IFGE joins the 64 organisations who have endorsed the call for International Co-operation to Protect Childrens Right to Education in Emergencies and Crises. We believe there is a need for urgent and concerted action globally to prevent further impact on the education and safety of children in crisis situations. We feel this call to action is urgent and necessary as we are living in precarious times when essential services including education are under threat. We are facing climate threats, violent conflicts in many different contexts and COVID 19 remains persistent, with many countries still feeling its spread. We therefore, call on governments to support this call through action and investment to build resilience and sustainability in places where the impacts on education are the worst.
The G7 call states that ‘G7 members must urgently invest in better futures and SDG 4 by increasing international cooperation to protect the right to education of all children and learners from being disrupted by crisis and establish safe, inclusive, gender-responsive, quality education and lifelong learning systems that are resilient to emergencies and crises like COVID-19, climate change, and conflict’. (1) We are at a critical point now when governments need to answer this call and take the necessary action before it is too late.
IFGE asserts that international co-operation and financing is essential to create resilient education systems which have a better chance of dealing with crisis induced disruption. Gender responsive education systems that support the most marginalised, girls and people with disabilities must be a priority. Public and private investment is needed to provide multi-year funding that supports the most vulnerable and allows for emergency responses for education in crisis situations. We, therefore, hope this call to action will serve as a powerful engagement tool to draw the attention of political leaders to education and raise the visibility of education during this year’s G7 process. This collective call to action will hopefully serve as useful input into the Transforming Education Summit (TES) which takes place in September 2022 in which there is a real opportunity to gain greater commitment from governments to support this agenda.
(1) G7 Call for International Cooperation to Protect Children’s Right to Education in Emergencies and Crises, G7 2022 Education Advocacy Working Group, April 2022. G7 Call for International Cooperation to Protect Children ́s Right to Education in Emergencies and Crises | Global Education Campaign (bildungskampagne.org)
