatens to derail Parisa’s
education once more. As Iran continues to feel the
Over the course of 40 years of invasions, civil war, health and economic effects of the virus, both
power struggles and religious strife, approximately refugees and host communities are finding it
three million Afghans have sought refuge in Iran. harder to make ends meet. Many of those who
Nearly one million are registered as refugees, rely largely on informal work have lost their jobs.
while up to 2 million are undocumented. An
additional 450,000 Afghan passport holders live “I haven’t been able to work for the past three
in Iran either to work or complete their studies. months,” said Besmellah, who is a day labourer.
“Parisa is supposed to start the seventh grade this
In Iran, Parisa and her six siblings had found year but I cannot afford it.”
safety but during her first years in exile she
couldn’t go to school. The family barely had While refugees are exempt from school fees in
enough to live on, let alone cover school costs. Iran, other costs associated with education,
including learning materials, are still a burden. “My
Parisa’s brother dropped out of school at age 15 landlord also raised the rent so I had to borrow
and started working. With this extra money, Parisa money to pay the deposit for a new place.” 
was able to set foot in a classroom for the first
time, at the age of 11. At first, she found herself in Parisa has lost none of her enthusiasm for her
an unofficial school not registered with the education. “My sister and I followed our lessons
government, where lessons were organized in two on the television, but we had to borrow my older
shifts to accommodate as many children as sister’s smartphone to do our exams,” she said.
possible. With no qualified teachers and no proper “Sometimes our classes would clash, so one of us
curriculum, the students only learned the basics would have to miss a lesson. It was difficult, but I
encouraged my sister to persevere. Thankfully, we
“My wife and I feel disabled by our lack of both got good grades.”
education. We don’t want the same to
happen to our children.” “As long as I can work, I will do everything for my
daughters to be able to go to school – but it is
As an undocumented refugee, at the time this was getting harder,” said Besmellah. “My wife and I
Parisa’s only option. But in 2015, Iran started feel disabled by our lack of education. We don’t
allowing all Afghan children – regardless of legal want the same to happen to our children.”
status – to attend state schools. When Vahdat
Primary opened with the support of the
family
THE VIEW FROM: RWANDA

Scholar, doctor
and trailblazer
boosts Rwanda’s
healthcare
response to
COVID-19
Congolese refugee Dr Jonas
Havugimana thought he had
reached the end of his education
after secondary school – until he
heard about the DAFI awards.
Whenever he faced the nightmare prospect of
his education coming to a premature end, Jonas
redoubled his efforts and made sure to be top
of the class.
This determination gained him top marks in Rwanda’s

western province in exams to go on to secondary
school. It got him a score of 95.4 per cent in his final
secondary school exam. And it won him a DAFI higher
education scholarship – out of 800 applicants – to
study medicine.
Today, he works as a qualified doctor at Byumba

District Hospital, among the first refugee graduates in
medicine in the whole of Rwanda. And in only his
second year as a qualified doctor, Dr Jonas has found
himself helping Rwanda combat the biggest global
health crisis for decades.
Congolese refugee Dr Jonas Havugimana overcame all odds to graduate with a medicine degree thanks to DAFI.
©UNHCR/ANTOINE TARDY
family
An extraordinary achievement for a man who was “I didn’t want to live my whole life in the
the first person from his family ever to go further camp – I had to make something change,
than primary school. Even more so because for even if it was hard.”
Jonas, now aged 30, the path to his medical
career was not a straightforward one. At the end of 2011, he saw a poster on the wall of
the ICT room in Kiziba camp calling for
His family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo applications for DAFI scholarships – UNHCR’s
in 1996 when he was not yet six years old. Long- higher education scholarship programme, funded
running violence in the DRC has displaced more by the German government and private partners.
than 900,000 Congolese, with around 76,000
living in Rwanda. “I knew I had the marks,” he says. “I applied
immediately.”
Eventually they reached Kiziba refugee camp, on
a remote hilltop in the country’s west, overlooking The news Jonas had been desperate to hear
Lake Kivu. His formal education began only in came from his old headmaster, who called him on
1999, with six years of primary school; in the morning he was due to sit another exam, this
secondary school, he remembers class sizes of 80 time to get a better-paid teaching job in a state
pupils, with refugees and Rwandans learning side school. He had won a DAFI scholarship to study at
by side. the University of Rwanda.
“Living in the camp was very difficult,” he recalls. “I got on a motorbike and came straight back to
“When I was in high school I saw how other Kiziba. I cannot express the emotion of that day.”
students had things I didn’t – good-quality books, He graduated in 2018 and spent a year as an
some even had laptops. Some of them had fathers intern at Byumba hospital before qualifying.
with high-ranking positions. I came from a large,
uneducated refugee family.” So far, Byumba hospital, in the north of Rwanda,
has not had to deal with any severely ill COVID-19
“But I said to myself, ‘if they study for two hours, patients, though Jonas says several people
then I’m going to study for four’.” suffering from the virus have been treated there.
Having aced the secondary school entrance exam, Despite all his achievements, Jonas has another
Jonas continued his studies in Kiziba camp for dream – to further his medical career and
three more years until he won a scholarship to a specialise as a neurosurgeon. In the meantime, he
state school to study maths, chemistry and is financially supporting his younger siblings so
biology.  that they can pursue their school careers. He also
continues to be a role model for other refugee
Although he got stellar marks in his final exams in youth. 
2010, for a time Jonas believed he had reached
the end of the road and that studying for a degree “Being a refugee, education has made me strong,”
would remain an unrealized ambition. He he says. “I didn’t want to live my whole life in the
went back to school, this time as a volunteer camp – I had to make something change, even if it
teacher.  was hard.”
family
Factbox
1992
the year in which the DAFI (Albert
Einstein German Academic Refugee
Initiative) programme was opened
8,347 young refugee women and men studied

