We are facing an unprecedented crisis in education. COVID-19 has rapidly undermined hard-won gains in access to quality education and improved learning outcomes ㅡ a shocking 1.5 billion children have already had their education impacted by COVID-19.
Even before the pandemic, there were 75 million children in danger of missing out on education in countries like Syria, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Venezuela, where everything from armed conflicts, health crises and natural disasters were already keeping kids from class. Now, due to COVID-19 related school closures, a staggering 128 million vulnerable kids may be forced out of school forever.
Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the United Nations global fund working to ensure that every child affected by armed conflicts and crises has access to a safe, free, and quality education by 2030. If governments pledge enough funds, ECW could reach an additional 4.5 million children and youth by 2023 — but it needs more money to achieve this.
Ask world leaders to commit new funds to Education Cannot Wait. We will hand over our signatures to governments around the world.