A UNICEF representative in Sudan, Geer Cappelaere, said “UNICEF is very happy that the EU is deepening its engagement for the children of Darfur through this grant. Growing up healthy and educated is the right of every boy and girl in Darfur, and we will do our level best at UNICEF to ensure a great return on this critical investment in basic education and primary health care in Darfur.”

The ongoing conflict in Darfur has killed over 250,000 people since its beginning in 2003, and continuing violence displaced an estimated 400,000 in 2013 alone. The international community has tried to maintain the availability of education for students displaced by the violence, but these UNICEF programs demonstrate the need for continued action in the region as the conflict continues. 

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The UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, estimated that as of mid-2013, there were over 400,000 people are internally within the CAR. That number has increased during a recent spate of violence centered in the capital. One report estimates that 300,000 people were displaced from Bangui in December 2013 alone. UNICEF reports that of 176 schools inspected across the country in the last year, 114 have been looted. “I want the children in my class to forget the bad things they have seen. I want to make sure that they don’t turn to violence and retribution, but learn honestly and gentleness,” said Antoinette, a teacher at UNICEF training.

“Children have lost several months of schooling since the crisis started,” said UNICEF Deputy Representative in the CAR Judith Léveillée. “If the displaced children cannot go back to schools, classrooms should come to them,” she added.

This UNICEF program in CAR closely resembles another UN program in similarly war-torn South Sudan, where students were able to sit exams in refugee camps. Though the temporary camps in CAR are not designed to be a permanent solution, given the recent escalation in the conflict, there is no telling how long students might remain in these temporary spaces.

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Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala of UNICEF stated  that children have both direct and indirect roles in business as “…consumers, family members of employees, young workers, future employees and business leaders, and as citizens in the communities and environments in which business operates. Business – whether large or small – therefore inevitably interacts with and affects the lives of children in direct and indirect ways.”

The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines the basic human rights that belong to children everywhere.  Despite the rights guaranteed under this convention, hundreds of millions of children around the world are deprived of their basic rights; they are engaged in child labor, deprived of an education, and denied adequate healthcare. As a highly vulnerable population, children require extra protection from the potential impacts of business.

To facilitate this, UNICEF developed basic guidelines for businesses to follow in 2012. The report “Children’s Rights and Business Principles” suggests that companies:

1. Meet their responsibility to respect children’s rights and commit to supporting the human rights of children
2. Contribute to the elimination of child labour, including in all business activities and business relationships
3. Provide decent work for young workers, parents and caregivers
4. Ensure the protection and safety of children in all business activities and facilities
5. Ensure that products and services are safe, and seek to support children’s rights through them
6. Use marketing and advertising that respect and support children’s rights
7. Respect and support children’s rights in relation to the environment and to land acquisition and use
8. Respect and support children’s rights in security arrangements
9. Help protect children affected by emergencies
10. Reinforce community and government efforts to protect and fulfill children’s rights

In December 2013, UNICEF supplemented this material with several workbooks and tools to further guide companies in responsible business practices. The “Children’s Rights in Policies and Codes of Conduct” tool provides recommendations on how to integrate children’s rights into policies and codes of conduct. Another tool on “Children’s Rights in Impact Assessments” identifies ways to assess the impact of business on children and their rights. Finally, the “Children’s Rights in Sustainability Reporting” tool helps businesses to report on actions they have taken to facilitate children’s rights.

“When it comes to children, we all need to do more. That is why I welcome the launch of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles … The Principles provide the first comprehensive framework for business to consider their impact on the rights and well-being of children. They set out steps that all businesses can take to integrate child rights into their operations,” explained Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.

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UNICEF reports that since 2011 almost three million children from Syria have had to quit school as their families have been displaced or their schools destroyed. There are now nearly twice as many children in Syria aged 5 to 17 years old out of school as there are attending, and the numbers are hardly better for the displaced refugee population. 80 per cent of school-age Syrian children are out of school in Lebanon, 66 per cent in Iraq, 63 per cent in Turkey.

The civil war has destroyed what was a successful public school system in Syria. “Before the crisis began in March 2011, Syria could point to a healthy record in basic education. An estimated 97 per cent of primary-age children were attending school, as were 67 per cent of secondary-age children,” the report said. Syria’s literacy rate also surpassed the regional average and was on a par with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, higher than Egypt’s or Iraq’s.

The report concludes with four key recommendations:

• Long-term planning for the education of displaced Syrian children, including the “development and implementation of innovative education policies and models that reflect the presence of Syrian children as an enduring reality.”
• Host countries must be supported and international investment doubled—international appeals for funding have reached only 62 per cent of their goal this year.
• Scale up success and innovation. Certain programs like transferable certification for Syrian refugees, and volunteer instruction in Arabic have proven effective ways to help displaced students resume their education.
• End the devastation of Syria’s education infrastructure — “an estimated 4,000 schools have been destroyed, damaged or turned into shelters for displaced people,” says the report.

