Ensuring every last refugee child receives an education Summary Over half of the world’s registered refugees of school age, some 3.6 million children, are not in school. In fact, refugee children are five times less likely to attend school than other children. But even for those who can access education, the quality is often very poor. The international community can and must do better to ensure refugee children’s right to a quality education. The High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants on September 19 and the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees on September 20 offer concrete opportunities for Governments to commit to closing the refugee education gap. Save the Children is calling on Governments to ensure every last refugee child has access to a quality education by: 1.
Making a political commitment that no refugee child be out of education for more than 30 days in the outcome of the September 19 High-Level Meeting. This level of ambition is both critical to closing the education gap for millions of refugee children who are out of school and can be achieved through a combination of investments and policy change. Such a commitment will drive both the inclusion of education in emergency preparedness and contingency planning and will help ensure the provision of refugee education, not as a peripheral standalone activity but as a core component of the services, protection and durable solutions to which refugees are entitled. Providing education within 30 days of a child crossing an international border when fleeing conflict, violence or persecution means: - A reduction in the loss of children’s learning time; - Improved chances of getting children back into school; - Enhanced protection; - Access to other lifesaving services; - Improved health, nutrition and livelihoods; - Better resilience and social cohesion; and - Reduction in the financial costs of lost education. It will also meet the need for education which refugee children consistently say is among their top priorities.
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Recognizing refugee education action plans as an essential element of the Global Compact on Responsibility-Sharing for Refugees.
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Offering tangible support for refugee education action plans in specific countries, where refugee-hosting governments identify how they will scale up quality education for refugees and donor Governments commit to fully fund credible plans, to be agreed at the September 20 Leaders’ Summit on Refugees and beyond.
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Background
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Unprecedented levels of forced displacement require strengthened international cooperation and action
The world is witnessing the highest levels of human displacement on record. An unprecedented 65.3 million people around the world have been forced from their homes. Among them are nearly 21.3 million refugees: people who have fled their country seeking protection from violence or persecution. 1 Over half of the world’s 21.3 million refugees are under the age of 18. The daily struggle for refugees and the communities in which they live, sometimes for many years or even decades, continues. Host country governments face significant challenges in providing basic services, including places in schools, for the large number of new arrivals or for communities in which a third generation of children have been born in the context of protracted displacement. 2
There is growing recognition that no single country can solve these challenges on their own. Efforts to strengthen international cooperation and action to address the needs of refugees will receive a boost at both the forthcoming high-level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants, to be held in New York on 19 September and the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees on 20 September 2016. These meetings provide the international community with the opportunity to agree a plan to safeguard the human rights, safety and dignity of refugees, including by addressing the causes of such movements, protecting those who are compelled to undertake such journeys, and preventing the discrimination and countering the xenophobia they frequently encounter. Commitments made at these meetings will build on the momentum of the World Humanitarian Summit in general and the establishment of Education Cannot Wait: the fund for education in emergencies in particular. Education Cannot Wait has been established to provide the catalytic shift in ambition and approaches needed to ensure that children affected by humanitarian crises have access to quality learning opportunities and it has a vital role to play in driving and financing the education elements of refugee education action plans.
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The state of education for the world’s refugee children
The lack of adequate educational services for refugee children is a near universal phenomenon. 3
In today’s world there are 33 protracted refugee crises that average 25 years, meaning millions of children miss out on some – if not all – of their education. These children often face discrimination and exclusion as they seek to rebuild their lives far from home. As a result, refugee children are five times 4 less likely to attend school than other children in the countries in which they are displaced. And of the 5 6 million child refugees under the mandate of UNHCR, 3.6 million are out of school. Without an education, these children do not have a future and are at risk of becoming a lost generation. The challenges of providing education to the world’s refugee children are multiple and varied, but with sustained attention and sufficient political will we believe they can be overcome. Chief among the measures required is greater responsibility sharing.
