JANUARY 2024 - Education for refugees - Refugee-inclusive education is an opportunity for all

Oct 15, 2026

January 2024 education brief highlights the scale of global displacement and the resulting barriers to schooling for refugee children and youth. It explains how refugee-inclusive education supports peace, prosperity, wellbeing, and equitable access to learning in host countries. The document outlines the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) approach—policy inclusion, gender-responsive planning, and accelerated crisis funding—then reports investment and results as of August 2023, including examples from Kenya through the PEEL program.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

THE CHALLENGE

REFUGEE-INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

GPE APPROACH

GPE RESULTS

KENYA

JANUARY 2024 Education for refugees Adolescent students during their lunch break in Public Primary School Bindia, Cameroon. A GPE-funded program is helping improve the quality of education in 300 host-community schools with refugees and 200 host-community schools with internally displaced persons. World Bank/O. Hebga The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) works with governments to include children and youth living as refugees in national education systems, strengthening capacity and resources to meet their learning needs. THE CHALLENGE At the end of 2022, 108 million people were displaced, whether internally or across international borders, due to conflict, persecution or natural disasters. Children account for 30% of the world’s population and are 40% of the world’s displaced people. GPE partner countries are home to almost 4 million children living as refugees—nearly half of all children living as refugees across the world. Almost half of all children living as refugees are out of school, and only a third of youth living as refugees have access to secondary school. Refugee inclusion at the policy level is just the first step to integrating their learning within national host country education systems. Displacement worsens children’s access to education, especially for girls. For example, school enrollment rates for girls living in displacement are far below national rates. REFUGEE-INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL Providing learning opportunities for refugees is crucial to ensuring peace, prosperity, wellbeing and equitable access to education within host countries, leading to greater social cohesion and stability. Being educated in national systems allows refugees to contribute to host country economies by creating pathways for recognized qualifications, employment and self-reliance. Including children living as refugees in national education systems is a sustainable way to ensure their continuity of learning. Investments to include refugees in national education systems also benefit host communities, bringing in new resources such as additional classrooms, teaching materials and teacher development. Instead of humanitarian assistance solely targeting refugees and unintentionally provoking resentment from host communities that feel left out, investing in refugeeinclusive education can generate positive feelings and a welcoming attitude from local communities, ultimately benefiting all children in schools. For all sources visit [https://www.globalpartnership.org/data](https://www.globalpartnership.org/data). GPE APPROACH In line with the Global Compact on Refugees, GPE works with partner countries and international organizations to include refugees in national education systems and to strengthen capacity to meet their education needs, building on the efforts of humanitarian partners and supporting the exchange of best practices. GPE focuses resources on learning, equity and inclusion for the most marginalized children and youth, including those affected by fragility and conflict. GPE further emphasizes gender-responsive education planning as girls are more likely to be left behind. GPE also provides accelerated funding to countries in crisis situations to meet urgent education needs. At the end of 2022, an estimated 23.3 million refugees (67%) were living in host countries for at least five consecutive years, making continued access to learning a key issue. GPE grants are designed so that they can support long-term inclusion of children living as refugees in national systems. GPE RESULTS As of August 2023, GPE is investing $1.1 billion to strengthen education systems in 17 countries that have policies to protect refugees’ access to school, including Djibouti, Chad and Ethiopia. 62% of GPE implementation grants were allocated to partner countries affected by fragility and conflict in 2021. $79 million in accelerated funding supports the education needs of ch

FAQs

What problem does the document describe regarding education for refugees?

It describes that displacement worsens access to education, leaving many refugee children out of school and limiting youth access to secondary education.

What does the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) do to support refugee-inclusive education?

GPE works with partner countries and organizations to include refugees in national education systems, strengthen capacity, emphasize gender-responsive planning, and provide accelerated crisis funding.

What results does the document report as of August 2023?

It reports $1.1 billion investing in education systems across 17 countries with policies protecting refugees’ access to school, plus allocations for fragility- and conflict-affected contexts and accelerated funding in multiple countries.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Sophia Brooks