By ETHIOPIA- Managing quality education is pretty expensive, especially when it has to do with a mass numbering about millions of school age children. UNICEF in a recent bulletin has disclosed that “Funding shortfalls are threatening education for millions of children caught up in conflicts or disasters.”
According to a press release from the desk of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), it is stated that the fund needed to attend to the educational needs of children under the aid scheme is scaling below the target. The report puts it that “of the $932 million needed this year for its education programs in emergency countries, UNICEF has so far received recorded voluntary contributions of less than $115 million.
A fund as high as that becomes necessary because of the count of beneficiaries on its line. In UNICEF’s saying, “The funds are necessary to give 9.2 million children affected by humanitarian crises access to formal and non-formal basic education.”
It is believed that Education has a lot to help with in the lives of youth. This is the more reason UNICEF seems to be speaking out and loud. Muzoon Almellehan confirmed this in his statement when he said: “Without education, children grow up without the knowledge and skills they need to contribute to the peace and the development of their countries and economies, aggravating an already desperate situation for millions of children.”
Also, according to UNICEF’s latest and youngest goodwill Ambassador, while delivering a talk during the G-20 summit, the Ambassador was reported to have said that lack of education could lead to vice, misuse of potentials and social immoralities among children.
“For the millions of children growing up in war zones, the threats are even more daunting: Not going to school leaves children vulnerable to early marriage, child labor and recruitment by armed forces.”
UNICEF is calling the world to help these young generation live up their dreams because “For children who have experienced the trauma of war and displacement, only education can be life-saving.”
This was also confirmed in the story of Muzoon. He narrated “When I fled Syria in 2013, I was terrified I would never be able to return to school. But when I arrived in Jordan and realized there was a school in the camp, I was relieved and hopeful. School gives children like me a lifeline and the chance of a peaceful and positive future.”
The report stated that: “In 2017, an estimated 2.7 million children require support to continue their education, including nearly 100,000 internally displaced children.” And, “in addition, an estimated 369,038 refugee children require further support to enable access to educational facilities.”