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UNHCR, Global Trends 2015: Forced Displacement in 2015, UNHCR, 2016 http://www.unhcr.org/uk/statistics/country/576408cd7/unhcr-global-trends-2015.html?query=global%20trends 2 UNGA, In safety and dignity: addressing large movements of refugees and migrants, Report of the Secretary General, UN, 21 April 2016 - http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/70/59 3 UNHCR, World at War: UNHCR Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2014, UNHCR, 2015 http://www.unhcr.org/556725e69.html#_ga=1.56769066.1653704662.1458730158 4 UNESCO GEM Report, No more excuses: Provide education to all forcibly displaced people, Policy Paper 26, UNESCO, 2016 - http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002448/244847E.pdf 5 Author’s calculations based on UNHCR, Global Trends 2015: Forced Displacement in 2015, UNHCR, 2016 and UNHCR, Refugee Enrolment Data – UNHCR Education Unit April 2016, UNHCR, unpublished report, 2016
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Eighty-six per cent of the world’s refugees live in low- and middle-income countries whose education systems already struggle to meet the needs of the most marginalised. In such cases host countries need support from the international community to scale up provision of local services and to provide alternative educational opportunities to reach the most marginalised children until they can enter the formal system. However these capacity constraints are frequently compounded by political barriers which exclude children from the education system. Often there is a simple lack of political will or, worse, a political decision to obstruct the education of certain groups. Of 25 UNHCR priority countries only 16 (64%) allow refugees full access to their education systems at primary and secondary level, the rest placing 7 limits on their access. Furthermore, in countries where children are notionally allowed to access the national education system, missing or unrecognized identity documents frequently prevent school 8 entry, progression and formal evaluation. It is equally important to recognise that the increased financial constraints and poverty facing refugee families act as a barrier to many children accessing an education. High costs of living combined with legal restrictions on the right to work can make the direct and indirect costs of schooling prohibitive. In many displacement contexts children are forced to work or to marry rather than continue their 9 studies. Finally, the shortage of funding for refugee education is a critical barrier to educational provision. In 2013, UNHCR’s education budget equated to $12.7 per refugee child, which represents a significant increase from $4.5 in 2011, which is due to UNHCR’s 2012-2016 education strategy. In 2014, UNHCR’s education programme budget was 82% funded overall representing a budget of $150m for education. Within these figures there are significant variations between countries and 10 regions. In Kenya’s Comprehensive Refugee Programme for 2015 only 30% of education needs are funded, despite education having a high strategic priority with only $10m for 180,000 school-aged refugees in 11 Dadaab. The latest Syria Regional Response Plan update indicates that for the 2016 plan only 26% 12 of the $638m requested for education has been funded.
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Action to ensure every last refugee child is in education and learning
A focus on refugees at both the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting and Leaders’ Summit in September provides a unique opportunity to make commitments that will ensure the world’s refugee children have access to quality learning opportunities. Save the Children is consequently calling on Governments to agree a political commitment that no refugee child will be out of education for more than 30 days, recognise refugee education action plans 13 as an essential element of the Global Compact on Responsibility-Sharing for Refugees and provide the support and funding necessary to develop and implement such plans in specific countries.
