The figure is well known, but the scale of the problem remains difficult to grasp: nearly 49 million children are displaced worldwide due to conflict, violence, or disasters. Of these, more than 19 million have crossed borders and are living as refugees. And a significant proportion are of school age.
In just over a decade, the number of displaced children has nearly tripled. Furthermore, every year, hundreds of thousands are born into refugee situations. In other words: They never get to experience school under normal conditions.
In this context, education remains one of the biggest gaps. According to the United Nations, there are currently some 12.4 million school-age refugee children, and nearly half (around 5.7 million) are not enrolled in school. But even that figure falls short of describing the problem. Because not everyone within the system is actually learning. As they get older, attendance drops: around 67% enroll in primary school, but only 37% continue on to secondary school and barely 9% reach higher education.
Education is a fundamental tool for the development of refugee children. It is not only the most valuable resource we can provide them for their future. It is also a path to building better societies. This is highlighted in a UNESCO report, which states that nearly 170 million people worldwide could be lifted out of poverty if children in the most vulnerable countries graduated from school with basic reading and writing skills—that is, having completed the early years of primary education.
Education saves lives
In crisis situations, not all needs are treated equally. Some are immediate and visible. Others take longer to be recognized, but they shape everything that comes after. Education belongs to this second group. When children stop going to school, they not only interrupt their learning: the risks they face increase directly. For example, when children do not attend school, they are at greater risk of becoming victims of abuse, exploitation, and recruitment into armed groups.
In the midst of a conflict, education becomes the priority for girls and boys who, when asked what they need most, say they want to continue their education. And it is not hard to understand why. For these children, school is a safe space. A place with adults, routines, and rules. A place where time regains its meaning. For them, returning to class means regaining the continuity that conflict has disrupted. They fear falling behind, forgetting what they’ve learned, and never being able to catch up to the other children.
In its report The Education of Refugee Children: A Window to the Future, UNHCR lists some of the benefits that education brings to these girls and boys:
- Personal development: School allows children to reignite abilities that the situation had stifled. To learn, to discover what they’re good at, to develop skills that aren’t solely defined by survival. It is also the starting point for imagining a possible future.
- Reclaiming childhood: Attending class restores more than just academic content. It introduces a routine, a familiar space, a sense of normalcy amid instability. It allows children to reclaim a place that is not defined by conflict.
- Protection and safety: In environments where risk is part of daily life, school serves as a safer space. It reduces exposure to violence, exploitation, or pressure from armed groups, and provides the presence of adults who supervise and support the children.
- Mothers’ autonomy: When children are in school, families can reorganize their time. Mothers can work, pursue education, or generate income, which has a direct impact on the household’s survival and stability.
- Relief for older siblings: In the absence of school, older siblings often take on caregiving responsibilities that interrupt their own education. Enrolling younger children in school allows them to resume their own education and gain autonomy.
For children in crisis contexts, education means protection, stability, and a future. And yet, it remains one of the weakest responses of the humanitarian system.
The challenges of education in refugee settings
The problem is not only that many refugee children do not have access to school. It is that, even when they do, the conditions in which they study are far from those that would allow us to speak of an education based on equality. The educational response in refugee contexts is often built in a rush, in unstable environments and with limited resources. This means that, in practice, access guarantees neither quality nor continuity.
Added to this is the constant pressure on host systems. In many cases, schools must quickly accommodate a growing population with diverse needs and interrupted educational trajectories. This is not a single obstacle, but rather an accumulation of mutually reinforcing barriers: lack of resources, structural limitations, social constraints, and family decisions driven by survival.
The result is a system that faces persistent difficulties in providing a stable, inclusive, and quality education. These are some of the main challenges:
- Shortage of teachers: The demand for teachers in refugee camps is high, and in many cases, even with the support of volunteer teachers, educational needs cannot be met. The lack of qualified teaching staff affects the quality of education children receive, hindering their academic and personal development.
- Insufficient and poorly equipped classrooms: Every day, new children join the classes in refugee camps, creating a need to build more classrooms. These classrooms must be adequately equipped with desks, blackboards, toilets, and adequate spaces for cleaning and hygiene. Without these facilities, it is difficult to provide a suitable and safe learning environment for children.
