The Commission wants to bring the finance for education in emergency and crisis situations to 10% of its overall budget on humanitarian aid from 2019. Its objective is to help the children concerned reintegrate into the school system within a period of three months.
"75 million children" confronted with emergency and crisis situations are out of school, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Christos Stylianides said on Friday 18 May. Speaking of the growing risk of "lost generations", he said the EU had a "moral duty" to invest massively in the education of these children in order to avoid them being forcibly recruited in conflicts, becoming victims of sexual violence or forced into marriage.
In 2018, 8% of the EU humanitarian aid budget is allocated to education in an emergency context – in other words, eight times more than in 2015.
The most affected countries are Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the occupied Palestinian territories, Afghanistan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Among the refugee populations, just over 50% of primary school age children are in school. These rates fall to less than 25% for secondary school, and just 1% for higher education.
The new framework for action the Commission has adopted comprises four priorities: - offering young people better perspectives for learning; - providing quality teaching; - preserving secure access to teaching; - finding swift and innovative solutions on teaching. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)