Human rights campaigners have called on world leaders to urgently address a growing education crisis among refugees, as government officials gather for the first ever global summit for refugees and migrants this month.
More than half of the refugee population last year were children, Unesco figures show, with some 3.57 million missing out completely on school or any other formal education.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has also spoken out about the issue, calling on world leaders to guarantee all refugee children access to a full education in order to avoid a “lost generation” of displaced young people.
Highlighting that more children than ever before are spending their school years as refugees, she said: “It's not just giving attendance, a bit of food that will protect these families in the future, it is also education”.
“You give education to the children of these families and you guide them and you make their future.”
Refugee children are five times more likely to be out of school, despite many coming from highly skilled, supportive families in what were once developed and safe countries.
Only half of these children are in primary school, yet just 2 per cent of all emergency funding is earmarked for education, prompting concerns that not enough is being done to address the problem.
In order to highlight the need to put education at the forefront of discussions at United Nations summits in New York this month, anti-poverty group the ONE campaign have launched a petition urging leaders to commit to providing one million refugee children with an education by the end of the school year.
Roxane Philson, a spokesperson for ONE said: “The world is experiencing the biggest displacement emergency since the Second World War."
"Meanwhile, the resources provided by wealthier governments to support those who have fled their countries and the developing states that house the majority of the world’s refugees are just not sufficient."
"A comprehensive approach to this crisis is vital, and part of this is ensuring that children who have already lost their homes are not at risk of losing their future, merely because they lack basic literacy and numeracy skills."
"We’re asking governments to provide the financing and implement the polices necessary to ensure that every refugee child gets a quality education as soon as possible."
An accompanying video shows volunteers being hypnotised into temporary illiteracy, then asked ot perform basic tasks such as reciting the alphabet, telling the time or writing their own name.
“No one can reach their full potential without an education," said Ms Philson. "We wanted to make that point in the most visceral way possible”.
In making the film, she said volunteers “got a small glimpse of how different their lives would be if they couldn’t read or write”.
“But for the millions of refugee children who won’t get an education it’s not just a scary few moments – it’s a lifetime of missed opportunities. This can and must change.”
The average amount of time a refugee spends in exile is now nearly 20 years – more than double what it was 30 years ago – leading to a situation where almost 80 per cent of teenage refugees are out of school.
The issue is of particular concern for refugee women and girls, who are 2.5 times more likely to drop out of school than their male peers.
“Education is crucial,” said Ms Yousafzai, “I understand that, you understand that, people understand that but when it comes to world leaders' decision making, they completely ignore it, as if they have no knowledge and are completely ignorant”.
“They should understand this because they want their own children to go to universities and get a quality education.”