- Lack of food resources: Schools for refugee children often lack the necessary budget to provide students with at least one daily meal or snack. Malnutrition and a lack of adequate food negatively affect children’s ability to concentrate and learn, in addition to impacting their overall health.
- Lack of school supplies: Donations and recycled materials reaching the camps are insufficient. Many children do not have access to notebooks, books, pencils, colored pencils, and other items commonly used in school. Additionally, they lack uniforms and shoes, which can affect their self-esteem and their desire to attend school.
- Lack of after-school activities: Limited resources also prevent the implementation of after-school activity programs. These activities could be beneficial for children’s social and emotional development, providing a constructive use of their free time and helping them forget, at least temporarily, the hardships of their situation.
- Discrimination: In some cases, families prevent their children from attending schools in refugee camps to avoid sharing space with people of different beliefs or ideologies. This discrimination can limit children’s educational opportunities and perpetuate intolerance and conflict.
- Negative cultural perceptions of education: Some parents do not value education, especially when it comes to girls. They ignore appeals from aid agencies for their children to attend schools in refugee camps. Teachers must combat many prejudices that still persist regarding education and teaching methods, which hinders the inclusion of all children in the educational system.
- Early marriages and pregnancies: Early pregnancies and marriages of girls or adolescents arranged by their families are significant barriers to adolescents joining refugee education programs. By becoming mothers or wives, girls and adolescents see their educational options significantly reduced, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty and lack of opportunities.
Education is a vital tool for the development of refugee children. It is not only the most valuable resource we can provide them for their future; it is also a path toward building better societies.
Digital Education: A New Hope
In particularly complex and vulnerable contexts, technology and digital education can help overcome some of the barriers that children face every day. But how can we make the most of these technologies? How can they contribute to solving these problems and obstacles?
In its report A Lifeline to Learning: Leveraging Technology to Support Education for Refugees, UNESCO analyzes more than 90 projects and concludes that technology can help address key challenges: language and literacy barriers, trauma and isolation, lack of teacher training, scarcity of adequate educational resources, and difficulties in certifying and recognizing learning.
Based on this UNESCO analysis and the experience of organizations such as Save the Children, UNHCR, and the ProFuturo Foundation itself—which have been working together on the ground for years—what factors should we consider when designing a digital education program that meets the needs of these children?
Assessing the emergency situation
When we talk about digital education, the characteristics of the emergency we face will help us assess and determine whether it is feasible to use technology and, if so, how and which technology might be most useful. For example, how long is the disruption to learning expected to last? Can they attend school? Do they have access to formal education? Is there electricity? And are there teachers who can help the children? Is there internet and data? The answers to these questions will help us determine how to use technology to facilitate children’s learning and which content needs to be reinforced.
Children’s Learning Needs
We must understand the starting point: what they have experienced, where they are in their educational journey, and what they need to continue learning. This also includes psychosocial support, which is key in displacement contexts.
Families’ needs, values, and expectations
In every emergency context, we must assess and understand what families want and need. We need to understand families’ expectations regarding learning and how they view and are willing to use technology at home.
Technology alone is not enough
Approaches focused solely on devices or platforms do not work. Education in these contexts requires comprehensive responses that take into account social, cultural, economic, and educational factors.
Teacher training and support
Without trained teachers, technology is useless. Training must go beyond the technical and help redefine teaching in complex conditions. Furthermore, teachers’ attitudes toward technology can be a more significant barrier than the lack of skills itself.
Digital and global competencies
The development of digital skills, critical thinking, and teamwork not only opens up future opportunities but also enables students themselves to generate solutions tailored to their reality.
Educating for Peace
On the other hand, while it is true that education neither causes wars nor ends them, educational systems often contribute to creating conditions conducive to the outbreak of armed conflict and can also help build more peaceful, cohesive, and resilient societies, thereby preventing the return of violence. That is why education for peace and global citizenship is just as important today as mathematics or literacy. Critical thinking, collaboration, teamwork… Because we need citizens committed to peace. Today more than ever.
