Halimatou Hima, 2022 Echidna Global Scholar – Brookings Institution Education, Policy and Learning – Global Partnership for Education (GPE), hari mahima

The provision of education in conflict-affected humanitarian settings has moved from an afterthought to a priority. Globally, her 222 million school-aged children need educational assistance affected by conflict, violence and humanitarian crises. In the Sahel region, the combined effects of instability, economic hardship and climate-driven humanitarian crises threaten to reverse years of education. Hard-earned advances in education. In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the number of schools closed due to insecurity increased tenfold between 2017 and 2021, leaving more than 500,000 children without education. rice field.

Beyond other normative debates about the value of education, the provision and protection of education in conflict-affected settings has immeasurable benefits. First, schools can provide a sense of normalcy and a safe space where children can continue to learn, grow and realize their potential. Getting girls to school in crisis situations can delay marriage, prevent premature birth, protect girls from gender-based violence and empower them as young women.

Second, education can be an important tool to combat radicalization and extremism. Out-of-school youth and children are at a much higher risk of being drafted into armed militias than those in school. Education can also provide disenfranchised youth with a sense of inclusion, thereby reducing their vulnerability to extremist terrorist groups such as Boko Haram.

Third, in any setting, investing in girls’ education has significant social and economic returns. A girl in a conflict- or crisis-affected situation is 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than a girl of her age in a non-conflict situation. Girls are more likely to be targeted for education and less likely to return after school closures, disruptions or destruction of school infrastructure. As such, special attention should be paid to the gender implications of educational interruptions.

As a 2022 Echidna Global Scholar, I will study the effects of anxiety on outcomes as well as access to education, and analyze the conditions that promote continued learning among children on the move.

Most importantly, the provision and protection of education in armed conflict is a human right, further protected by UN Security Council Resolution 2601 (2021). The resolution was unanimously adopted and endorsed by 99 Member States.

Adapting education to the protracted nature of today’s crises and conflicts

The scale of the education crisis in conflict-affected areas calls for expanded services to ensure access to schooling for displaced children.but overlooking education quality It can have disastrous consequences for retention and continued learning. For most of the forcibly displaced children, it becomes almost impossible to go to school without an environment conducive to learning. Without quality, there can be no continuation of learning.

Poor quality education can interact with long-standing sociocultural factors to solidify perceptions of the futility of schooling. Amina (name changed), one of only two literate women in a displaced community near Tillaberi, Niger, says that all children (girls and boys) go to school. I have worked tirelessly to keep up with my studies. Education. ‘ But as she goes on to explain, ‘We get even those who register, over and over and over again, eventually sent home,’ adding that the situation is so dire. A situation where the most basic needs are not being met and where there are many competing needs for a child’s time at home and in the community. So “just going to school” is not enough. As the crisis drags on, families and individuals face many urgent priorities, calling into question the value of education, especially when education systems fail to deliver quality. This can have a particularly severe impact on girls. Evidence suggests that poor households often think of the opportunity cost of schooling in a gendered way.

Education provision must adapt to the protracted nature of today’s crises and conflicts, where education is often targeted by terrorists and armed groups. These worrying developments come at a time when more than half of school-age children in the Sahel region are out of school and learning and education outcomes are low. A crisis has a considerable impact on the continuation of learning. School closures due to insecurity and loss of learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic threaten decades of educational progress.

As a 2022 Echidna Global Scholar, I will study the effects of anxiety on outcomes as well as access to education, and analyze the conditions that promote continued learning among children on the move. I put this work through the lens of a Sahelian woman who recognizes the transformative power of education, a scholar of the Global South, and a national policy maker who played a key role in the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2601 (2021). bring. Protection of education in armed conflict.

With this study, we hope to inform the design, response and implementation of education in emergency strategies for children on the move in the Sahel. For an effective education response in times of crisis, it is important to bring the voices and perspectives of displaced communities to the fore. My analysis deconstructs how communities on the move (re)imagine the idea of ​​educating children, critically engages, and captures gender dynamics in this discourse .

In many ways, Amina’s struggle to keep her children out of school paralleled the education of Nana Asmau, who in the same region in the 19th century, under unlikely circumstances, opened the door for women to learn. reflects the quest for It also represents the Hausa spirit of “Ilimi haské”, which means “education is the light”. Nowhere does this proverb sound truer than in the Sahel.

It is essential to provide quality education to children on the move and to devise urgent solutions to ensure that they learn.