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UNHCR, Global Trends 2015: Forced Displacement in 2015, UNHCR, 2016 http://www.unhcr.org/uk/statistics/country/576408cd7/unhcr-global-trends-2015.html?query=global%20trends 7 Nicolai, S.,& Hine, S, ‘Investment for education in emergencies: A review of evidence’ Overseas Development Institute, 2015 8 Bhabha, J., Children without a State: A Global Human Rights Challenge, MIT Press, 2011 9 Watkins, K. and Zyck, S., Living on hope, hoping for education The failed response to the Syrian refugee crisis, ODI, 2014 https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9169.pdf 10 UNHCR, Financial reports and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014. UNHCR, 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/55f2c7099.pdf 11 UNHCR Kenya, Kenya Comprehensive Refugee Programme 2015, UNHCR Kenya, 2015 http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNHCRKenyaKCRP2015.pdf 12 UNHCR and UNDP, Regional Quarterly Update: 3RP Achievements March 2016, UNHCR and UNDP, 2016 13 UNGA, In safety and dignity: addressing large movements of refugees and migrants, Report of the Secretary General, UN, 21 April 2016 - http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/70/59
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The case for a political commitment that no refugee child will be out of education for more than 30 days
There are numerous reasons why the international community should commit to provide education to 14 refugee children as quickly as possible and in no more than 30 days after becoming a refugee. Chief among these is that education delayed is education denied and every effort should be made to provide essential life-saving and sustaining services, including education, to displaced populations in 15 a speedy fashion. But we know that in countless refugee situations education is delayed and sometimes never provided. Although more than three quarters of school-aged refugee children interviewed by Save the Children in Greece said that going to school was one of their top priorities, more than one in five of them have never even begun their education. Our assessment found that Syrian child refugees in Greece have been out of school for an average of 25.8 months, while Afghan child refugees spend an average of 16 10.7 months out of the classroom. The situation is equally bad among refugees experience long term displacement. In refugee camps in Kenya, which have been in existence since 1992, the primary net enrolment rate is 40% and the 17 secondary enrolment rate is only 4%. Committing to provide education to refugee children within 30 days of becoming refugees will help ensure that prospective host governments have the necessary plans in place to provide education in a timely way including with the support necessary from the international community. The commitment will also assist existing refugee children by driving the development and implementation of refugee education action plans in order to scale up quality learning opportunities in settings where children do not currently enjoy access to educational services. Committing to educational provision within 30 days of children becoming a refugee will drive the inclusion of education in preparedness and contingency planning for population movements and help speed up service delivery to refugee populations. Providing education within 30 days of a child becoming a refugee will also: 
Reduce the loss of learning time
The period of time in which children have access to quality schooling is an important determinant of their learning achievement. In OECD countries 7-14 year olds average 816.2 hours of teaching time per year, with 187 days of 18 instruction per year at the primary level. During term time 30 calendar days of missed school represents just over 21 days of missed teaching time, or 11.5% of an academic year. Missing schooling means children are missing out on opportunities to learn, which we ordinarily do everything possible to minimise, including via national laws which compel parents to send their children to school and require school attendance.
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For the purposes of our call a child becomes a refugee when they cross an international border not when they register with UNHCR as a refugee. It is at this point that host governments, with the support of the international community, become responsible for the provision of basic services to refugee populations. UNHCR consider populations that crossed an international border as being refugees for the purposes of basic service delivery. 15 Core Humanitarian Standard 2 16 Save the Children, Assessment Report: Education Needs Assessment Greece, Save the Children, May 2016 http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/GreeceEducationNeedsAssessment_SavetheChildren_May2016(3).pdf 17 UNHCR, Kenya Education, http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/10666 accessed 14 June 2016 18 Author’s calculation based on data on page 389 in OECD, Education at a Glance 2011, OECD Indicators, 2011 https://www.oecd.org/education/skills-beyond-school/48631582.pdf
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When refugee children are out of school for more than 30 days their learning is not only no longer advancing but is also likely to regress. In fact, the longer children are out of school the more they lose skills and knowledge they have already acquired.
Increase the chances of getting children back to school
The longer children are out of school the less likely they are to return. Reducing the time that children are out of school after becoming refugees and setting a goal of no longer than 30 days will increase the chances of them restarting their education and doing so on a sustainable basis. Globally, only 34% of out-of-school children are likely to re-enrol in education, with the figure varying by region: 38% in Arab states, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa, 33% in East Asia and the Pacific, and as 19 low as 15% in South and West Asia. We also know that the pressure on family incomes means that refugee children are particularly vulnerable to child labour and that once in child labour, children’s chances of re-entering school 20 diminish even further. 21
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In 2013, UNHCR and Save the Children assessments in Jordan found that almost half of refugee 23 children were working and according to the US Department of Labor children as young as 12 were 24 working more than 12 hours per day in manufacturing, sales and food services. In the poorest communities, a child who has not gone to school for more than a year is likely to never return to the classroom.
