Importance of financial assistance for education in crisis situations

Literacy helps not only with regard to critical thinking but also in being able to address trauma and psycho-social challenges faced by victims during a conflict or a crisis arising from a war-like situation or impact of climate variability or due to a health-related scenario-- be it Covid or Dengue. It creates a scenario where financial implications come to the forefront and poorer families have a hard time deciding on priorities regarding expenditure. Within that paradigm, we have noticed in different parts of the world that children are kept away from expenditure accruing from factors associated with educational opportunities.
This in its own way, according to analyst Sherif, affects the possibility of many continuing education to develop their potential and learn critical skills. We have seen this trauma taking place throughout South Asia including Bangladesh. This, according to the United Nations, casts a shadow on the future socio-economic developments planned for that country or the sub-region.
It has been estimated in this regard that currently nearly 224 million crisis-affected children throughout the world are not receiving "quality, continuous education" and minimum proficiencies in literacy. This aspect, in all likelihood, will critically affect achieving the goal as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4). N. Hossain has also underlined the dynamic as to how this situation can multiply our vulnerability from the community level to wider areas.
Yasmine Sherif, Education Cannot Wait (ECW)'s Executive Director was speaking at the "Ensuring Education Continuity: The Roles of Education in Emergencies, Protracted Crises and Building Peace" conference convened recently at the United Nations headquarters, where speakers called for an immediate increase in funding for education in crisis zones.
The conference was co-organised by the Permanent Missions of Japan, Italy, and Switzerland, UNICEF, ECW, Global Partnership for Education (GPE), UNESCO, Save the Children, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan NGO Network for Education. The event was created with the goal of addressing the "crucial role of education as a life-saving and life-sustaining intervention in an emergency." It took place as a side event during this week's High-Level Political Forum.
In this context attention was also drawn to international humanitarian law, national human rights law and also the National Refugee Law and suggestions were made that steps need to be taken to stop violation of these principles at all levels. Ambassador Kimihiro Ishikane, Permanent Representative of Japan to the UN correctly observed, "It is critically important during this High-Level Political Forum that we emphasise that education is a fundamental human right." Noting that seven years remain before the SDG deadline, Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO also urged Member States to commit to the Safe Schools Declaration, an inter-governmental agreement to protect education in times of armed conflict.
Other speakers during this significant meeting also emphasised the importance of consistent education even during times of crisis as it fosters social and emotional wellbeing among learners. Awut Deng Acuil, Minister of Education in South Sudan also underlined that disruptions made by human conflicts or natural disasters greatly reduce the matrix of normalcy, especially among children. It may be noted here that a few weeks ago ECW launched a programme in South Sudan to support the young nation's vulnerable girls and boys, including children fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan.
Acuil highlighted that education is more than just knowledge gained in the classroom. She explained that it involves essential social-emotional learning, supports country development, builds resilience, promotes conflict resolution, and can even assist with economic recovery. "Continuity of education for millions of children affected by crises remains at stake. Though we all know that education is a fundamental right for all children, and education continuation in high emergency situations remains a high priority for many communities," Acuil said.
Asaju Bola, Minister from the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN remarked that "Education is more than service delivery. It is a means of socialisation and identity development through the transmission of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes across generations. It is, therefore, an important tool for the sustenance of peace, for without education, we cannot have peace."
We have seen how in recent times children going to schools in Sudan, Palestine, Afghanistan and many other parts of the world are not only facing violence around but also in schools. We need measures to ensure that children are safe. Such an effort will be helped also through the ensuring of safe transport to and from the school. This will also help parents feeling less insecure about their children. Protection needs to be given full priority. Apparently in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have banned girls from attending secondary school and upwards, ECW is working with local partners to support non-formal education.
In this regard it has been observed that a spectrum of education has also been initiated by the ECW at the community level, where local authorities are allowing ECW's investments in civil society and also permitting UN agencies to continue to operate. Such community-based schooling and non-formal learning centres have been set up in Cox's Bazar, where the Rohingya refugees are living after fleeing violence, discrimination, and persecution in Myanmar. Such an effort towards making available education opportunities has been appreciated in the affected regions.
In this age of digitalisation and a "Smart" world, it would be worthwhile to also remember how UNESCO and UNICEF jointly launched a global initiative for schools, learners, and teachers to have access to quality digital learning tools. Digital learning and alternate forms of education provision were noted as significant platforms and tools to invest in, especially for students located in remote areas or in those communities who are unable to attend traditional public schooling. Innovative steps were taken during COVID in ensuring education continuity with remote learning programmes such as radio and TV-based education, where IT connections were available through phones and WhatsApp with learning kits and tools.
Frank van Cappelle, Senior Advisor of Education, UNICEF at that time also noted that such efforts could be a success only through "a holistic and flexible approach where… the human element is key." However, since then it has become clear that despite some gains, funding has remained a barrier to the success of these programmes. According to Charles North, CEO of the Global Partnership for Education, the number of children impacted by crises is rising, but funding is not. This is indeed sad.
Interestingly, Rotimy Djossaya, Executive Director for Policy, Advocacy, and Campaigns at Save the Children has called for "timely debt relief for countries whose debt burdens are threatening their ability to invest in education." He cited statistics that four out of fourteen low and middle-income countries spent more on servicing external debt than they did on education in 2020.
It may also be noted in this context that Yasmine Sherif had correctly observed that education is the foundation of a "more prosperous world." One has to agree in this situation with the observation that spending money on education should receive priority in any budget because that, in a manner of speaking, is investing in the future of humanity.
One cannot conclude without remarking that in these difficult times it would also be pertinent for international financial institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank to sit with the appropriate persons and institutions within the United Nations framework and representatives from relevant civil society and identify the least common denominators required to be agreed upon to remove the financial impasse.
Before concluding it would be important to mention that according to UNICEF world attention has been drawn to Bangladesh this July in the manner how "against the odds of displacement, fires burning down learning centres and Cyclone Mocha's wrath, classrooms in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh filled up with children excited with their first day of school on 23 July."
Thanks to expanded education opportunities for teenagers and girls, a record 300,000 Rohingya children enrolled for the 2023-24 school year. The new academic year marks the first time that Rohingya refugee children of all ages will be studying under the Myanmar Curriculum, despite being in Bangladesh refugee camps. It may also be noted that since its launch in 2021, this formal curriculum has gradually been expanded with grades 3-5 and higher grades for the first time in the Cox's Bazar refugee camps-- thereby significantly increasing learning opportunities.
We are no doubt trying to overcome the challenges by ourselves in our own way but positive results would be better facilitated if we thought of this as a world crisis that has an osmotic effect.

Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador, is an analyst specialised in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance.
muhammadzamir0@gmail.com