on DAFI scholarships in 2019 at
925 higher education institutions in
54 countries
40% were
female
Top 5
1. Medical Science & Health Related
2. Commercial & Business Administration
3. Social & Behavioural Science
4. Engineering
5. Mathematics & Computer Science
CHAPTER 3:
COMMUNITY
“After completing my secondary school I had no chance of continuing to
university so I started saving money gradually by doing jobs in the camp
with different NGOs. Finally I bought a second hand laptop. I could watch
graphic design tutorials on YouTube everyday. After some weeks people
started hiring me to design posters and logos. I now have a small graphic
design company called Jemo Graphics and Screenplays.”
Kuena, 23, a South Sudanese refugee and self-taught graphic designer, has illustrated (above) all the
COVID-19 prevention activities taking place in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Uganda, his home. He
is a regional winner of UNHCR’s 2020 Youth with Refugees Art Contest.
©UNHCR/KUENA JAMES DAK
Community
THE VIEW FROM: ETHIOPIA

South
Sudanese
teacher sets
sights on
university for
his children
A primary school vice-principal
has high educational ambitions
for his compatriots, but is all too
aware that the odds are
stacked against them.
A framed photograph of James Tut, in cap and
gown and receiving his Bachelor’s degree, takes
pride of place at his home in Ethiopia’s western
Gambella region. It captures one of the proudest
moments of the 42-year-old’s life.
“I was very happy,” says the South Sudanese James had hoped that with a degree in
refugee. Given half a chance, he added, he would Community Development and Leadership from the
go on and study a Masters. University of Addis Ababa, he might find
employment with the government of South Sudan.
For every student, graduating from university is a But by the time he finished his undergraduate
cause for celebration – but for refugees it is a real studies in 2014, war had intervened and he had
triumph over the odds. become a refugee in Ethiopia.
Only 3 per cent of refugees are enrolled in any Later, his family managed to flee South Sudan and
form of tertiary education, compared to 37 per make it to the Gambella region, where they were
cent of their non-refugee counterparts globally. all reunited.
For those who have fled conflict in South Sudan,
the proportion is smaller still.
James Tut, a 42-year-old father of five, is vice-principal at one of four primary schools in Jewi camp, Ethiopia.
He exudes a calm authority, but wishes classes were not so overcrowded. ©UNHCR/EDUARDO SOTERAS JALIL
Community
Even though he has been unable to return home, enough chairs and desks. And with the health
a university education has stood James in good protocols required for school reopening during the
stead. For the past few years, he has been vice- pandemic, overcrowding may also lead to
principal of one of four primary schools in students being forced to drop out. 
Gambella’s Jewi refugee camp.
James also worries that girls are more likely to
Smartly dressed and softly spoken, he exudes a miss out on an education than boys. “Fewer girls
calm authority amid the din of boisterous children go to school here because of early marriage in the
as he walks from one classroom to another, camp,” he says. “Sometimes a family’s situation
carrying a box of chalk and his lesson plan. also forces girls to stay at home to do business,
[such as] prepare food to sell in the market or run
“Our country is the world’s youngest nation, yet 80 tea stalls.”
per cent of the population are illiterate – imagine.
If you have more illiterate people with each Schools in Jewi do their best to keep girls in the
passing generation, you have a problem,” he says. classroom in spite of these pressures. “If we see
girls dropping out of school, we organize PTA
Years of violence in South Sudan have been a [parent-teacher association] teams to go into the
disaster for the nation’s children and youth. community to persuade parents, especially
Two-thirds of all South Sudanese refugees are mothers, to send their children to school.”
under the age of 18. Only 67 per cent of them are
in primary school in Ethiopia, compared to an Without an education, generations of children risk
international average of 91 per cent. growing up without the skills they need to rebuild
their lives, their countries and their communities.
It gets worse as they progress to the next
academic level, with only 13 per cent enrolled in James is determined that his own children – three
secondary education, compared to 84 per cent boys and two girls, aged from 18 months to 14
globally. – will avoid this fate. He has pledged to do
everything in his power to ensure that they will
As a degree holder, James is living proof of what enjoy the same level of education as he has had,
refugees can achieve if given the chance. But no matter what the odds. His wife is currently
every day he goes to work, he is all too aware of studying at a teacher training college to get her
the problems his pupils encounter daily. qualifications.
He wishes there was more training available for “I have been able to transfer the benefits of
his teachers, and more funds to pay them better. university to my family and my children. I want the
Many quit, saying that the 805 birr (US$27) they same for my children. I plan for my children to
receive monthly as an incentive to teach is not reach where I have reached whether we are still
enough to live on. refugees or we return back home to South Sudan,”
he says.
“Our country is the world’s youngest nation,
yet 80 per cent of the population are “You educate your children for them to make their
illiterate – imagine.” lives better ... Children are the future of our
country. When we return to South Sudan, they will
He would also like to see less overcrowding in the build our country.”
classrooms – students are regularly forced to
stand or sit on the floor because there are not
Community
Koat Reath helps children learn with lively and fun classes at a primary school class at Jewi refugee camp in Ethiopia.
©UNHCR/EDUARDO SOTERAS JALIL
Once noisy Once noisy

