Finland is now in a position to lead on continued support to education for displaced children to ensure a more peaceful world. Finland is also in a unique position to more actively connect education in emergencies with vocational education – the two must go together if we are to break the vicious circle of displacement and disparity.
Each year in November, the World gets its school report card. This year is no exception.
The 400 page long Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM) from UNESCO in Paris has collected data and analysis on where each country is on its way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal number 4 (SDG4) on education and development.
Although the world overall gets better and more coordinated at meeting the many challenges, the report also reveals how far we still are behind the goals, and the amount of work needed over the next decade to be where we want to be in 2030.
The report looks at all countries, analysing their data on school systems and education financing. It focuses both on the countries that provide aid assistance to education and those receiving it.
Finland has the means and the technical know-how to do so, and this would not only help ensure the right to quality education. It would also contribute to a much more stable world in an age of mass displacement and in a reality where the gap in transition to secondary education is especially large for refugee children and where few have the right skills to enter the labour market and therefore break out of a vicious circle of displacement and disparity.
Refugees and displaced children are the key to meeting SDG4
The report sets out the challenges with this large and growing population, and maps trends and debates on how progress is made, providing the international community with recommendations.
This is especially important for Finn Church Aid (FCA), because we work in some of the most difficult country contexts, where refugees and displaced persons are a major part of the population we try to assist.
Uganda has one of the world’s largest refugee populations as well as one of the most progressive policies on rights for displaced persons. Myanmar on the other hand has forced more than 700 000 people across the border into Bangladesh, a country which is understandably weary of integrating such a large new population into already fragile national systems. In Somalia and Eritrea a lot of people are either internally displaced or they left their home country after years of unrest or challenging political situation.
FCA works with education in all of these countries. Today’s crises are long and protracted, resulting in extensive periods of displacement and disruption. Because of this and a range of policy and financial barriers that may prevent refugees from accessing national education systems, displaced populations are five times less likely to attend school than other children and youth.
UNHCR estimates that only 61% of refugees attend primary school, compared to 91% at the global level. Only 22% refugee adolescents receive a secondary education, compared to 84% around the world.[1]
The new GEM report goes on to make the all-important link between ensuring the right to education for displaced populations and achieving the wider SDG4 goal for development.
Integration into national education systems
A major recommendation is for the inclusion of refugee children into national systems of the host countries – of which most are in the Global South, such as countries like Uganda and Bangladesh.
This is the best and most sustainable way forward to ensure quality education and avoid creating large parallel societies or refugee camps, in which people are caught for years and years with neither hope of going home nor integrating into the host countries.
Without integration and hope, there is a very real danger that war and instability continue and spread. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of political will for addressing this issue.
Only a little more than half of the 25 refugee host countries, who according to UNHCR have the biggest populations and needs, actually allow refugees to integrate into national systems.
One country that is on the forefront is Uganda, which for instance allows refugees from Chad, DRC and South Sudan the freedom of movement and gives them a piece of land, among other things.
This is in part due to a far-sighted regional collaboration of seven East African countries that have come together on a commitment to inclusion in education, as expressed in the Djibouti Declaration.
However, what is needed in Uganda, and in the many other countries that draw up impressive policies, is a greater support from the international community, better accountability and improved monitoring systems to prove that the good intentions are actually translated into action rather than just staying at a policy level.
Finland and its EU partners can help support and encourage the host countries to do so through collective and coordinated political and financial action, as well as through technical support on key issues like the important connection between education, youth and the labour market in the host countries.
By Peter Hyll-Larsen INEE Advocacy coordinator, seconded by FCA
Although enrollment in education in developing countries has increased, millions of children remain out of school. The situation is especially dire at times of a conflict; globally, half of all out-of-school children live in conflict-affected areas.
Humanitarian crises tend to be long and extremely complex, and therefore affect well-being and education over a long period. Most refugee adolescents and youth are out of school.
However, it is vital to ensure access to education also during conflicts. In addition to being a basic human right, education provides stability and normalcy for youth and children living in conflict-ridden zones.
“Children and youth affected by conflicts face multiple challenges in learning. Combining psychosocial support into the provision of education creates conditions for improved learning for children and youth living in difficult circumstances. Communities can play a key role in this”, says Minna Peltola, Senior Education Adviser for FCA and a co-author of the publication.
FCA has specialized in Education in Emergencies (EiE) and is currently implementing education projects in several fragile countries.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) has been selected to be member of the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Steering Group. Executive Director Jouni Hemberg is representing FCA in the board beginning from April 2017.
Education in emergency settings matters today more than ever. For instance natural disasters, the Syrian war and continuous crises in the Central African Republic and South Sudan have forced people to leave their homes, and schools have been closed or destroyed. As a result, millions of children and youth in conflict affected areas are out of school.
