The United Nations' culture and education agency says in a new report that more needs to be done to integrate refugee children into national educational systems.
UNESCO’s 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report, Migration, displacement and education, released in Berlin on Tuesday shows that the number of migrant and refugee school-age children around the world today has grown by 26% since 2000 and could fill half a million classrooms.
UNESCO said in the report that better access to quality education would help both the new arrivals and their new homelands.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said, “everyone loses when the education of migrants and refugees is ignored; education is the key to inclusion and cohesion.”
"Increased classroom diversity, while challenging for teachers, can also enhance respect for diversity and an opportunity to learn from others," she added.
The agency says half of the world’s forcibly displaced people are under age 18, and many countries exclude them from national education systems or limit access.
It says low- and middle-income countries host 89 percent of refugees, but lack funds for education. The report calls on donors to triple funding and ensure long-term support.
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