Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement of 1998 called for “initiatives to facilitate and encourage integrated education” but progress has been painfully slow. Only 5% of the total school population are in integrated schools (those bringing together students and staff from…
UNHCR’s leading role with refugees in countries of asylum is not in doubt. However, when refugees return to their countries of origin – which are often trying to recover from the devastation of war – donors do not agree on…
So far, unofficial reports show that 558,713 primary school pupils have enrolled for the 2006 academic year and 16,614 teachers are working throughout Southern Sudan. Four million textbooks and teachers’ guides are being delivered. Basic school supplies for up to…
When the people of Timor-Leste chose independence from Indonesia in September 1999, pro-Indonesian militias responded with brutality. At the beginning of what was supposed to be the 1999-2000 school year, three quarters of the population fled across the border into…
The Palestinian education system has emerged through its formative years against a backdrop of on-going crisis, repeated emergency and intensifying restrictions on movement. When the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) was established as a result of the…
USAID emergency education programmes have ranged from rebuilding education systems in Afghanistan to supporting the tsunami-affected countries and post-earthquake Pakistan with education programmes that quickly begin to restore order, create stability and regenerate public sector capacities. The challenge has been…
Established in the mid 1980s and funded primarily by Germany and UNHCR, BEFARe runs formal and non-formal educational (NE/NFE) activities for both the local population and Afghan refugees. It has been involved in operating over 300 schools and over a…
The Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction were developed in a consultative process by over 2,250 individuals from more than 50 countries, including students, teachers and staff of NGOs, UN agencies, donors, governments and universities.…
Many meetings on education and conflict fail to consider the perspectives of children. Children should be considered as ‘clients’ and as the reason for education interventions. Frequently, however, children are alluded to from a theoretical perspective. The emphasis on the…
Less than two years ago I spent my schooldays wondering if I would have to run from the classroom to escape shooting. Today I am eighteen years old, in my first year of secondary school. And instead of worrying about…