UNHCR Reports Progress and Challenges in Refugee Education
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has highlighted both progress and ongoing challenges in global refugee education. According to their latest report, nearly half of the world’s 14.8 million school-aged refugee children are still out of school.
Key Findings
The report analyzed data from 65 refugee-hosting countries and found that approximately 7.2 million refugee children are missing out on education. Factors contributing to this include insecurity, lack of inclusive education policies, capacity constraints, and language barriers.
Enrolment Rates
| Education Level | Enrolment Rate (2022-23) |
|---|---|
| Pre-primary | 37% |
| Primary | 65% |
| Secondary | 42% |
| Tertiary | 7% |
Despite an increase in the global population of tertiary school-age refugees, the enrolment rate in tertiary education remained at 7%, with nearly 50,000 more refugees enrolled compared to the previous year.
Positive Developments
Over the last five years, access to education for refugees has expanded in some key hosting countries. Although few refugees sit for national examinations, their pass rates continue to be high, sometimes even exceeding national averages.
Call to Action
UNHCR has called on hosting states, governments, donors, and partners to continue and accelerate sustainable international cooperation and innovative partnerships to address the education needs of refugees by 2030.
Doubts Revealed
UNHCR -: UNHCR stands for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It is an organization that helps people who have had to leave their homes because of war or other dangers.
Refugee -: A refugee is someone who has to leave their country because it is not safe for them to live there anymore. They might leave because of war, violence, or other serious problems.
14.8 million -: 14.8 million is a big number that shows how many school-aged refugee children there are in the world. School-aged means they are at the age where they should be going to school.
Insecurity -: Insecurity means not being safe. In this context, it means that some refugee children can’t go to school because the places they live in are not safe.
Language barriers -: Language barriers mean that people speak different languages and can’t understand each other. This can make it hard for refugee children to go to school if they don’t speak the language used in the schools.
Enrolment rates -: Enrolment rates show how many children are signing up and going to school. An increase in enrolment rates means more children are starting to go to school.
National exam pass rates -: National exam pass rates show how many students pass important tests in a country. Some refugee children are doing so well in school that they are even passing these tests more than other children in the country.