Right to Quality Education
Finn Church Aid (FCA) improves quality learning in Education in Emergencies building on the knowhow of Finland’s highly trained teachers, strategic partnerships and ICT for development.
Through Education in Emergencies, FCA provides access to learner-friendly and safe learning environments, and to quality learning opportunities for children, adolescent and youth.
FCA promotes practical ways of ensuring the accessibility and quality of vocational education.
FCA works in the field of education in emergencies in 9 countries as well as on a global level through e.g. INEE and the Education Cluster.
“In a crisis situation, getting schools up and running as fast as possible has remarkable significance for the safety and recovery of children and youth. Schools and the psychosocial support provided in schools can considerably help children and youth to restore a sense of normality, dignity and hope”, says Jouni Hemberg.
“FCA specialises in working with youth. There are many organisations focusing on children, but not as many focus on youth in particular. There’s also a rapidly growing need for vocational education. These are areas that FCA can bring added value to in the Steering Group and the work of INEE”, says Hemberg.
The Steering Group of INEE is comprised of UN agencies (UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF) as permanent members, as well as international non-governmental organisations and donor agencies that serve in four year periods. Steering Group members commit to promoting and advocating increased support for education in emergencies and recovery. They also play a role in seeking funding for INEE.
“The membership of INEE gives FCA an opportunity to influence the development of education from a global perspective”, Hemberg adds.
FCA has been a member of INEE’s Standards and Practice Working Group since 2015 and the network’s Advocacy Working Group since 2016. It has participated in developing practical tools and guidance to organisations that respond to education in emergencies.
A remarkable development work is currently taking place in developing guidance for integrating psychosocial support into education responses in crisis situations. This process will be finalised by the end of May.
“Currently, there‘s very little guidance on psychosocial support in the education sector. Yet, the teacher’s role is essential in improving the well-being of students and building resilience. In a crisis situation teachers themselves are also affected and need support to be able to improve the well-being of children and youth”, says Minna Peltola, Senior Adviser on Education at FCA.
INEE is a network of more than 12,000 individual members and 130 partner organisations in 170 countries. INEE serves its members through community building, advocating, and providing members with the resources and support they need to carry out their work on Education in Emergencies.
The international network for education in emergencies (INEE) has released an open source training pack for primary school teachers. The material is freely available on the INEE website for anyone to use.
The training package is meant to prepare, support and assist teachers who are called to work in emergency settings. The package was developed by the Teachers in Crisis Contexts Working Group where Finn Church Aid is one of seven members alongside International Rescue Committee, Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Teachers College-Columbia University, UNHCR and UNICEF.
This pack answers to a critical need for competency-based teacher training materials in disaster contexts where particular knowledge and skills are required from teachers, but teacher training is often limited.
“This is a complete package for teacher training, but it has also been designed to be flexible and allow for the use of selected modules, for example modules relating to child protection in school contexts. The material may also be tailored for youth education”, says Minna Peltola, FCA Senior Thematic Advisor on Education.
The pack consists of modules covering topics such as teacher’s role and wellbeing, child protection and curriculum planning. The modules have been developed around a set of 28 teacher competencies and the training pack has already been field-tested in Iraq and Kenya.
FCA has used the material for a pilot project at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya where FCA East-African Regional Education Specialist Mary Tangelder has worked on providing teachers support through the use of mobile technology.
“Now, FCA is developing guidelines for long-term teacher mentoring. A condensed quick training version of the package is also being developed for situations where the disaster circumstances don’t allow for the use of the entire package”, Peltola says.
Materials within the pack may serve as refresher training for qualified teachers or build basic teaching competencies for under-qualified ones. The purpose is to provide these teachers with tools that can help them manage the difficult circumstances often related to education in disaster or displaced refugee settings.
More information on the package and the package itself can be found on the INEE website here.
How would you feel sending your children to study in a school that was damaged in battle and had no learning materials available? What would you think if your child was attending a class much lower than other children his age because the exams were in a foreign language and he couldn’t pass them? Would you want your children to study the history of a neighbouring or foreign country instead of that of your own? What if your children couldn’t go to school at all? And how would you do your job if you were the only teacher in a class of 198 students?
During the 2014/2015 school year, 2.8 million Syrian children and adolescents weren’t able to attend school. That’s 40% of all school-aged Syrians. After five years of conflict, there are many causes for this, but surprisingly many of them are related to the quality of education which directly affects learning. The problems in the quality of education are different for Syria than they are for the refugees, but always difficult to resolve. The language of teaching, the curriculum, organising teacher training, and the wellbeing of teachers and students are the core issues.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) operates within different international networks to find solutions to the issues of education in emergencies and quality of education. Since 2010, we have been part of the UN’s Global Education Cluster which is responsible for supporting local education officials in coordinating education-related emergency relief efforts. Last year we joined the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), a network of education professionals. This week the experts of INEE’s working groups have assembled in Amman, Jordan, to cooperate in improving the quality of education in the world’s most difficult crises. This group of about 50 experts from UNHCR, UNRWA, UNICEF and the international branches of Plan and Save the Children also includes two representatives from FCA.
