By Safaa Abdoun
CAIRO: Sustaining children’s education during crises and emergencies is one of the main challenges facing many countries in the region, said participants of a child rights conference this week.
“Sustaining and advancing education in emergencies and crises” and finding room for displaced children in the education system are problems affecting all countries, said Charlie MacCormack, CEO and president of Save the Children US.
“[We have a] worldwide responsibility to ensure that young people and their education is continued even at time of disruption [because] if we fail then we institutionalize the crisis 20 to 30 years after; as this generation is not prepared for leadership, responsibility, parenthood and citizenship,” he explained.
“We institutionalize the destruction of civilization,” he added.
Save the Children (SC), an international independent organization, kicked off on Wednesday a regional conference for Arab states to discuss children’s right to education in emergencies.
“This meeting comes at a really crucial time with the undergoing changes in the region and in order to ensure child rights during emergencies,” said Mona Kamel, representative of the League of Arab States (LAS), which also hosted the conference.
“We all [should] benefit from Save the Children’s experience in education at times of emergencies as well as exchange knowledge and experience,” she said at the opening session.
The conference brought together government officials and civil society representatives from all over the world. It is part of SC’s Regional Action Learning Component under their Ta’leem (Education) initiative.
Participants at the two-day conference shared lessons learned, and solicited input on successful approaches and tools for child protection and participation through education in emergencies.
Malak Zaalouk, an expert on education, said emergencies are the biggest obstacle to the second of the Millennium Development Goals regarding universal basic education.
She identified three types of emergencies: natural, man-made and a blend of both. Arab children affected the most by emergencies in their countries are in Palestine — where student miss around 70 percent of school days — Yemen, Iraq, Sudan and Algeria.
Former ambassador to the UNICEF Anis Salem said there is a lack of policies to face this challenge in the Arab world. He suggested that in order to face this problem there must be “preparation, contingency planning, prepositioning and training.”
With funding from the World Bank, SC in Jordan and Lebanon are jointly implementing the Ta’leem Regional Initiative as part of SC’s system strengthening programming in partnership with government and national organizations. The aim of the initiative is to support education for Iraqi, Jordanian and Lebanese children in three age groups.
In the second phase of the initiative, SC in Jordan and Lebanon are leading the learning process through working and supporting Yemen, Palestine and Egypt to document lessons learned. The aim is to develop a strategy and guides for improving child protection and participation through education in the region.
During the second day of the conference participants discussed recommendation for a paper, which would be adopted by LAS, on child rights advocacy messages.
This paper will be used to advocate that children should practice their right to education in emergencies in safe, protective and supportive learning environments; that education is a key element in any future emergency response; and that adequate funding for education in emergencies as well as that education is inclusive and relevant to all children.