At 42, his energy levels are a match for the 5 to
15-year-olds crammed into his class – as many as
and vibrant,
100 at a time.
and vibrant,
Now, however, COVID-19 has taken the vigour out
this classroom this classroom

of Koat’s classroom. In mid-March, Ethiopia
ordered the closure of all schools. With teaching
has been has been

his life, Koat is now restless.
silenced by
“I had to stop my classes but then my students
silenced by
kept on coming and I had to send them away,” he
says. “I did not like that.”
coronavirus coronavirus
But he is even more worried about his adult
students. In the afternoons, Koat used to head
Onaamakeshift
over to normal school
schoolday, the clamour
to give from Koat
private tuition
Reath’s
to adult classroom
students threatens
for 10 birr to drown
(US$0.34) a monthout every
other class at his primary school.
each. The students clubbed together to build the
school, which has straw walls and a tarpaulin roof
Koat,during
that leaks who teaches
the rainybasic literacy and numeracy,
season.
likes to get his pupils on their feet, bouncing,
“I am clapping and reciting
mostly working theadult
with the alphabet in Nuer,
students righttheir
now,”native tongue,
he says. “Theyfollowed
still needbytoalearn
few phrases
how to that are
See video sung with gusto in English.
read and write... But they need more convincing.”
Community
2.25
million
South Sudanese refugees
334,000
located in Ethiopia, of which
more than 92% are in the
Gambella cluster of camps
Some are elderly and find it harder to catch up on

the basics, adds Koat, while they must also juggle
227,000
South Sudanese refugees in
their studies with responsibilities such as work and
domestic duties. Ethiopia under the age of 18
Koat, who has five children of his own, is himself a
refugee: he and his family fled to Ethiopia in 2015
70,000
after their home in Jonglei state was burned to the
ground.
He understands the need for measures to stop the

virus spreading, but laments the impact on his
young charges, who have few other options: no
internet connectivity, no extensive libraries of
are girls aged between 5-17
textbooks and educational materials, no pre-
25
loaded tablets or mobile phones.
primary schools
“I can only do what UNHCR and the doctors
advise,” he says, “but this pandemic has seriously
and
affected our work. We don’t have alternatives to
5
gathering as a community – that’s how education secondary schools
works here.”
in the Gambella
refugee camps
Community
FIVE WAYS
EDUCATION
KEPT GOING
The coronavirus pandemic has had dramatic effects on the lives of
school age children. Schools have been closed; exams cancelled,
postponed or moved online; and parents – including in forcibly
displaced communities – have taken on bigger roles in their
children’s learning.
But adapting to the limitations imposed by COVID-19 has been

especially tough for the 85 per cent of the world’s refugees who live
in developing or least developed countries. Mobile phones, tablets,
laptops, good connectivity, cheap data, even radio sets are often not
readily available to displaced communities.
Keeping education going in the time of a pandemic has required

resourcefulness, innovation, invention and collaboration. Here are
just some examples that UNHCR encountered in the first weeks and
months of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Community
See video
Somali refugee teacher, Amina Hassan, gives an English lesson to grade five pupils over
the radio at Dadaab camp in Kenya. ©UNHCR/JIMALE ABDULLAHI
KENYA
1 All we need is Radio Gargaar
In normal times, Amina Hassan Amina, who qualified as a teacher in Kenya, took
to the airwaves to broadcast lessons to her Grade
would stand at the front of her 5 class on a community station called Radio
class of about 100 children at a Gargaar, meaning “help” or “assistance” in Somali.
“They sometimes call me at the studio to ask
school in the Dadaab refugee questions,” she says. “I believe they are learning
complex, in eastern Kenya, even though I can’t see them.”
close to the Somali border.
The school hiatus has also compelled UNHCR and
These days, she has had to become a broadcaster other partner organisations to build on existing
instead – with one of the world’s more unusual connected education programmes in Dadaab,
phone-in radio shows. including the Instant Network Schools (INS)
supported by the Vodafone Foundation.
Dadaab has more than 67,000 students attending
just 22 primary and six secondary schools, where Under INS, schools and community centres are
refugee children and youth, along with the host equipped with a multimedia hub together with a set
community students that share their classrooms, of digital resources including tablets, laptops,
receive a certified Kenyan education. Amina’s projector and speaker system, a solar-power system
school, Umoja Primary School in Dadaab’s for electricity, connectivity through satellite or a
Hagadera camp, has more than 1,200 students. mobile network, and an offline collection of digital
After the closure of learning institutions learning material. While social distancing measures
countrywide due to COVID-19, a lot of curious have restricted interaction and device-sharing,
minds were left without regular lessons. teachers have still used them to prepare lessons and
to further their professional development.
Community
See video
Mobile classroom brings learning and games to Venezuelan refugee kids.
©UNHCR/ WILLIAM WROBLEWSKI
BOLIVIA The service functions as an informal classroom for
2 The classroom the children and their families, giving them an

important outlet for their energy and creativity.
Even though the staff are dressed in personal
on wheels protective equipment from head to foot, the

youngsters soon get used to them and absorb
plenty of information about the virus that has
Dancing, singing, painting – and drastically changed their lives.
learning how to protect yourself In addition, the class has provided psychosocial
from coronavirus – have been support and engagement for the Venezuelan
community, visiting accommodation centres where
on the agenda for a group of UNHCR is providing shelter for Venezuelan
young Venezuelans in La Paz, families. By the end of 2019, Bolivia was host to
Bolivia. But instead of having to more than 5,400 registered Venezuelan refugees
and migrants.
go to school for these activities,
the school has come to them. And it has helped both to identify risks of gender-
based violence within families during lockdown
Aula Movil (Mobile Classroom) is a project being and to develop a mobile “day centre” for women
piloted by UNHCR and partner organisations for that was piloted in parallel with the classroom.
Venezuelan refugee and migrant children who
have had no access to formal educational, “Quarantine has generated anxiety and stress
distance learning or recreational activities since among the population. That is why we are
lockdown. developing these activities,” said Ana Llanco
Aguirre, a coordinator for the Munasim Kullakita
Foundation, a Bolivian non-governmental
organization.
Community
UGANDA Once content has been “seeded” onto a device
3 Online or - either at a factory or in an area that has an