On the agenda this week have been many refugee issues, not limited to the Syrian crisis alone. We have been preparing guidelines for ministries, civil society organisations and schools on how to organise psychosocial support to children, youth and teachers. The process is directed by FCA and Plan International. Increased wellbeing often translates to improved learning outcomes.
We have also been contemplating the use of self-study programmes in regions that have become isolated by war. A new teacher training programme was also launched in Amman with the intention of training primary school teachers who work under crisis situations. The programme is freely available on the INEE website and has already been used in Iraq and the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. This project has been led by UNHCR, and FCA has been one of the seven organisations involved. In relation to this training programme, FCA has organised a pilot project on the use of mobile phones to solve the problems teachers face daily in refugee settings, for example: how to ensure equal learning in a class of 198 students.
Quite a bit can be achieved with expertise, experience, imagination and problem-solving, yet money is also required. We have also had to contemplate how we could more effectively advocate towards donors and decision makers to release more funds for education in emergencies. Everybody has the right to education, even those caught in conflict.
Minna Peltola
FCA Senior Thematic Adviser, Right to Education
PS. FCA’s Regional Education Specialist for Eastern Africa, Mary Tangelder, was also present in Amman.
This year and next year, Finn Church Aid (FCA) constructs more transitional and semi-permanent learning centres with adequate water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in Nepal, extends its post-earthquake teacher training to new schools, and continues psychosocial support for teachers and children.
Devastating earthquakes hit Nepal on 24 April and 12 May 2015, destroying 770,000 homes, killing thousands and affecting millions. Four thousand schools were destroyed or damaged, keeping 1.2 million children out of classrooms.
After providing emergency relief, Finn Church Aid decided to concentrate its efforts on making it possible for children and youth to continue their studies. Within a couple of months after the earthquake, FCA had constructed temporary learning centres for nearly 20,000 students.
In 2016-2017, FCA builds 600 transitional classrooms in the districts of Makwanpur, Gorkha and Sindul with funding from UNICEF.
In remote areas of the Lalitpur district, FCA builds 40 semi-permanent (lifespan of 15-20 years) classrooms for schools which were not included in the reconstruction scheme of the Ministry of Education. FCA will also repair partially damaged, but structurally safe school buildings and tear down unsafe ones.
With the National Center for Education Development, Finn Church Aid is developing an activity package aiming to strengthen the cooperation between schools, families and communities in tackling post disaster child protection risks in Nepal. FCA is also cooperating with four secondary schools to develop an emergency school material kit especially aimed at high school-age students.
“FCA is bridging the gap between response and reconstruction to strengthen the overall quality of education, resilience and recovery at school and community level. The collective efforts of the government and NGOs fulfilled only 70 per cent of the need for temporary learning centres. Therefore, FCA continues to build additional transitional and semi-permanent learning centres”, says Finn Church Aid Nepal Country Manager Lila Bashyal.
Finn Church Aid extends its teacher training for post-earthquake recovery to new schools. The training is given in cooperation with Nepalese education authorities and gives teachers and pupils tools to manage their anxiety and identify when peer support is not enough and professional help is needed.
“FCA continues to provide psychosocial support, because even after one year of the massive earthquake, due to continued aftershocks, teachers report that earthquake survivor children are still traumatised with high levels of psychological and academic distress”, Mr Bashyal says.
The situation in the country remains severe, as people are still waiting for government support for rebuilding their homes and starting their livelihoods. Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese, who lost their homes in the earthquakes, are still living in temporary sheet metal shelters, and even in tents.
Further information: Lila Bashyal, FCA Country Manager for Nepal, email: lila.bashyal(at)kua.fi, Tel. +977 98 511 59 106
Merja Färm, Humanitarian Coordinator, email: merja.farm(at)kua.fi, Tel. +977 98101 35798
A new semester kicked off at our workplace, the Asmara Community College of Education, in February. That also marked the start of a course we had been involved in organising called Introduction to Action Research, which is a course aimed at second year classroom teacher students. The course is meant to provide students with tools for studying their own work, and expand their own thinking about the teaching profession while strengthening their teaching identity.
The idea that teachers are the best researchers and experts of their own work has been a rather prominent pedagogic view in Finland for quite some time. This is not self-evident; in many countries teaching is being developed by ministries or government agencies. The expertise of teachers is getting increasingly valued also here in Eritrea, and this is the third time the Introduction to Action Research course is being organised at the teachers training institute we are working at.
