An emergency fund worth billions will provide education to children in countries hit with wartime conflicts, disease outbreak and natural disasters. The humanitarian fund was a joint effort between global and national organizations to help children attain education.
Education Cannot Wait, which was announced during the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul this week, aims to raise $3.85 billion over the next five years to reach 13.6 million young people in crisis-hit countries. By 2030, the project aims to help 75 million children and youth, according to a report from UNICEF.
Gordon Brown, United Kingdom's former prime minister and the UN's special envoy for global education, headed Education Cannot Wait with the support of UNESCO head Irina Bokova, BBC reported. Dubai Cares, the European Union, Netherlands, Norway, the U.K. Department for International Development and the government of the United States have contributed financially to the program.
Program Will Restore Hope
Brown said Education Cannot Wait will help restore hope among families affected by the tragedies, BBC noted. Brown said the project is the first humanitarian fund focused on providing education to warzone children. He added that the project will fund years of children's development, instead of the usual weeks or months.
The project will also help end the cycle of violence in countries facing conflict. Providing education and directing communities on a path towards peace can help these nations recover for the better.
According to UNESCO, education funds for crisis-hit countries are underfunded and currently comprise 2 percent of humanitarian aid only. Figures from UNESCO and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, indicated that only 50 percent of refugee children are in primary school and 25 percent of adolescents are in secondary education.
Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria have caused the displacement of numerous young children, though the exact number of those displaced is unknown. Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Sudan and South Sudan have high displacement rates since 2003, TRT World wrote.
Risks Of Wartime Violence
Out-of-school children in crisis-hit nations are vulnerable to being young brides, young laborers and young soldiers. They are also easily recruited into terrorism and radicalization, as well as slavery.
Students' teachers are being abducted and killed, while classrooms are converted into torture chambers and playgrounds become stockrooms for weapons, Time reported. Schools and universities have been attacked in more than 70 nations between 2009 and 2013. On average, four schools or hospitals were attacked or occupied by extremist groups per day, BBC noted.