internet connection - that device can share it with
others over an offline local network.
offline, making Thanks to the combined efforts of Learning
education work
Equality, the global fund Education Cannot Wait
(ECW), Google.org (the tech giant’s charitable
arm), Hewlett Packard, UNICEF and UNHCR, for
the past two years teachers and refugee learners
Thanks to a partnership dating have been able to use Kolibri to access science,
back to 2018, UNHCR and an technology and mathematics (STEM) and life skills
content aligned with the Ugandan national
array of partners in Uganda
curriculum.
have been able to accelerate a
connected education project Since the onset of COVID-19, ECW has boosted
this process by funding the supply of tablets
giving teachers and students pre-loaded with content aimed at secondary-level
access to a wide variety of students who are preparing for national exams.
open resources. UNHCR will distribute these devices to learners
within the refugee and host communities.
Many displaced communities live in areas where
internet connectivity is poor or non-existent and A support programme for teachers has also
where getting hold of smart devices is out of the proved invaluable. Throughout 2019, UNHCR and
question. This makes the switch to online learning Learning Equality helped to train teachers on how
extremely challenging. to use digital learning materials in maths and
science. These “champion teachers” have since
An open source learning platform called Kolibri, been deployed to share guidance with their
developed by the non-profit organisation Learning colleagues via WhatsApp, or even appearing on
Equality, is designed to get around those issues by national television to instruct their fellow teachers
being tailored for a variety of low-cost, off-the- in using the platform.
shelf devices and other “legacy” hardware in
places where connectivity is poor or non-existent.
Phone and internet opens digital

opportunities to refugees in
isolated northern settlements.
©UNHCR/MICHELE SIBILONI
Community
Refugee children from Moissala in southern Chad, now living in

Dilingala settlement, draw and colour on the topic of “my school”.
©UNHCR/ ELOGE MBAIHONDOUM
CHAD host communities, have long been active in
4 Parent power helping to manage these national schools - from

raising awareness of educational opportunities to
monitoring enrolment and drop-outs, as well as
keeps the finding ways to raise money for the repair and
upkeep of school buildings.
homework During the pandemic - with schools closed and

with a national distance learning programme
flowing hardly accessible in remote areas such as refugee

camps - the PTAs have got even busier. Duties
have included raising awareness among
The traditional parent-teacher schoolchildren and their families of measures to
association (PTA) runs keep COVID-19 at bay, as well as keeping them
informed on how to keep up with homeschooling,
fundraising events for schools, supervising the dissemination and weekly
helps out with homework clubs, collection of homework for teachers to mark and
visiting the most vulnerable students.
and provides extra hands for
activities in and out of the This parent-teacher collaboration has ensured that
classroom when a school finds about 4,000 Sudanese and Chadian secondary
school pupils have been able to keep preparing
itself a bit short staffed. for national exams. Indeed, in a part of the world
where even radio coverage is lacking, it has
The refugee camps of eastern Chad, where more
helped keep education going for those students.
than 300,000 Sudanese have been living for more
than a decade, are no exception. PTAs in these
displaced communities, along with parents from
Community
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

5 Lessons in the open air
With all schools closed and social distancing measures in place
due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jean Aimé Mozokombo has taken
his classes outside.
In northern Democratic Republic of the Congo Even without the usual school facilities, these
(DRC), more than 600 refugee students from outdoor classes are vital. “We are doing the best we
Central African Republic (CAR) have been able to can as the national primary education final test is
continue their preparations for the national essential for students to enrol in secondary school.”
primary school final test. Jean Aimé is one of
several teachers from the host community who Angele, 15, who fled to the DRC in 2013, is one of
have been striving to keep their young students the students benefiting from the outdoor classes.
busy with schoolwork. “I feel confident about taking the test, and lucky
because not everyone has been able to continue
For the past two months, he has been organizing learning during the pandemic,” she says. “It is
learning sessions at Inke refugee camp, in North important to study if we want to become someone
Ubangi Province, outside the homes of his in society, to serve our country and our family.”
students. His classes are limited to six students at
a time to make sure physical distancing Despite this spirit of perseverance, refugees from
requirements are met. CAR still struggle to receive an education. Only
about 8,200 of the almost 18,000 children in the
“We distributed stationery to the students, but we camps have access to primary school, and
often lack basic school furniture, such as proper thousands of those students are forced to call a
chairs and whiteboards, as refugees’ homes are halt to their studies at secondary level because of
not equipped with such things,” he says. a lack of available schools.
Angele, a 15-year-old refugee who fled violence in the Central African

Republic (CAR) in 2013, arrives for a homeschooling lesson at Inke camp
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
©UNHCR/GHISLAINE NENTOBO
Government
CHAPTER 4
GOVERNMENT
Refugee students’ work displayed on boards at the Sorani Kurdish

language school in Trikala, central Greece. ©UNHCR/ATHINA SYKIOTI
UNHCR Chief Filippo Grandi (right) discusses refugees’ needs with Egypt’s
Education Minister Dr Tarek Shawky in Cairo in January 2019.
© UNHCR/PEDRO COSTA GOMES
INTERVIEW
TAREK SHAWKI, EGYPTIAN EDUCATION MINISTER
Egypt’s educational revolution