Enhance the protection of refugee children
Education can protect children physically during displacement, offering protection against the worst forms of exploitation and harm. While children are out of school they are at greater risk of child marriage, forced labour, recruitment by armed groups, trafficking and other forms of exploitation. In Jordan, it is estimated that early marriage rates increased by 25% between 2013 and 2014, and as noted previously, 2013 assessments found that just under half of refugee children in Jordan were 25 working. A 2013 study in Turkey found that almost half of Syrian refugee children met the clinical criteria for 26 Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) Disorder. Schools can protect children psychologically at a time of severe trauma and uncertainty by creating a sense of normality and routine which is crucial to the healing process, and by providing a platform for socio emotional learning and psychosocial support. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education in 2008 stated that ‘Education mitigates the psychosocial impact of conflict and disasters by giving a sense of normality, stability, structure and 27 hope during a time of crisis’.
Provide a platform for other lifesaving services
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UNESCO EFA GMR, Progress in getting all children to school stalls but some countries show the way forward, Policy Paper 14 / Fact Sheet 28, UNESCO, 2014 - http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/fs-28-out-of-school-children-en.pdf 20 Watkins, K. and Zyck, S., Living on hope, hoping for education The failed response to the Syrian refugee crisis, ODI, 2014 https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9169.pdf 21 UNHCR, The Future of Syria: Refugee Children in Crisis, UNHCR, 2013 22 Save the Children, Comprehensive Outreach to Syrians in Ghor and Irbid on Educational Needs, Save the Children and the United Nations Children’s Fund, 2013 23 US Department of Labor, Jordan: 2012 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. US Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2012 24 Watkins, K. and Zyck, S., Living on hope, hoping for education The failed response to the Syrian refugee crisis, ODI, 2014 https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9169.pdf 25 Watkins, K. and Zyck, S., Living on hope, hoping for education The failed response to the Syrian refugee crisis, ODI, 2014 https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9169.pdf 26 Özer, S., Şirin, S. and Oppedal, B., Bahçeşehir study of Syrian refugee children in Turkey, 2013 - www. fhi.no/dokumenter/c83Fb3a78c.pdf. 27 UNGA, Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development: Right to education in emergency situations: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Muñoz, UN, 20 May 2008, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G08/135/33/PDF/G0813533.pdf?OpenElement
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Education can provide a powerful platform to deliver other lifesaving interventions, such as food, water, sanitation and health services. Staff can communicate key safety messages, life skills and health and hygiene information. These lifesaving functions need to be delivered as soon as possible to refugee communities following their displacement. By providing services to refugee children in this centralised way, humanitarian responders are likely to collaborate more, leverage resources and streamline service provision, bringing about greater cost-effectiveness and efficiency. Committing to provide education within 30 days of becoming a refugee increases children’s access to other lifesaving services and drives wider efficiencies.
Lay timely foundations for improved health, nutrition and employment
The future security of individuals and societies, both the ones from which refugees have fled and the ones in which they ultimately settle if they can’t return home, is inextricably connected to the transferable skills, knowledge, and capacities that are developed through education. There is increasing evidence that quality education is one of the most effective ways of reducing poverty and inequality, and helping communities and individuals meet their potential. Studies have shown that each additional year of education can bring with it a 10% increase in income. 28 If all children left school reading, there would be a 12% reduction in world poverty. If all mothers 29 completed primary education, maternal mortality would fall by 66%. If all women received primary education there would be a 15% reduction in child deaths from pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria and that if they received a secondary education, there would be a 30 49% reduction. There would be 14% fewer child marriages if all girls completed primary education 31 and 64% fewer early marriages if all young women completed secondary education. Refugee populations face a host of challenges and being a refugee significantly increases the vulnerability of a child. Committing to do everything possible to get refugee children into education within 30 days of becoming refugees will make a tangible contribution to overcoming those disadvantages and reducing children’s vulnerability to additional harm.
Build resilience and increase social cohesion
Education can play a critical role in mitigating conflict, promoting social cohesion and ensuring that communities can cope with and bounce back after experiencing setbacks. Refugee education can be part of the front line response to preventing further conflict and disruption and for reducing the impact of these challenges on the affected communities while also strengthening the resilience of children and the communities in which they live.
Reduce the financial costs of disrupted education
The cost of disrupted education impacts refugees and society in multiple ways. The short term costs include the need to reteach skills and knowledge lost during the disrupted period, and the costs of training teachers in appropriate inclusive methods. The long term costs of missed education include the loss of earnings to individuals from lower levels of learning outcomes and a decline in GDP at the national scale. Lower learning outcomes also correlate with worse outcomes in health, social cohesion, and gender equality.
