Education in emergencies and conflict areas is the process of teaching and promoting quality education for children, youth, and adults in crisis-affected areas. Such emergency settings include: conflicts, pandemics and disasters caused by natural hazards. Strengthened education systems protects children and youth from attack, abuse, and exploitation, supports peace-building, and provides physical and psychological safety to children. In times of crisis, education helps build resilience and social cohesion across communities, and is fundamental to sustained recovery. [1]
Emergency situations affecting education are defined as all situations in which man-made or natural disasters destroy, within a short period of time, the usual conditions of life, care and education facilities for children disrupting, denying, hindering progress or delaying the realization of the right to education. Such situations can be caused by, armed conflicts both international, including military occupation, and non-international, post-conflict situations, pandemics and all types of natural disasters. [2]
Education is a human right to which everyone is entitled. However, in emergencies states encounter difficulties in guaranteeing and protecting the right to education, particularly for already marginalized vulnerable groups, for example, persons with disabilities. This is due to loss of power and the lawlessness that emerges, the destruction of infrastructure or because of the redirection of resources. Emergencies increase the chances that the right to education will be violated. [3] Therefore, it is important that international law and the international community act to minimize the harmful effects of emergency situations. In emergencies, human rights law applies across all contexts. People do not lose their human rights because of conflict, famine, or natural disasters. The right to education is non-derogable, which means states are not permitted to temporarily limit its enjoyment during a state of emergency. [3]
Depending on the nature of the emergency, different areas of international law applies. These include: international human rights law, international humanitarian law (or the law of armed conflict), international refugee law and international criminal law. In addition ‘soft law’ such as the Safe Schools Declaration (2015) would also apply. During emergencies, a state's ability to guarantee the right to education may be compromised and other actors (the UN, NGOs, other states, etc.) are obliged to offer international assistance and cooperation. [3]
During emergencies education is not generally seen as being immediately life-saving, yet the value of education to those affected by emergency situations should not be underestimated and is highlighted by parents and learners themselves as crucial in bringing stability, emotional and physical protection, and continuity. In the medium-term, education can help child soldiers, internally displaced persons, migrants, and refugees and all those affected by emergencies to reintegrate back into society. In the long-term, education may play a role in preventing emergencies. [3]
According to the right to education, the same should be provided regardless of the origin, nationality, or legal status of learners. Although legal and immigration status is not explicitly listed as a prohibited ground of discrimination, several UN Human Rights treaty bodies, such as the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the Committee on the Rights of the Child have affirmed that the rights under the right to education apply to everyone, including non-nationals such as refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons, migrant workers and victims of international trafficking, including in situations of return or deportation to the country of origin, regardless of legal status and documentation. [3]
Natural disasters, such as earthquakes or typhoons, place education systems at risk of loss of life, infrastructure damage and displacement, among other threats. Ensuring that education sector plans take such risks into account can reduce potential impacts. In 2017, the United nations Office for International strategy for Disaster Reduction and the Global alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the education sector launched an updated Comprehensive school safety framework stating three pillars including: safe learning facilities, school disaster management, and risk reduction and resilience education. [4]
In Bangladesh, a component of the third primary education Development program focuses on emergencies, in recognition of the disaster risks facing the country. Its purpose is to carry out a recommendation from the 2011 local Consultative Group for Disaster emergency Response: to develop a ‘framework to guide integration of Disaster Risk Reduction and education in emergencies into sector planning and implementation’. [5]
Many pacific island nations recognize climate change as a cause of increasing natural disaster risk and plan education structure. In 2011, the solomon Islands issued its policy statement and Guidelines for Disaster preparedness and education in emergency situations. The objective is for students to continue to access safe learning environments before, during and after an emergency, ensuring that all schools identify temporary learning and teaching spaces. It suggests that to maintain education quality, all teachers in affected areas should be trained in psychosocial strategies within two months of the disaster, and psychosocial activities should be introduced in all temporary learning spaces and schools within six weeks. [6] The education strategic Framework 2016–2030 suggests that the curriculum should introduce ‘awareness about climate, environmental, disaster, social cohesion and social protection risk management to promote adaptation, sustainability, resilience and inclusion/equity’. [7] [4]
As of 20 March, more than 960 million children and youth are not attending school because of temporary or indefinite country wide school closures mandated by governments in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. [8] [9] [10] 105 countries have shut schools nationwide, affecting students who would normally attend pre-primary to upper-secondary classes. 15 countries have implemented localized school closures to prevent or contain COVID-19, affecting an additional 640 million school children and youth. [11]
Even when school closures are temporary, it carries high social and economic costs. The disruptions they cause affects people across communities, but their impact is more severe for disadvantaged children and their families including: [8]
In response to school closures caused by COVID-19, UNESCO recommends the use of distance learning programmes and open educational applications and platforms that schools and teachers can use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of education. [11]
Traumatic experiences can cause long-lasting physical, emotional and cognitive effects. This can be damaging when experienced during the sensitive periods of brain development. Levels of stress can disrupt the architecture and development of brain and other biological systems with negative impacts on learning, behaviour and lifelong physical and mental health. [12]
