Four million refugee children do not attend school, an increase of half a million from a year earlier, a UN report warned on Aug. 29.
“While the population uprooted by wars and persecution is on the rise worldwide, the numbers of refugee children enrolled in schools is failing to keep pace,” a new report by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR said.
According to the UN, there were more than 25.4 million refugees around the world by the end of 2017 while more than half of them were children and among them, 7.4 million were of school age.
Only 61 percent of refugee children attend primary school, compared to 92 percent of children globally, 23 percent of refugee children attend secondary school, compared to 84 percent of children globally, the report said.
“Globally, enrollment in higher education stands at 37 percent, while only one percent of refugees have the same opportunity,” the report added.
In a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi said: “Based on current patterns, unless urgent investment is undertaken, hundreds of thousands more children will join these disturbing statistics.”
Source: AA