rises to the challenges of the
pandemic
Major technological changes the way the 22 million students in Egyptian
classrooms are educated. That includes 58,500
led to Egypt’s schools adjusting foreign nationals, including large numbers of
quickly to the new reality. refugee children, who are currently in the
country’s state schools.
It was not the intention of Dr Tarek Shawki to
design an education system that could cope with “This is a whole revolution that we started
a coronavirus pandemic. It just happened that way. deploying across the nation in the autumn of 2018,”
Dr Shawki says. “Egypt is witnessing a major
As an adviser to Egypt’s President and then as the reimagining of its education system.”
country’s Minister for Education, Dr Shawki has
spent the past six years overhauling every facet of
Government
Key to turning Egypt into what he calls “a learning A rescheduled timetable involving less time in
society” is technology. Every student in Egypt’s school buildings and more time studying at home
state-run high schools has a tablet to access is a model that could work in other countries
digital libraries and learning management systems, where capacity is a barrier to finding refugees a
and to take exams electronically. In addition, every place in school – provided that the connectivity
learner has free access to the Egyptian exists to support it.
Knowledge Bank (EKB), a digital learning
repository of materials from 33 international
publishers.
“The pandemic has forced us
all to do things in unusual
“We started experimenting with [running] state
exams electronically in 2018. So when Covid-19 hit
ways. Even if Covid subsides
us we were on solid ground. Within a week we or a vaccine is found, we’re
were able to extract from the EKB all the curricula
for pre-university education, from first year of not going to go back to how
kindergarten to Grade 12, in Arabic and English.” we did things before.”
“In addition, we put in a learning management Overhauling the system has also required the help
system in place for over 55,000 schools in less of a vast array of partners. “We are fortunate that
than 10 days. We ran virtual classrooms and used through building the EKB we have established a
a streaming platform and television stations to network of partners [including] some of the
broadcast school classes.” greatest knowledge houses around the world,”
says Dr Shawki.
But Dr Shawki sees the benefits of this shift to
digital not only in terms of coping with the “But we also have a huge group of donors,” he
coronavirus crisis, but for all students, refugees adds, mentioning the likes of the World Bank, the
and non-refugees alike, in the years to come. “The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
pandemic has forced us all to reflect and do things Development, other governments, numerous UN
in unusual ways. Even if Covid subsides or a agencies, and international organisations such as
vaccine is found, we’re not going to go back to USAID – “all working with us towards the same
how we did things before.” goal.”
Using a blend of classroom and distance learning, Part of that goal is Egypt’s commitment, made at
he adds, could solve problems of overcrowding in the Global Refugee Forum in December 2019, “to
a country where schools struggle to handle ensuring access to education for refugee children
demand. within the national education system in line with
the national education strategy for 2030”.
Government
At present, refugees from Syria, Yemen, Sudan But the minister clearly believes that technology
and South Sudan, can attend Egyptian state will be at the heart of any long-term solution. Dr
schools but several other nationalities do not yet Shawki envisages an Egyptian education being
have access. brought to refugees across the region – “if we are
able, between the Egyptian government, UNHCR
But Egypt will have to deal with the economic and any other donors or NGOs to put simple
fallout of the pandemic for vulnerable devices [in their hands], we can make available all
communities, including refugees. Even before the our resources.”
virus, vulnerability assessments conducted by
UNHCR showed that eight out of ten refugees in Beyond that, he sees lessons from Egypt being
Egypt were unable to meet their basic needs. As a shared with other classrooms across the world.
result, many school-age refugees are sent to work “Physics is physics, chemistry is chemistry,” he says
rather than to school. – so why not learn with students in China, Canada
and Russia?
Lockdown measures have hit incomes even harder.
Many refugees and asylum-seekers, who were
working in the informal sector, have lost what were
“We can work with other
already humble livelihoods. That makes warnings countries beyond Covid-19.
over the post-coronavirus return of refugees to
school – such as the Malala Fund’s warning that
The future is very promising
half of refugee girls at secondary level could be in that regard.”
forced to drop out – all the more alarming.
Dr Shawki acknowledges this but stresses the

response must be international as well as national.
One answer could be to relax the rules that can
make it harder for children who have missed a
significant amount of schooling to rejoin at their
former grade; another is for states to accept
student refugees from overburdened countries. “I
think the world will need to come up with
guidelines on this.”
Government
INTERVIEW
ANN LUCAS, LORD MAYOR OF COVENTRY
UK city plugs into

the power of local
networks
With around 60 per cent of the world’s refugees
living in urban settings, local authorities play a
crucial role in supporting the forcibly displaced.
In September 2015, the UK pledged to take in
20,000 Syrians who had fled the conflict. The
city of Coventry, in the middle of England, has
resettled 600, the second-largest intake outside
London
Ann Lucas, a former head of the city’s local administration and its first female
leader, became Coventry’s Lord Mayor this year in a virtual ceremony held
during the coronavirus “lockdown”. She explained why the city had chosen to
welcome refugees.
Why has Coventry been so keen to welcome refugees?
Coventry has the huge advantage of being known as a city of peace and
reconciliation. We have a history of accepting and welcoming people, which
started after the Second World War, when the appetite for rebuilding the city
was enormous and people came to us from all over Britain and Ireland for work.
And we are the most twinned city in the world. That started with the women of
Coventry supporting the city of Stalingrad [now Volgograd] in 1944, and then
we twinned with Dresden and Kiel in Germany. So when the Syrian war started
and UNHCR and the UK government were contacting different cities about
taking in refugees, we said ‘of course we will’ – it was a no-brainer.
Government
How are you able to help refugees, and in But you can’t just throw kids into school and say,
particular young refugees with their education? ‘here you are, aren’t you lucky’ – it’s about making
the commitment and making it work. We have our
It helped that Syria [before the conflict] was a Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS),
country with a developed education system. The which supports newly arrived communities in the
ability of the refugees I have met to not only get classroom and provides school staff training
the basics of a new language but to master it – where needed. EMAS works with schools to
three months or six months in – was astounding. become Schools of Sanctuary – a new
Their thirst for knowledge and education literally programme to promote understanding of what it
knows no bounds. means to seek sanctuary and dispel negative
myths.
Syrian refugees in Coventry take part in