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UNESCO EFA GMR, Education Counts Towards the Millennium Development Goals, UNESCO, 2011 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001902/190214e.pdf 29 UNESCO EFA GMR, Education transforms lives, UNESCO, 2013 - http://www.unesco.se/wpcontent/uploads/2015/02/Education-transforms-lives.pdf 30 UNESCO EFA GMR, Education transforms lives, UNESCO, 2013 - http://www.unesco.se/wpcontent/uploads/2015/02/Education-transforms-lives.pdf 31 UNESCO EFA GMR, Education transforms lives, UNESCO, 2013 - http://www.unesco.se/wpcontent/uploads/2015/02/Education-transforms-lives.pdf
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The longer children are out of the school, the greater the financial cost to the societies and economies in which they live. Save the Children estimates that the long-term impact on Syria’s economy of 2.8 million Syrian children never returning to school could be could be as much as 5.4% of GDP, which equates to 32 almost £1.5 billion ($2.18). The long-term negative impact on national income of reduced educational attainment due to conflict is 33 $470m (1.7% GDP) for DRC and $2.9bn (1.3% GDP) for Pakistan.
Meet the priority needs of refugees
The provision of educational opportunities is one of the highest priorities of refugee communities. Refugee mothers, fathers, and children the world over emphasise that education is “the key to the future,” that it will help bring peace to their countries, that despite not knowing “what will happen 34 tomorrow,” education brings stability and hope. Children voice concerns with delays in their education from the early stages of a crisis. In DRC, 95% of the children consulted said that they wanted education to restart as soon as possible. In South 35 Sudan one 15 year old stated ‘We don’t want delay. If we delay, we will remain behind.’ When asked at what point in an emergency education response should be provided, 49.2% of 36 children in South Sudan replied ‘Straightaway’.
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Delivering on the commitment that no refugee child is out of education for more than 30 days
Including a political commitment that no refugee child is out of education for more than 30 days in the th outcome document of the September 19 high-level meeting would provide the basis for a renewed focus on ensuring the provision of refugee education, not as a peripheral, stand-alone, optional activity but as a core component of the services, protection and durable solutions to which refugees are entitled. Fulfilling the principle in practice is possible through a combination of investment along with policy and practical change focused on inclusion and improvement, some of which is already underway but which requires immediate reinforcement and sustained commitment. In addition to the recommendations below, action to close the refugee education gap should be underpinned by recognition of education as an essential service within the Global Compact on Responsibility-Sharing for Refugees and immediate practical support for refugee education action plans in specific countries, both of which we address separately below. To this end Save the Children also urges Member States to:
Close the funding gap to ensure inclusive, relevant and quality educational provision for refugee children. - Additional resources must be directed at improved planning and preparedness to ensure that communities that receive refugees have what they need in place to provide educational services when refugees arrive.
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Save the Children, The Cost of War: Calculating the impact of the collapse of Syria’s education system on Syria’s future, Save the Children, 2015 - http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/The_Cost_of_War.pdf 33 Jones, A. and Naylor, R., The quantitative impact of armed conflict on education: counting the human and financial costs, CfBT Education Trust, 2014 - http://cdn.cfbt.com/~/media/cfbtcorporate/files/research/2014/r-armed-conflict-2014.pdf 34 Save the Children, What do Children Want in Times of Emergency and Crisis? They Want an Education, Save the Children, 2015 - https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/What_Do_Children_Want1.pdf 35 Save the Children, What do Children Want in Times of Emergency and Crisis? They Want an Education, Save the Children, 2015 - https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/What_Do_Children_Want1.pdf 36 Save the Children, What do Children Want in Times of Emergency and Crisis? They Want an Education, Save the Children, 2015 - https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/What_Do_Children_Want1.pdf
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Funding must be distributed appropriately so that all contexts are supported, including those that receive less media coverage or attention from donors. Given the protracted nature of crises, this funding must go beyond short-term humanitarian support, and provide multiyear investment in the provision of educational services. Host country governments should be incentivised to include refugee education in national education sector plans, including through dedicated funding for refugee education from the Global Partnership for Education. Funding should be used to: o Invest in education systems as a sustainable means to increase access to education and improve its quality. This should include system strengthening, school building, and training and paying teachers. o Scale up funding and support for quality non-formal programmes to provide educational opportunities to children for whom the formal system is inaccessible. This funding must be flexible and allocated as needed to NGO partnerships to deliver quality non-formal education programmes.
