In crisis zones, an urgent UN push to put millions in school
From Pakistan to Ukraine to Venezuela to vast stretches of sub-Saharan Africa, rising crises and climate disasters are taking an added toll on the most vulnerable -- children deprived of school.
"It is horrendous, and it's hard to imagine," said Yasmine Sherif, head of Education Cannot Wait, a UN fund that focuses on education in crisis zones.
"They've lost everything, and on top of it, they have lost their access to a quality education," she said in a recent interview.
Sherif spoke ahead of a UN summit on the education crisis to take place, a day before the annual General Assembly.
The UN fund estimates that 222 million children around the world have seen their education disrupted by conflict or climate-related disasters, including nearly 80 million who never set foot in school.
Since 2016, Education Cannot Wait has raised more than $1 billion to build schools and buy educational materials as well as provide daily meals and offer psychological services. The aid helps nearly seven million children in 32 countries.
But Sherif said that the urgency of the situation required much bigger efforts.
Following the UN summit, Sherif is organising a conference in Geneva in February where the fund will seek a further $1.5 billion with a goal of reaching an additional 20 million children.
In some conflict zones, schools have been destroyed, in what Sherif denounced as war crimes, while others, in violation of international law, have been turned into weapons depots.