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Young people in Botswana often face a frustrating future. With youth unemployment over 40%, teens and young adults are often unable to find work, and may turn to alcohol, drugs, and risky sexual behavior, possibly leading to HIV infection.

Wise Up initially began as an HIV awareness mobile phone message and social media campaign, but founders quickly realized they needed to work through multiple channels.

Today Wise Up conducts workshops for youth theater groups to encourage them improve their drama skills and explore topics faced by Botswana’s young people, especially HIV/AIDS. At the end of each workshop drama groups perform a 20-minute play for community members.

Wise Up’s founders hope to be able to tackle controversial issues in a productive way that leads to lasting behavioral change. According to UNICEF, one of the keys to Wise Up’s success is that plays are produced by local theater groups in local languages for local audiences.

In this way, says Wise Up facilitator Mpho Rabotsima, topics explored are relevant to individual audience members, but the nature of theater performance allows them the distance and freedom to examine the issues more objectively.

Wise Up’s drama training has impacted the performers themselves, in addition to their audiences. Many young performers have faced the same kinds of challenges they act out in their plays.

Tumisang Tsheko, a 20-year-old performer, has used her time in a Wise Up drama group to help her come to terms with her own life experience. Raped as a teenager, Tumisang found herself unable to finish her education and find a job.

“Before this training I was angry- I was hopeless about my life,” she says. “But by coming here, it showed me that… I can take action and be responsible.” She says she would like to spread the message that “Life doesn’t end where the problem is.”

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Before the fall of the Taliban government, almost no girls attended school in Afghanistan. Today 40% of the country’s students are female. The educational situation is improving as a whole: the total number of students has risen from one million to 8.3 million, and the first national curriculum in 30 years has been established.

Despite these encouraging advances, education is still an unattainable dream for too many Afghani girls. According to Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, there are still “many millions of girls who are not in school across the country.” Many millions, he notes, “who are not able to say… I want to be a doctor.”

Additionally, many school districts have problems finding qualified female teachers. And as girls enter high school, they are often at risk of dropping out due to social, cultural, and family pressure.

Beth Murphy, reporting to the Global Post about a visit to a girls’ school in Kabul province, notes that going to school is still risky for many students. In the past few months, six attacks against schoolgirls have taken place, including a bomb explosion, mass poisonings, and a school that was set on fire.

“There is a difficult question being asked here,” she says. “Can the hard-won gains be sustained at a time when Taliban power is growing?”

Experts also fear for the stability of the region as 2014 brings several major changes. With a large-scale international military withdrawal and a presidential election scheduled for early 2014, some worry that the political climate could shift and that some of Afghanistan’s progress will be lost.

Shaima Alkozai, deputy principal at a girls’ school in Kabul wonders, “What will be the future for women? Will their situation improve or become worse? It doesn’t matter to us if we have to wear a burka or not. But we want to continue with education.”

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In response to recent criticism, Galina Chirkina, head of the Alliance for Reproductive Health explained “teenagers don’t have any information [about sexual health] and they end up looking for it in dubious places, like on the Internet. Our idea was to answer their questions professionally.”

To educate adolescents on these issues, the non-governmental organization Alliance for Reproductive Health publishes educational brochures on puberty, virginity and marriage, relationships, sexual relations and pregnancy. This is part of a broader nationwide campaign to increase sexual education in response to rising rates of teen pregnancy, abortion and HIV infection.

In May of this year, the government announced plans to develop a reproductive health bill that will address sex education inadequacies in Kyrgyz schools. As of 2013, Kyrgyzstan has a higher rate of teenage pregnancy than any other Central Asian country. A study performed by UNICEF in 2008 found that very few Kyrgyz parents explain puberty and sexuality to their children. As a result, over 50% of girls between the ages of 13 to 17 were afraid of signs of puberty because they had no previous knowledge of what these changes to their bodies meant.

“More than one generation of sexually illiterate people, people who don’t understand basic aspects of sex, have been raised. There are many examples of how the absence of this sort of education negatively impacts school children. People know nothing about their bodies. They don’t even understand how they function” stated Gulnara Ibraeva, a Kyrgyz sociologist.

Although Kyrgyzstan’s health and education ministries have begun to prioritize sexual education, access to educational materials remains extremely limited and controversial. Many students claim that school lessons on sex and reproduction are “useless.” Teachers promote the practice of safe sex but remain vague on details, failing to explain what steps should be taken to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

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800,000 Malian children have missed out on education since conflict began in the north in 2012. But a tentative peace has reigned since January, and UNICEF’s efforts to reenroll 500,000 children and train 9,000 teachers has made a giant stride toward restarting education.