Goal Click Refugees – a photographic
essay using football to document the
experiences of refugees and asylum
seekers worldwide.
©UNHCR/ELMAWAKI
Government
Over the past decade, we have supported more We are used to new people, we’ve got the
than 550 asylum-seeking school-aged children networks to support them. And we’ve also got
through the school admissions process, including communities from the Middle East who have been
unaccompanied children; we have also helped welcoming. They have a shared language and
another 200 young people onto other schemes culture, and a sharing of religious facilities and
such as language courses or apprenticeships. We experiences.
work with a huge number of organisations
including the Coventry Refugee and Migrant But – and here was the bonus – the government
Centre, the Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action supported us financially and let us get on with it.
Group, the Positive Youth Foundation [a charity], When we needed support, we got it, so we didn’t
the Citizens Advice Bureau, the local NHS lose out financially. With a politician’s hat on, you
organisation, Coventry and Warwick universities, have to be able to say both that we are doing the
schools, and local churches. right thing and that it has huge benefits – first, it’s
not costing us anything, and secondly our
reputation, nationally and internationally, has
“You can’t just throw kids grown.
into school and say, ‘here
What are the main challenges?
you are, aren’t you lucky’
– it’s about making the Obviously having been displaced for a long time,
the refugee children have not been getting an
commitment and making education. That has a longer-term impact on your
it work.” ability to earn a living but also on mental health
and self-esteem. And the kids have seen – and
What can cities do that national governments indeed suffered – the most awful things. But we
cannot? work with a range of people on psychological and
physical support.
We know the city – it’s our patch. What’s right for
Coventry might be wrong for another city. We can Looking ahead, there is coronavirus, of course. A
be light on our feet – we know where to find the part of me is always thinking about the economic
refugee centre, the Coventry Law Centre, the downturn. We will need to keep making
volunteer groups, the churches, the food banks – relationships with businesses, as they can play a
and our refugees have very quickly become more active role in supporting young refugees,
involved in volunteering themselves. You cannot including offering scholarships and work
build that up quickly, though – it has taken us a placements as well as shadowing opportunities to
long time. raise their aspirations. Some have opened their
doors but there is a need for more to get on board.
Coventry is the latest city to join UNHCR’s

Cities #WithRefugees movement.
CHAPTER 5
VIOLENCE
AGAINST
SCHOOLS
Pupils at Al Shuhada School in the war-ravaged town of

Souran, western Syria, find a good place from which to
view the recent visit of UN Refugee Chief Filippo Grandi.
©UNHCR/ANDREW MCCONNELL
Violence Against Schools
It was a bitter blow. Growing up, there had been

THE VIEW FROM: no school to go to in Oumar’s home town of Mopti,
BURKINA FASO and after he and his family fled Mali in 2012 as
Schools
violence was igniting there, life in Mentao camp
had given him his first taste of an education.
caught up in To keep his schooling going, the boy’s father

decided to take him and his siblings to Goudoubo
armed conflict refugee camp, further to the east. There he was

registered in a school in the nearby town of Dori,
sweeping
hoping this would allow him to sit the crucial
exams which allow him progress to secondary
level.
across the But more disruption lay in wait. “The following
Sahel school year, as soon as the school year started,

the same security issues continued in Goudoubo,”
he says. “I was very disappointed once again my
Teenage refugee in Burkina school closed and that I was not able to finish the
new school year.” Oumar is over the usual age to
Faso has had his studies start secondary school, something which is
disrupted by displacement,
violence and COVID-19.
At the end of the 2019 academic year, just as he
was preparing to take his primary school leaving
exams in northern Burkina Faso, a young Malian
refugee called Oumar Ag Ousmane saw his
hopes begin to fade.
With the violence that had been plaguing parts of

the Sahel region for years beginning to rage in
Burkina Faso, and with schools targeted and
teachers threatened by armed groups, staff at
Oumar’s school stopped coming to work. Then
they left the area altogether.
That put Oumar’s education, and the education of

thousands of other Malian refugee children and
youth who were then living in Mentao refugee
camp, on hold.
“I was very sad to have to stay home all day and

not be able to continue classes,” says Oumar, a
reserved but determined teenager, now 17.
Malian refugee children study at an UNHCR-supported primary school in one of the refugee camps in Burkina Faso. For many, daily attendance is
a challenge as their fathers often request them to take care of the household’s livestock. ©UNHCR/PAUL ABSALON
Violence Against Schools
On September 9th, the UN will mark the first