Education can stimulate resilience, nurture learners’ social and emotional development and give children and communities hope for the future. It helps communities rebuild, by healing some of the trauma and in the long term encouraging social cohesion, reconciliation and peacebuilding. [13] [14] Schools can help migrant and refugee children deal with trauma through psychosocial support integrated with social and emotional learning interventions, helping to build self-confidence, resilience and emotional regulation skills, and teaching children to create relationships based on trust with others. [15]
Social and emotional learning programmes address trauma as part of their broader aim to improve child and youth behaviour and academic performance. Social, emotional and cognitive features of human development are connected in the brain and central to learning. [16] Social and emotional learning programmes use active forms of learning, such as project-based learning, role play and group discussions. [17] [12]
Education settings can be key for mitigating and reversing the effects of trauma. Safe school environments, in which students feel cared for, supported, engaged and stimulated, not only help students cope with trauma but also facilitate their learning. [18]
The trauma of violence in schools, whether due to the direct or indirect consequences of conflict, can have a negative impact not only on enrolment, quality and achievement but also on student mental health. Education interventions to promote school safety should aim to improve school infrastructure and to protect schools and routes to school both from external threats (such as attacks or the effects of natural disasters) and internal threats (such as school-based violence or bullying). [18] [12]
Teachers in emergencies are exposed to higher rates of trauma, whether directly or through their interactions with students. The emotional pressure of working in a traumatic setting and with traumatized individuals can have negative impacts on teachers’ mental health, which not only leads to personal and professional costs but also limit their effectiveness in assisting trauma survivors. Professional training enables teachers to better recognize and mitigate the stressful impact of responding to others’ trauma.
Teachers can be important role models for migrant and refugee learners who might not be familiar with many adults in the host country. Their potential to improve learners’ lives is higher in the context of trauma, since support from a trusted adult can counterbalance the effects of prolonged stress, especially for unaccompanied migrant and refugee minors or those who do not have parental support. [19] [12]
This article incorporates text from a free content work.Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.Text taken from Right to education handbook ,UNESCO,UNESCO. UNESCO.
This article incorporates text from a free content work.Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.Text taken from Global education monitoring report, 2019: Migration, displacement and education: building bridges, not walls ,UNESCO,UNESCO. UNESCO.
Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. It can mean any form of learning adults engage in beyond traditional schooling, encompassing basic literacy to personal fulfillment as a lifelong learner, and to ensure the fulfillment of an individual.
Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of education theory that relates to the teaching of children from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is up to the equivalent of third grade. ECE is described as an important period in child development.
Psychological trauma is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events, such as bodily injury, sexual violence, or other threats to the life of the subject or their loved ones; indirect exposure, such as from watching television news, may be extremely distressing and can produce an involuntary and possibly overwhelming physiological stress response, but does not always produce trauma per se. Examples of distressing events include violence, rape, or a terrorist attack.
A humanitarian crisis is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or external conflict and usually occurs throughout a large land area. Local, national and international responses are necessary in such events.
Psychological resilience, or mental resilience, is the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with a crisis, or to return to pre-crisis status quickly.
The right to education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free, primary education for all, an obligation to develop secondary education accessible to all with the progressive introduction of free secondary education, as well as an obligation to develop equitable access to higher education, ideally by the progressive introduction of free higher education. In 2021, 171 states were parties to the Covenant.
Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences. Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse. They may also witness abuse of a sibling or parent, or have a mentally ill parent. These events can have profound psychological, physiological, and sociological impacts leading to lasting negative effects on health and well-being. These events may include antisocial behaviors, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sleep disturbances. Additionally, children whose mothers have experienced traumatic or stressful events during pregnancy have an increased risk of mental health disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
An at-risk student is a term used in the United States to describe a student who requires temporary or ongoing intervention in order to succeed academically. At risk students, sometimes referred to as at-risk youth or at-promise youth, are also adolescents who are less likely to transition successfully into adulthood and achieve economic self-sufficiency. Characteristics of at-risk students include emotional or behavioral problems, truancy, low academic performance, showing a lack of interest for academics, and expressing a disconnection from the school environment. A school's effort to at-risk students is essential. For example, a study showed that 80% to 87% of variables that led to a school's retention are predictable with linear modeling. In January 2020, Governor Newsom of California changed all references to "at-risk" to "at-promise" in the California Penal Codes.
Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. This concept is also termed as psychosocial competency. The subject varies greatly depending on social norms and community expectations but skills that function for well-being and aid individuals to develop into active and productive members of their communities are considered as life skills.
Child migration or "children in migration or mobility" is the movement of people ages 3–18 within or across political borders, with or without their parents or a legal guardian, to another country or region. They may travel with or without legal travel documents. They may arrive to the destination country as refugees, asylum seekers, or economic migrants.
Nearly half of all refugees are children, and almost one in three children living outside their country of birth is a refugee. These numbers encompass children whose refugee status has been formally confirmed, as well as children in refugee-like situations.