Action Research is not a single research method, but a way of doing research that allows for the use of multiple different methods. It’s a great way of approaching the particular problems and challenges encountered in teaching. The idea is to formulate a research question linked to a problem encountered in the daily professional life, and attempt to find a solution to that problem through research. This solution can be improved upon later based on experiences at work.
The course spans the entire semester, in other words until the end of June. That means that enough time is reserved for immersing in the subject. This is good, because many students have never done research before, and everything in the course is new and interesting to them. The benefits of cooperation are emphasised in the course and participants plan out research projects in small groups.
This year, course participants are second year teacher students and the course is mandatory for everyone. There are three groups in the course which means there are quite a few participants. The largest group has nearly fifty students. Getting to know each student takes time and resources.
During the course participants are introduced to the different methods available for research and what are the best ways for teachers to make research a natural part of their everyday work routines. Action Research is used to find solutions to the problems that arise in normal day-to-day work. Potential research topics brought up by our colleague teacher trainers include: why pupils are late for classes, how to support pupils in difficult subjects like physics and why some pupils don’t do their homework.
It’s positive that the question of how teachers could evolve in their work by studying it themselves is being raised here in Eritrea too. Everyday problems can be solved with Action Research and the research projects don’t have to be enormous in scale or long-lasting. Short and intensive studies can also have a clear impact. We are awaiting with great enthusiasm to see what kind of research projects the Action Research course members come up with.
Katri Meriläinen and Jukka Tulivuori are working as Teachers without Borders volunteers in Eritrea.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) is launching a project to support basic education and remedial classes for over 2,000 children in Syria. The situation of refugee youth on the Greek islands is also alarming, as they are currently being ignored. As much as 80% of refugee children travelling alone disappear after reaching the continent.
FCA supports the basic education and remedial classes of 2,200 children in Syria. Most of them are girls. The majority of beneficiaries live in the Dara’an region, where the Syrian war began in 2011. Other supported schools are located in Al Hasakeh, Aleppo and the Damascus surroundings.
Especially children and youth have suffered from the Syrian war, which has now lasted five years, because they have been out of school for extended periods due to bombings and security threats.
“An estimated 2.1 to 2.4 million children and youth still living in Syria won’t still be able to return to school this year. Thousands of Syrian children will grow up without spending a day in school. And these children are expected to one day build a new Syria”, says Olli Pitkänen, FCA Regional Programme Manager for the Middle East.
According to the UN, the number of Syrian children in need of immediate humanitarian assistance may be as high as six million. Securing education, providing child protection and offering psychosocial support are of particular importance.
“Children and young people are hopeless and live in isolation. They are in an extremely vulnerable position. Under such circumstances, education offers a feeling of stability. It gives you confidence and offers a chance for a radically different future”, says Minna Peltola, FCA Senior Thematic Adviser on Education.
Since 2012, FCA has organised education and recreational activities to thousands of Syrian youth in Jordan.
In Greece, the situation of refugee youth is critical – many disappear after reaching the continent
In February 2016, FCA conducted a needs assessment with Norwegian Church Aid and the Swedish Church in Athens and on the Greek islands, mapping out specifically the needs of refugee children and youth. Since autumn 2015, Finn Church Aid has been assisting refugees in Hungary, Serbia and Greece.
Women, children and young people constitute the majority of refugees currently arriving on the Greek islands. The young people in particular are in a fragile position. For example, child-friendly spaces are organised, to some extent, but no youth spaces are available. Protection of young girls should be managed much better, since they might have to share emergency housing with men. Minors travelling alone are also often kept in police detention facilities where boys and girls share the same rooms. Later, these young people are transferred to guest houses on the continent, where, according to FCA’s study, eight out of ten disappear or leave illegally, which makes them particularly vulnerable. Most will never be heard from again.
Giving psychosocial support to the youth is problematic too, because relief workers and volunteers might not share a common language with the refugees. They might show support to the smaller children by holding them in their arms, but don’t have ways of similarly supporting older children and youth.
Tuesday 15 March 2016 is the fifth year anniversary of the Syrian war, which began as repression of the Arab spring civil uprising, and has since ballooned into a complicated international conflict. The war has claimed 250,000 lives; over one million people have been injured. The conflict has created 6.5 million internal refugees within Syria, and 4.8 million Syrians have fled the country resulting in the worst refugee crisis in the world.
Further information:
Olli Pitkänen, FCA Regional Programme Manager for the Middle East, tel. +358 40 729 22 85. In Finland from Mon. 14 March to Sat. 19 March 2016.
Minna Peltola, FCA Senior Thematic Adviser on Education, tel. +358 40 739 56 12.
Eriikka Käyhkö, Information Officer, tel. +358 40 631 97 32.
Watch a video of our work with children and young people in Syria:
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