Still, the region remains troubled, and many teachers and students feel too afraid to return to class. The government has offered a $500 incentive for teachers to return to the region, but it hasn’t convinced everyone.

“Despite the measures taken by the government, many teachers have not yet resumed duty in Timbuktu,” explains Mody Abdoulaye Cissé, education director in Timbuktu.

Three quarters of schools in northern Mali were looted during the conflict, and the military at one time occupied 25% of them. Teaching materials remain scarce, and some school buildings were destroyed.

In the northeastern Kidal region, a separatist Tuareg rebel group remains in control, and schools have not reopened.

Teacher Sekou Sala Koné says that he has decided not to return to his post.

“Everybody knows that the conflict is not over,” he says. “The government is putting the lives of teachers and pupils in danger by opening schools under such conditions.”

Despite the lingering danger, the international community and educational experts are desperate for children to resume their education. As two years of schooling have been lost already, many worry that the longer schools are closed the harder it will be to get students to eventually return.

In some places teachers have been working double shifts to make up for their absent colleagues.

Oumar Touré, a teacher in Timbuktu, explains why he returned to his school: “It is the future of these poor children that we should consider,” he says. “They need us.”

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According to UNICEF Bangladesh, almost a quarter of schools in the sub-areas of the Satkhira District have been submerged by water this year, affecting approximately 21,000 families. The unstable school year has contributed to “increasing dropout rates and decreasing chances of children completing the full primary school cycle.” According to Bangladeshi education experts, the serious interruptions have “serious” implications on the students’ studies and additional efforts are needed to repair damaged school buildings in order to keep schools functioning.

Secondary school teacher reportedly held classes “on the roof of the building,” until the water level became too high and classes were then held in locations accessible by boat or bridges. 17 year old Elias Hassan explains “we organize tutors to come and hold classes [in our homes or shelters], and the teachers do some too,” and “this continues every year now – we don’t have a permanent solution so we are still using small activities to make up for school not being open for the full year.”

Primary school principal, Chamal Nundi, reports a 50% decrease in student attendance during flooding times; at least half the year during the last decade. “Parents are afraid to let their children come to school because of the water, they want to watch them all the time.” Nundi also pointed out the school’s long term hazards, saying “over the years and years of water-logging, the school building structure is getting damaged. This is not a safe place for children even when the school is dry. Fewer and fewer children come back every year after the water-logging ends because of buildings visibly crumbling.”

Plan International in Bangladesh is currently working to mitigate the long term damaging effects of disasters on education by improving building infrastructure and incorporating disaster risk reduction into the school curriculum. 

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The Jordanian school system, which is already struggling to support its Jordanian youth, is in danger of collapsing due to the sudden influx of Syrian refugee children. School-age children from 5 to 17 years old comprise 35 percent of the Syrian refugee population in Jordan–most of them are not able to attend school in Jordan due to overcrowding and an insufficient amount of educational resources.

Syrian families have have been leaving Syria since the beginning of the civil war: this summer, a large exodus of Syrian families found refuge in surrounding countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey.  This has caused an extreme strain on the educational facilities, among other national stresses, of these countries.

Jordan’s school systems have to utilize double shifts–morning and afternoon classes with different students–to accommodate their own large student population. In the past few years, there have been efforts to eliminate these shifts. However, with the influx of Syrian refugee children, these shifts have become necessary again. These shifts continue to add to the pressure on Jordan’s educational system; double shifting puts an added strain on teachers, school infrastructure, and parents and families.

However, even with these accommodations, many Syrian students don’t have access to education. According to UNICEF, more than 81,000 syrian refugee children are enrolled in learning programs in Jordan. Nevertheless, attendance is still very low.

Yusra Shinwan fled from Syria with her two children. At the start of this school year, she tried to register her children in some schools. She was able to register them, but was told to her children could not attend until a double shift was instituted. They are still waiting. She says, “my 13-year-old son and 16 year-old daughter look around and see people their age going to school and they feel left behind…I fled for safety, but now they are restless and angry…they are telling me that they are wasting their education and their future. They want to go back to school in Syria.”

Curt Rhodes, International Director of Questscope, an organization aiding social development in the Middle East, says, “the focus has been on registering children…It has not been on how to help them stay in school.”

The numbers are worse in Iraq and Lebanon.  In Iraq, 90-95% of Syrian refugee children are not enrolled in school. UNICEF warns that this is creating a lost generation of students.

However, in an effort to fight against this lost generation of students, many international organizations are creating avenues of aid for Syrian refugee students and for children in general. September 21st marks this year’s International Day of Peace--the theme this year is “Education for Peace.” The United Nations has marked this day as an exhortation to invest in education more intentionally.

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