Organization: The Academy for Educational Development
Contact: Madeleine Burka
Abstract: Education promotes a sense of normalcy that helps children cope with the effects of crisis and supports redevelopment of civil society.
Of the estimated 5 million refugee children worldwide, only 20 percent receive education assistance from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Of the 7 million school-age children displaced within their own countries due to conflict, only a fraction have access to education of any sort. The Education Imperative, a new publication co-published by AED and the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, documents the scope of the educational problem facing refugees and internally displaced persons and explains why education in emergency situations is essential. According to the report, education promotes a sense of normalcy that helps children cope with the effects of crisis and supports redevelopment of civil society.