SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'Despair of a Generation' as Violence Blocks Education for Millions
UNICEF report finds nearly 14 million children across the Middle East and North Africa prevented by war and conflict from attending school
Sep 03, 2015
Even sanctuaries of learning are not spared from the war and upheaval sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 14 million children are prevented from attending school both within their home countries and as refugees, a devastating new report from UNICEF finds.
Released Thursday, Education Under Fire (pdf) concludes that the school systems in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Palestine, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey are profoundly impacted--either directly or indirectly--by war.
The report comes amid growing outcry at the inhumane treatment of refugees, many of them children, who cross the Mediteranean Sea to Europe in a bid to escape war, violence, and poverty.
Roughly 2.7 million Syrian, 3 million Iraqi, 2 million Libyan, 3.1 million Sudanese, and 2.9 million Yemeni children are currently not receiving their education, bringing the total to 13.7 million, the report concludes.
In many cases this is because direct attacks on schools and related infrastructure make attending classes impossible. Just looking at Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya alone, nearly 9,000 schools are not being used, either because they have sustained too much damaged, are sheltering displaced people, or have been overtaken by combatants.
"I have seen children trying to write on the ground because they want to learn so much," Jameela, head teacher at a school in Sa'ada in northern Yemen, told researchers.
In Gaza, where young children have already "lived through three major military confrontations in six years," Israel's 50-day military assault last summer caused "massive destruction to infrastructure including schools--and left deep scars in the psyche of children and their caregivers," states the report.
Meanwhile, the school systems of other countries are not absorbing refugees. In Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, over 700,000 Syrian refugee children are unable to receive an education.
"The destructive impact of conflict is being felt by children right across the region," said Peter Salama, regional director for UNICEF in the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement accompanying the report. "It's not just the physical damage being done to schools, but the despair felt by a generation of schoolchildren who see their hopes and futures shattered."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
Even sanctuaries of learning are not spared from the war and upheaval sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 14 million children are prevented from attending school both within their home countries and as refugees, a devastating new report from UNICEF finds.
Released Thursday, Education Under Fire (pdf) concludes that the school systems in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Palestine, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey are profoundly impacted--either directly or indirectly--by war.
The report comes amid growing outcry at the inhumane treatment of refugees, many of them children, who cross the Mediteranean Sea to Europe in a bid to escape war, violence, and poverty.
Roughly 2.7 million Syrian, 3 million Iraqi, 2 million Libyan, 3.1 million Sudanese, and 2.9 million Yemeni children are currently not receiving their education, bringing the total to 13.7 million, the report concludes.
In many cases this is because direct attacks on schools and related infrastructure make attending classes impossible. Just looking at Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya alone, nearly 9,000 schools are not being used, either because they have sustained too much damaged, are sheltering displaced people, or have been overtaken by combatants.
"I have seen children trying to write on the ground because they want to learn so much," Jameela, head teacher at a school in Sa'ada in northern Yemen, told researchers.
In Gaza, where young children have already "lived through three major military confrontations in six years," Israel's 50-day military assault last summer caused "massive destruction to infrastructure including schools--and left deep scars in the psyche of children and their caregivers," states the report.
Meanwhile, the school systems of other countries are not absorbing refugees. In Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, over 700,000 Syrian refugee children are unable to receive an education.
"The destructive impact of conflict is being felt by children right across the region," said Peter Salama, regional director for UNICEF in the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement accompanying the report. "It's not just the physical damage being done to schools, but the despair felt by a generation of schoolchildren who see their hopes and futures shattered."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
Even sanctuaries of learning are not spared from the war and upheaval sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 14 million children are prevented from attending school both within their home countries and as refugees, a devastating new report from UNICEF finds.
Released Thursday, Education Under Fire (pdf) concludes that the school systems in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Palestine, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey are profoundly impacted--either directly or indirectly--by war.
The report comes amid growing outcry at the inhumane treatment of refugees, many of them children, who cross the Mediteranean Sea to Europe in a bid to escape war, violence, and poverty.
Roughly 2.7 million Syrian, 3 million Iraqi, 2 million Libyan, 3.1 million Sudanese, and 2.9 million Yemeni children are currently not receiving their education, bringing the total to 13.7 million, the report concludes.
In many cases this is because direct attacks on schools and related infrastructure make attending classes impossible. Just looking at Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya alone, nearly 9,000 schools are not being used, either because they have sustained too much damaged, are sheltering displaced people, or have been overtaken by combatants.
"I have seen children trying to write on the ground because they want to learn so much," Jameela, head teacher at a school in Sa'ada in northern Yemen, told researchers.
In Gaza, where young children have already "lived through three major military confrontations in six years," Israel's 50-day military assault last summer caused "massive destruction to infrastructure including schools--and left deep scars in the psyche of children and their caregivers," states the report.
Meanwhile, the school systems of other countries are not absorbing refugees. In Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, over 700,000 Syrian refugee children are unable to receive an education.
"The destructive impact of conflict is being felt by children right across the region," said Peter Salama, regional director for UNICEF in the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement accompanying the report. "It's not just the physical damage being done to schools, but the despair felt by a generation of schoolchildren who see their hopes and futures shattered."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.