common for refugee children, particularly where International Day to Protect Education from
education has been disrupted and there are no Attack, with the General Assembly
accelerated education programmes available. condemning attacks on education and the
military use of schools in contravention of
“Once again my school closed and I was international law.
not able to finish the new school year.”
According to the Global Coalition for the
In Burkina Faso alone, over the past 12 months the Protection of Education from Attack
number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) rose (GCPEA), violence against education
five-fold, reaching 921,000 at the end of June includes attacks on students, teachers, and
2020. The country is also host to nearly 20,000 other education personnel; the military use
refugees, many of whom have recently fled the of schools and universities; recruitment of
camps - seeking safety in other parts of the children into armed or criminal groups at
country or even returning to their homeland. school or on school journeys; and sexual
violence against children and youth at, or
Across the Sahel, millions have fled indiscriminate on the way to or from, school or university.
attacks by armed groups against both civilians
and state institutions – including schools. The GCPEA has called on UN member
According to UNICEF, between April 2017 and states to sign up to and adhere by the Safe
December 2019 the number of school closures Schools declaration, an agreement that
due to violence in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger seeks to reduce the risk of attacks on
rose six-fold. By the end of last year, more than educational facilities, deter military use, and
3,300 schools were shut, affecting almost minimise the impact of attacks and military
650,000 children and more than 16,000 teachers. use when they do occur.
In Burkina Faso alone, 2,500 schools had closed The issue is by no means confined to the
because of the violence, depriving 350,000 Sahel. Students in countries all over the
children of access to education – and that was world undergoing displacement
before coronavirus closed the rest. emergencies – from Afghanistan and the
Philippines to Syria and Yemen to Colombia
This year, Oumar thought it was third time lucky. – have been affected by attacks on schools
His family moved a few miles down the road from and universities.
Goudoubo camp to Dori, and he was able to start
his first year of secondary school in spite of being
older than most of the other students. “Everything refugee students to ensure they had the same
was going smoothly,” he says. access as their Burkinabe peers to lessons being
broadcast over the airwaves. UNHCR is also
“But classes had to stop again – this time because working with governments to enable emergency
of the COVID-19 outbreak.” education for displaced children and youth via
access to safe distance learning alternatives.
Since June 1, the three school grades that were
due to take exams this year have reopened and As he waits, Oumar refuses to be downhearted.
UNHCR is doing what it can to find places for “I still have the hope that the situation will improve
refugee children. For the others, UNHCR, with the so that I can go back and finish my education,”
support of the global fund Education Cannot Wait, he says.
began buying radios for primary and secondary
Egyptian football star Mo Salah calls for a
team effort to ensure disadvantaged
children receive a life-changing education.
© UNHCR/VODAFONE FOUNDATION/MIKE DODD
FINAL WORD
by Mo Salah
Around the world, COVID-19 It has disrupted not only the education of our
children and youth but also the work of those who
has closed schools and teach them – and the livelihoods of the parents
universities. It has emptied who do everything they can to pay for books,
uniforms and school journeys.
offices and hotels, stadiums,
cafes, museums, cinemas: For many refugee children, the vast majority of
almost everywhere we used whom live in the developing world, the coronavirus
has added new challenges to lives already torn
to gather. apart by conflict and persecution. Many may never
FINAL WORD
ever now return to school. Hard-won gains built up I also mean apprenticeships and employment
slowly and patiently over decades risk being opportunities that will give refugees and non-
reversed indefinitely. Young lives could be ruined refugees alike something to aim for, and the
forever. means to support themselves and their families.
I became the ambassador for the Instant Network In turn, the private sector needs to build on the
Schools programme only days before the needs of refugees and the priorities set by their
coronavirus pandemic radically altered our host governments. By also leveraging the capacity
everyday lives. Delivered in partnership by and harnessing the aspirations of refugees and
Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR, the UN hosting communities, along with the expertise and
Refugee Agency, INS connects thousands of experience of aid agencies, charities, NGOs and
refugee and host-country students to a quality others, these projects can be locally owned, and
digital education. made as effective as possible.
Part of my new role was intended to include Ensuring quality education today means less
visiting the schools supported by the INS poverty and suffering tomorrow.
programme to raise awareness of the vital
importance of quality education for refugee As we face this pandemic together, innovation will
children. Like many other people’s travel plans, play a crucial role if the world’s displaced children
mine will have to change. and youth are not to lose all hope of getting an
accredited, quality education.
But the INS project – like many of the initiatives
highlighted in this report – shows how we can Not only innovation measured in silicon chips, but
come together in new ways to make a difference bold and imaginative thinking across the board to
to the lives of millions of young people, who more make that education a reality.
than ever need a helping hand.
Unless everyone plays their part, generations of
Children who have been uprooted from their children – millions of them in some of the world’s
homes need books, schools, qualified teachers poorest regions – will face a bleak future.
and more. But they also need the digital
technology that connects them to the rest of the But if we work as a team, as one, we can give
world. them the chance they deserve to have a dignified
future.
That means better partnerships with the private
sector, who are stepping up to create and deliver Let’s not miss this opportunity.
technology solutions – by providing software,
hardware and connectivity. It is not just about
technology. Every company can make a difference;
transport, construction, sport, sanitation, health
care and more - getting kids to school, building
the classrooms they need, safeguarding their
physical and mental well-being.
CALL TO
ACTION
Every action counts towards giving
refugees the future they deserve.
Kaitlyn, 17, from the United States, received a special mention for her drawing
called ‘We are all in this together’ which she submitted to UNHCR’s 2020
Youth with Refugees Art Contest.
© UNHCR/KAITLYN ZHOU
Call to action
To bring refugee enrolment in education at all Now we need to scale up those efforts – not
levels up to global levels requires a combined only to fix the damage wrought by the
and coordinated effort from a wide range of coronavirus on education worldwide, but also to
partners. This report has detailed several ways have a real and lasting positive impact on the
in which governments, schools and universities, lives of millions of vulnerable children and youth
NGOs, host communities, large and small private in displaced communities around the world.
sector organisations and many individuals are
striving to improve the chances for all refugee
children to get an inclusive, quality education.
SCHOOLS AND STATES AND CITIES

