The number of students whose education is disrupted has almost tripled since 2016 to reach 222 million, under the combined effect of several crises, the director of the UN fund for education in emergencies said on Tuesday.
While around a third of these students are completely out of school, more than half – or 119.6 million – go to school without reaching “a minimum level of proficiency”, especially in mathematics and reading.
“That means 222 million dreams” shattered, launched the director, adding: “let’s not leave victims behind. Let’s help turn these dreams into reality,” said Yasmine Sherif.
This “scandalous” figure, which concerns under-18s living for the most part in conflict zones, constitutes a “record. »
During the previous census in 2016, only 75 million students were concerned.
According to her, the increase in the past six years is linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has “turned back 20 years” the efforts to develop the education systems of certain countries, as well as to climate change and, above all, to the prolonging of certain armed conflicts.
In the overwhelming majority of cases — more than eight out of ten — these children and young people live in areas where conflict has been going on for years, particularly in Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo or Afghanistan.
For Ms. Sherif, the situation is particularly worrying in the latter country, where the Taliban regime has greatly tightened the conditions for access to education for girls since its return to power last August.
Latest measure to date, an about-face on secondary schools for girls in the country, closed only a few hours after their reopening in March, depriving Afghan middle and high school girls of a return to class expected for several months.
“We cannot allow Afghan schoolgirls to go back to school. It’s not good for Afghanistan,” said Yasmine Sherif, adding that it was now “very important that the world speak out” on this subject.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which affects the education of 5.7 million students, also contributes to the increase observed this year.
For all these students, it is above all a question of picking up the thread of their lives “before it is too late”, she concluded.