Global citizenship education (GCED) is a form of civic learning that involves students' active participation in projects that address global issues of a social, political, economic, or environmental nature. The two main elements of GCE are 'global consciousness'; the moral or ethical aspect of global issues, and 'global competencies', or skills meant to enable learners to participate in changing and developing the world. The promotion of GCE was a response by governments and NGOs to the emergence of supranational institution, regional economic blocs, and the development of information and communications technologies. These have all resulted in the emergence of a more globally oriented and collaborative approach to education. GCE addresses themes such as peace and human rights, intercultural understanding, citizenship education, respect for diversity and tolerance, and inclusiveness.
Children of migrant workers struggle to achieve the same level of educational success as their peers. Relocation causes discontinuity in education, which causes migrant students to progress slowly through school and drop out at high rates. Additionally, relocation has negative social consequences on students: isolation from peers due to cultural differences and language barriers. Migrant children, defined as those who relocate because of involvement with agriculture-related industries or other seasonal work, are also at a disadvantage because the majority live in extreme poverty and must work with their parents to support their families. These barriers to equal educational attainment for children of migrant workers are present in countries all over the world. Although the inequality in education remains pronounced, government policies, non-governmental organizations, non-profits, and social movements are working to reverse its effects.
Early childhood trauma refers to various types of adversity and traumatic events experienced during the early years of a person's life. This is deemed the most critical developmental period in human life by psychologists. A critical period refers to a sensitive time during the early years of childhood in which children may be more vulnerable to be affected by environmental stimulation. These traumatic events can include serious illness, natural disasters, family violence, sudden separation from a family member, being the victim of abuse, or suffering the loss of a loved one. Traumatic experiences in early childhood can result in severe consequences throughout adulthood, for instance developing post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety. The effects of this trauma can be experienced very differently depending on factors such as how long the trauma was, how severe and even the age of the child when it occurred. Negative childhood experiences can have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. However, not all children who are exposed to negative stimuli in early childhood will be affected severely in later life; some children come out unscathed after being faced with traumatic events, which is known as resilience. Many factors can account for the invulnerability displayed by certain children in response to adverse social conditions: gender, vulnerability, social support systems, and innate character traits. Much of the research in this area has referred to the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE) study. The ACE study found several protective factors against developing mental health disorders, including mother-child relations, parental health, and community support. However, having adverse childhood experiences creates long-lasting impacts on psychosocial functioning, such as a heightened awareness of environmental threats, feelings of loneliness, and cognitive deficits. Individuals with ACEs are more prone to developing severe symptoms than individuals in the same diagnostic category.
Conflicts and emergencies around the world pose detrimental risks to the health, safety, and well-being of children. There are many different kinds of conflicts and emergencies, for example, violence, armed conflicts, war, and natural disasters. Some 13 million children are displaced by armed conflicts and violence around the world. Where violent conflicts are the norm, the lives of young children are significantly disrupted and their families have great difficulty in offering the sensitive and consistent care that young children need for their healthy development. One impact is the high rates of PTSD seen in children living with natural disasters or chronic conflict.
Climate change education (CCE) is education that aims to address and develop effective responses to climate change. It helps learners understand the causes and consequences of climate change, prepares them to live with the impacts of climate change and empowers learners to take appropriate actions to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. Climate change and climate change education are global challenges that can be anchored in the curriculum in order to provide local learning and widen up mindset shifts on how climate change can be mitigated. In such as case CCE is more than climate change literacy but understanding ways of dealing with climate
Newcomer education is the specialized teaching of refugees, migrants, asylees and immigrants who have resettled in a host country, with the goal of providing the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate into their country of refuge. Education is the primary way by which newcomers can adjust to the linguistic, social, and cultural environments of their new communities. Newcomer education aims to empower newcomers with a sense of self-efficacy and social integration, as well as giving them the skills to pursue employment or higher education. Newcomer education also aims to help address trauma, culture shock, and other negative effects of forced displacement. Education for newcomers can provide long-term prospects for stability of individuals, communities, countries and global society.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected educational systems across the world. The number of cases of COVID-19 started to rise in March 2020 and many educational institutions and universities underwent closure. Most countries decided to temporarily close the educational institutions in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. UNESCO estimates that at the height of the closures in April 2020, national educational shutdowns affected nearly 1.6 billion students in 200 countries: 94% of the student population and one-fifth of the global population.
A systematic review notes that children with COVID-19 have milder effects and better prognoses than adults. However, children are susceptible to "multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children" (MIS-C), a rare but life-threatening systemic illness involving persistent fever and extreme inflammation following exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on female education. Female education relates to the unequal social norms and the specific forms of discrimination that girls face. In 2018, 130 million girls worldwide were out of school, and only two out of three girls were enrolled in secondary education. The COVID-19 pandemic may further widen the gaps and threatens to disrupt the education of more than 11 million girls. In addition, girls are less likely to have access to the Internet and online learning.
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