UN envoy Gordon Brown tells inquiry of broken promise to get all Syrian refugee children in school
Children in conflicts, Education funding, Education in emergencies, Refugees and internally displaced people, Safe schools
The UN Special Envoy for Global Education told a committee of the British parliament that聽countries had to make good on their pledge to get every Syrian child into school in their host communities.
United Nations education envoy Gordon Brown has warned that broken promises and a lack of funding is denying millions of refugee聽and displaced children an education.
He told an inquiry at the British parliament today聽that half of all Syrian refugee聽children are still out of school a year after world leaders pledged to get them into classrooms.
Brown – who is UN Special Envoy for Global Education and chair of the Education Commission – said in a statement:聽国产视频淲e have to ask what kind of world it is when we do least for those children who are most vulnerable and most in need国产视频he girls and boys out of sight, out of mind, out of school and out of hope.”
He gave evidence to an ongoing inquiry by the International Development Committee into the work on education by the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID).
The former British prime minister echoed many of the points made in a聽国产视频 investigation published yesterday.听
We found a complete聽lack of a clear and coherent overview of how the聽promise to get all refugee children and vulnerable children in the host communities into school in the 2016-17 academic year is progressing.
With just six months left until that deadline,聽国产视频’s #YouPromised campaign has been calling聽on leaders to honour their pledge.听It was made on February 4 last year at the聽Supporting Syria And The Region conference in London – co-hosted by the UK, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the UN.
Brown told the inquiry:聽国产视频淲e国产视频檙e still聽one聽million kids short. We国产视频檙e still $1聽billion short.听The UK has made good on its promises – it国产视频檚 time other countries make good on theirs.国产视频
He also said:聽国产视频淏y 2030, there will be 800 million children –聽half the children in the world – who聽will not finish school with any qualifications whatsoever. That is indeed聽a crisis聽that has got聽to be dealt with.国产视频
He said global education has been consistently underfunded and that the聽governments of developing countries聽had to do more to improve education and invest in their children’s future.
The international community has a duty to step in to help those countries who cannot meet their targets, he added.
Brown argued that at least 15% of humanitarian聽aid should go towards education – it’s currently less than 2% each year.听
The inquiry, held at the House of Commons, has been hearing evidence on DfID’s work in helping to deliver a quality education for all children, including getting the most marginalised into school.听Earlier this month, it heard from Kevin Watkins, chief executive of Save The Children UK.
Syrian refugee children in and out of school
At the end of 2016, there were 1.6 million registered Syrian refugees of school age in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
- TURKEY:聽491,896 in school, 380,000 out of school, 871,896 total (ages 6-18)
- LEBANON:聽200,000 in school, 277,034 out of school, 477,034 total (ages 3-17)
- 闯翱搁顿础狈:听170,000 in school, 91,000 out of school, 261,000 total
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