UN Report - Conflict Keeps 27 Million Children Out Of School - The India Saga

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UN Report – Conflict Keeps 27 Million Children Out Of School

Some 27 million children are out of school due to conflict, with girls facing a heightened risk of sexual and…

UN Report – Conflict Keeps 27 Million Children Out Of School

Some 27 million children are out of school due to conflict, with girls facing a heightened risk of sexual and gender-based violence, the United Nations said in a report released today, calling on States and international organizations to integrate all uprooted children into the education system where they live.

ÂMany of the 50 million uprooted children in the world are in desperate need of education  not despite being uprooted from their homes but because they are uprooted from their homes, the UN ChildrenÂs Fund (UNICEF) stressed in the report.

ÂFor without education, how will they gain knowledge and skills to rebuild their lives? How will they be able to chart a path to a more peaceful and prosperous future for themselves, their families, their communities and the world? queried the agency.

ÂFinding ways to provide education for uprooted children will require funding, creativity and commitment. Together, we can, and must, find solutions so every child can go to school and learn. ChildrenÂs futures  and our own  depend on it, said UNICEF.

In 2015, nearly 50 million children were uprooted, more than 28 million of them forced from their homes because of violence and insecurity, with 27 million children of primary and lower secondary school age out of school in 24 conflict-affected countries, the report noted.

According to UNICEF, refugees are five times more likely to be out of school than other children, with only 50 per cent of refugee children enrolled in primary school and less than 25 per cent in secondary school.

In countries affected by conflict, girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys and are more likely to become victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

Xenophobia, exclusion and stigmatization can create inhospitable, even dangerous environments for children seeking to join a new school system, while only 10 European Union Member States recognize the right of undocumented migrant children to enter the school system and five explicitly exclude them.

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