At its most basic level, education provides children with the invaluable opportunity to thrive; in addition to the social and emotional benefits of going to school, even basic reading skills can dramatically increase a person’s income and serve as a lifeline to those escaping extreme poverty.

For more than 222 million children around the world who currently live in a conflict zone, however, the ability to learn is treated more like a luxury than a right.

“During major active conflicts, it’s very dangerous to go outside of the home,” ​Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), told Global Citizen. “Boys may be kidnapped to join armed groups; girls may be sexually abused — it’s a complete disruption of your environment that prevents you from accessing basic services like education.”

Education Cannot Wait is the United Nations’ global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. Their programs seek to address both the short- and long-term effects of a missed education, working with communities to increase learning opportunities and school attendance.

“The average age of a child living as a refugee is 17 years — you can’t delay education during that time, it’s their entire adolescence,” Sherif said.

In today’s high levels of conflict — compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and rising inequality — ensuring safe, reliable access to education has become a formidable task. From the streets of Gaza, to eastern Ukraine, children living in the middle of war are already facing instability, and losing time in school can harm both their social development and academic progress.

ECW recognizes that it’s not just the loss of mathematics and reading skills that can hamper a student’s future but also the reality of shelling, bombing, and violent attacks. ECW’s trauma-informed programs attempt to rectify the situation by taking a holistic approach to education. 

In Burkina Faso, where students are vulnerable to violence from militant groups, ECW builds temporary learning spaces, hosts remedial courses for students, and trains teachers in providing psychosocial support.

“When working in Nigeria with girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram, we saw the positive impact of psychosocial services and academic training,” Sherif said. “The transformation was incredible after a few years. Girls who arrived with no sense of identity or education skills became powerful and learned to heal. Now they’re mentors and supporting other girls.”

She added: “Children who live in conflict zones experience deeply traumatizing events. It’s critically important to invest in mental health and psychosocial services as part of education.” 

Destruction of educational facilities instantly flattens a child’s learning progress, for they cannot attend school if the classroom has been reduced to rubble. After two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia, 85% of the schools had been damaged; in Ukraine, over 3500 schools have been damaged, with more than 340 completely destroyed. In Gaza, children have now missed a full year of school, leaving an estimated 625,000 youth without the education needed to prosper and thrive.

Even when they can attend school, students living amidst conflict face other obstacles to securing a quality education. In Sudan, where ongoing conflict and political instability have caused high levels of displacement, overcrowded classrooms also experience low funding and a shortage of teachers.

That’s in addition to the overarching fear children may have of being forcibly recruited by armed groups or attacked while at school.

In 2023 alone, 78 educational facilities were the targets of attacks in Syria, where more than 22,998 children have died since the beginning of the country’s civil war. In other fragile states like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen, militant groups sometimes occupy schools and render them unusable.

“Mothers who cannot access their education [will not be able to] help their own children. Girls may engage in child marriage when they’re not in school because school provides protection. Boys who aren’t in school may try to earn money by joining an armed group,” Sherif said. “I always say, if you really want to disempower people, make sure that they don’t go to school.”

For decades, researchers have underscored the clear link between education and poverty — absent from a learning environment, children lose valuable skills that can help them find employment or create economic opportunities. The cycle of poverty continues when they grow up and cannot afford to send their  children to school.

This is particularly true for girls in low- and middle-income countries who face societal and economic barriers to school.

Globally, 119 million girls are not able to access their education, while those living in conflict-ridden areas are more than twice as likely to be out of school. That’s because, in times of crisis, families tend to prioritize boys’ education and rely on girls to help with household duties. The consequences of doing so are severalfold; when girls aren’t in school, they are more susceptible to early pregnancy or child marriage, both of which severely limit opportunities to achieve economic freedom.

“In Afghanistan, even before the Taliban took over, there were girls who had not been to school, and we had to help them catch up. We focus on providing mental health support and nutritious meals, as well as incorporating accelerated programs into their education,” Sherif said. “You have to catch them as soon as possible to limit the implications that a lack of education can have on their lives.”

As part of its work increasing education access for children in conflict zones, Education Cannot Wait pays special attention to gender equality. Decades of progress on girls’ education in Afghanistan were lost due to the Taliban’s current ban on girls attending secondary school. ECW expanded access to non-formal education, accelerated learning programs, and community-based services in remote areas of the country.

These adaptations have proved necessary across conflict zones, particularly in response to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to UNICEF, 250 million children are out of school globally, and efforts to bring them back are stagnating. By meeting youth where they are — whether  in a classroom with trained teachers or at home through online learning platforms — Education Cannot Wait is constantly adapting to the world’s challenges to achieve Global Goal 4 sustainably.

“Without education as a foundation, you cannot end extreme poverty. If you don’t have education for girls, you’ll never achieve gender equality. There will be no doctors or nurses [to address public health],” Sherif told Global Citizen. “Education is a way of unleashing the full potential of a human being.”

One of the most impactful things Global Citizens can do to support Education Cannot Wait’s work in conflict-ridden areas of the world is to advocate for education access and funding.

Join Global Citizen’s movement to take action on education NOW, or make a donation to Education Cannot Wait online.