“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”- Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa and one of the most prominent leaders of the Anti-Apartheid Movement once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” which indeed is true as it makes people aware of their potential and helps them to nourish their talents and become productive. It gives us a better idea of the world around us, helps to make decisions in life in a more effective way and perform our duties properly.
Quality Education for everyone is one of the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations. As per the data available on the website of the UN, about 260 million children were still out of school in 2018, globally.
Now, according to the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) report by the UN, about 222 million school aged children are affected globally due to protracted crisis. These children are in need of educational support.
About 78.2 million children are out of school, the majority of which are girls- around 54%, followed by children with functional disabilities-17% and children who were forcibly displaced-16%; while 119.6 million students have not achieved proficiency in reading or mathematics despite going to school.
This report also highlighted the prime causes of such alarming numbers of children in need of educational support are armed conflicts, forced displacements, climate induced disasters and protracted crisis.
To respond to this Global Education crisis, the ECW and strategic partners launched the #222milliondreams resource mobilization campaign in Geneva on June 21, 2022.
According to the report, ECW may consider to prioritize investments more explicitly in countries with the highest number of out of school children. The ECW has also called up on donors, various philanthropic foundations, the multi-millionaires and billionaires around the world to donate more in order to invest more resources to deliver quality education to the affected children.
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