UNIVERSITIES • Ensure that refugee children and youth are
included in the worldwide effort to restart
• Welcome refugees into the classroom. education and back-to-school planning
Establish a dialogue with the families of
refugee children and engage them in school • Ensure that refugee girls have equal access
life to reduce the likelihood of dropping out to education at all levels, and work with
displaced communities to boost enrolment of
• Give teachers the relevant training to refugee girls in school
integrate and educate refugee children
• Break down barriers that refugee children
• Provide language courses for refugees who and youth with disabilities face in the
do not speak the language of instruction and classroom, and ensure they get equitable
offer catch-up programmes to those who access to inclusive education at all levels
have been out of school for months or years
• Allow refugees to enrol in schools under the
• Offer scholarships and other ways for same conditions as nationals, include them in
refugee students to access tertiary education, national education systems, and ensure they
and partner with universities and technical follow national curricula
and vocational institutions in refugee-hosting
countries • Give refugees access to school without
documentation or certification. Make sure
• Be understanding of the realities of they can sit for national exams and earn
displacement. Avoid unnecessary or recognized qualifications
unrealistic bureaucratic obstacles
• Design policies and allocate budgets for
• Stand up to discrimination, xenophobia, refugee education in national plans, while
sexual harrassment and bullying in schools ensuring that host communities also benefit
• Join UNHCR’s Cities #WithRefugees

movement
Call to action
BUSINESSES EVERYBODY
• Partner with UNHCR to boost investment in • Support the work of UNHCR and its
refugee education initiatives. COVID-19 has partners – through donations, advocacy,
disrupted education for millions of refugee expressions of support, and volunteering
children and youth. Private sector support is
critical to help refugees and their hosts • Lobby governments to support the
continue their education and ensure inclusion of refugees in national systems
everyone can benefit from connected and
virtual learning opportunities • Help refugees learn new languages and
skills
• Help us innovate and find solutions to new
and longstanding problems. From • Speak up on refugee issues and tackle
classroom equipment to teacher training, xenophobic language and statements
connectivity to infrastructure, online
resources to internships, apprenticeships, • Welcome refugees into your schools,
training and job opportunities – there are so communities and lives
many ways your business can support
refugee education
DONORS
• Ensure reliable multi-year funding of
refugee education programmes and
projects, including teacher training, school
infrastructure, learning materials, innovation
projects, supplies and more
• Commit to the international goals, ambitions

and organisations committed to refugee
education: Sustainable Development Goal 4,
the Global Compact on Refugees, the
UNESCO Global Education Coalition, and
many others
• Fund and support partnerships with proven

track records to enable them to scale up
and reach greater numbers
Call to action
Kayla, 23, from Indonesia, won a prize as part of UNHCR’s 2020 Youth with Refugees Art Contest, for her illustration
showing that everyone can help fight the coronavirus ©UNHCR/KAYLA ABIGAIL SALIM
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global
organisation dedicated to saving lives,
protecting rights and building a better future for
people forced to flee their homes because of
conflict and persecution. We lead international
action to protect refugees, forcibly displaced
communities and stateless people.
We deliver life-saving assistance, help

safeguard fundamental human rights, and
develop solutions that ensure people have a
safe place called home where they can build a
better future. We also work to ensure that
stateless people are granted a nationality.
We work in over 130 countries, using our

expertise to protect and care for millions.
Front cover image:

Morning assembly is a happy time at a school in Isfahan, Iran that
welcomes Afghan refugees.
©UNHCR/MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN DEHGHANIAN
For more information and enquiries, please contact:
UNHCR
P.O. Box 2500
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland

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COMING

Violence against schools 39

Final word by Mo Salah 42

Anyone looking for inspirational examples of dedication,

Children in every country are struggling with the

But if you were a refugee child before the

enrolment was already less than 10 per cent, all

The risks to refugee education do not stop there.

Yet this report gives me hope, too. Refugees and

The pandemic has exposed gaps not just in

Nine-year-old Masha, who fled Ukraine with her family in

The most recent data on school enrolment once again highlights

This report serves not only as a reminder of the

THE VIEW FROM:

So when her family fled the country and headed for

“I was scared to be the ‘new kid’ for the first time,”

THE VIEW FROM: JORDAN

Since schools closed in Jordan in mid-March as part of the

THE VIEW FROM: IRAN

Bags bouncing on their backs as they ran through the gates

But Parisa was undaunted by the age gap and determined

“I love school so much,” she said, clutching her books to her

To have her education interrupted by the COVID-19

THE VIEW FROM: RWANDA

This determination gained him top marks in Rwanda’s

Today, he works as a qualified doctor at Byumba

8,347 young refugee women and men studied

925 higher education institutions in

©UNHCR/KUENA JAMES DAK

THE VIEW FROM: ETHIOPIA

Once noisy Once noisy

this classroom this classroom

has been has been

Some are elderly and find it harder to catch up on

He understands the need for measures to stop the

But adapting to the limitations imposed by COVID-19 has been

Keeping education going in the time of a pandemic has required

BOLIVIA The service functions as an informal classroom for

2 The classroom the children and their families, giving them an

on wheels protective equipment from head to foot, the

UGANDA Once content has been “seeded” onto a device

3 Online or - either at a factory or in an area that has an

offline, making Thanks to the combined efforts of Learning

Phone and internet opens digital

Refugee children from Moissala in southern Chad, now living in

CHAD host communities, have long been active in

4 Parent power helping to manage these national schools - from

homework During the pandemic - with schools closed and

flowing hardly accessible in remote areas such as refugee

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Angele, a 15-year-old refugee who fled violence in the Central African

Refugee students’ work displayed on boards at the Sorani Kurdish

Egypt’s educational revolution

Dr Shawki acknowledges this but stresses the

UK city plugs into

Why has Coventry been so keen to welcome refugees?

Syrian refugees in Coventry take part in

Coventry is the latest city to join UNHCR’s

Pupils at Al Shuhada School in the war-ravaged town of

Final word by Mo Salah 42