Develop plans and enact policies to ensure that all refugee children are able to access relevant, quality education.
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Host governments, and potential host governments, must develop education sector plans which include provision for refugee children. This should be done through partnerships between the Ministry of Education, UNHCR, and the Global Partnership for Education. Host countries must fulfil their legal and moral responsibilities and remove policy barriers which prevent refugee children from attending the formal school system, for example, by having an inclusive and flexible registration and documentation system that allows students to enrol in school without unnecessary requirements. Furthermore, host governments must develop and actively implement inclusive policies which allow and actively encourage refugee children to attend school. Lastly, host governments should enact policies that allow and certify innovative nonformal or informal learning opportunities that meet quality standards for out-of-school children. These opportunities should be accredited or should have pathways into the accredited formal system so that children can transition as ready.
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Improve the quality and relevance of education to ensure refugee student learning and well-being. Build teacher capacity through professional development, adequate support and appropriate remuneration so that teachers can support the learning and well-being of all of their students. Professional development must build basic teaching skills for unqualified teachers and enhanced skills for trained teachers in areas such as positive classroom management, psychosocial support, and language acquisition. Institutionalize monitoring and accountability mechanisms that focus on student learning outcomes and teacher actions in the classroom and therefore measure and uphold quality. Increase recognition of student learning through certification pathways, expanded provision of secondary education and increased livelihoods opportunities for refugee youth.
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Recognise refugee education action plans as an essential element of the Global Compact on Responsibility-Sharing for Refugees
Save the Children welcomes and supports the UN Secretary General’s call for a new Global Compact on Responsibility Sharing for Refugees to respond to large movements of refugees in a more predictable and comprehensive manner.
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An integral component of the Global Compact is the development of a comprehensive refugee response to large movements of refugees. The Global Compact would ensure that hosting States receive the necessary funding and support to provide essential services and promote self-reliance, including the provision of education for child refugees and support for host communities. The Global Compact has the potential to recognise the disproportionate burden that some countries face in hosting large numbers of the world’s refugees and provide them with additional support including for provision of essential services. We urge member states to recognise the central importance of education as an essential service and for this to be reflected in the outcome of the 19 September meeting with respect to the Global Compact on Responsibility Sharing for Refugees.
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Practical support for refugee education action plans in specific countries
The inclusion of a political commitment no refugee child is out of education for more than 30 days and that refugee education action plans are an essential component of the Global Compact on Responsibility-Sharing for Refugees will create a framework for driving action on refugee education. Governments must also provide practical support for refugee education action plans in specific countries, in which refugee hosting governments identify how they will scale up quality education for refugees and donor countries and international institutions agree how they will support them. The September 20 Leaders’ Summit on Refugees provides a vital opportunity to agree a first round of refugee education action plans between hosting countries and international donors to ensure that hosting Governments have the necessary plans in place and the support of the international community to provide education in situations of large-scale or protracted displacement. The inclusion of refugees in national education sector plans is key to closing the refugee education gap in already existing protracted situations. Eighty-six percent of the world’s refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries whose resources are already stretched and that require much greater support from the international community to ensure that refugee populations have access to services including education. The 20 September Summit also provides the opportunity for hosting countries to include refugees in national plans and to ensure adequate support for donors to do so. However not all countries that need one will leave the Leaders’ Summit with a fully funded refugee education action plan. Moving forward, Education Cannot Wait: the fund for education in emergencies has a key role to play in supporting the development of such plans and securing the funding to implement them. Though established with a broader purpose, a focus by Education Cannot Wait during its inception phase on the pressing educational needs of refugee children, could provide it with the opportunity to make a tangible and measurable difference to one of the world’s biggest and most urgent challenges.
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