More than 3.5 million refugee children aged 5 to 17 did not have the chance to attend school in the last academic year, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, a new report from UNHCR has found. These include some 1.5 million refugee children missing out on primary school, the report found, while 2 million refugee adolescents are not in secondary school.

Of the 17.2 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, half are children. Compared to other children and adolescents around the world, the gap in opportunity for refugees is growing wider.

The report, “Left Behind: Refugee Education in Crisis”, compares UNHCR sources and statistics on refugee education with data from UNESCO, the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization, on school enrolment around the world. Globally, 91 per cent of children attend primary school. For refugees, that figure is far lower at only 61 per cent – and in low-income countries it is less than 50 per cent.

As refugee children get older, the obstacles increase: only 23 per cent of refugee adolescents are enrolled in secondary school, compared to 84 per cent globally. In low-income countries a mere 9 per cent of refugees are able to go to secondary school.

For tertiary education the situation is critical. Across the world, enrolment in tertiary education stands at 36 per cent. For refugees, despite big improvements in overall numbers thanks to investment in scholarships and other programmes, the percentage remains stuck at 1 per cent.

For more information: • media page: unhcr.org/left-behind-media • multimedia report: [ Ссылка ]
Information for media: If you would like to use this video or require B-Roll, transcripts, stills or much more information, please contact drozditb@unhcr.org or tibaw@unhcr.org.

свернуть