Blog

A new UNESCO report examines the alarming state of the right to education in Afghanistan.

It provides an analysis of the evolving legal and institutional framework governing education since August 2021, drawing on a combination of desk-based research and on-the-ground interviews.

The report was launched in the wake of the High-Level Conference on Women and Girls in Afghanistan organized by UNESCO on 7 March. The systematic restrictions on girls and women have made Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls are barred from education beyond the primary level.

Download the report.

This blog tells the story of Nizar, who was injured in the Syrian civil war when he was five years old. Now a 15-year-old teenager, his injury means that it is difficult for him to access education.

“School, which should have been a place of safety, only intensified his struggles. Bullied for his disability, he was left feeling misunderstood and alone.”

Then his mother heard about an UNICEF learning center and enrolled him there.

“At the centre, Nizar found himself in a welcoming, supportive learning environment for the first time. With a teacher who cared deeply, classmates who treated him kindly and a curriculum tailored to bridge his learning gaps, he was given a chance at a fresh start.”

Syria remains one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world. The armed conflict, which lasted over a decade, has not only disrupted the education of millions of girls and boys but has also exposed them to horrendous violence and ongoing protection risks.

Read the blog.

UNESCO is celebrating 70 years of publication of the ‘International Review of Education’ (IRE), the longest-running international journal of comparative education in the world.

UNESCO has published an interesting history timeline (Note: unfortunately the journal’s articles are for subscribers only).

“Anti-capitalist demonstrations at the end of the 1960s sparked much debate about the role of education in supporting social progress.”

“Women’s education grew in prominence as a topic across the 1970s and 1980s.”

“UNESCO’s lifelong learning perspective became increasingly marginal, as this instrumentalist turn in thinking about education took effect, and the lens through which learning was viewed became increasingly economistic. A 1998 issue focused on ‘the global trend towards the instrumentalization of education as a means of preparation for employment above all other purposes’. This was a recurrent theme over the following two decades.”

“With the world facing new challenges, from artificial intelligence to democratic backsliding and political disinformation, as well as familiar ones such as climate change, conflict and inequality, lifelong learning has never been more important.”

Check out the timeline.

The ‘Global Disability Inclusion Report: Accelerating Disability Inclusion in a Changing and Diverse World’ was developed specifically for the Global Disability Summit 2025.

It provides an overview of how the profound changes shaping our world impact the diversity of persons with disabilities and pathways to address these changes and drive inclusion across all aspects of life. Inclusive Education is mentioned over 100 times in the report, for instance, listing barriers to inclusion (page 198), and giving examples of how to finance inclusive education through a debt swap (page 280).

Download the report (available in various languages).

For UNICEF, S Khan writes about one girl and her access to education in Afghanistan.

“In Afghanistan, Accelerated Learning Centres are a form of community-based education, enrolling children in primary education who may be behind, missed a year of studies or need to catch up. UNICEF aims specifically to enroll girls, who experience higher barriers to entering the public school system and may not have any other opportunity for a formal education.”

Read the case study.

In this blog, the authors reflect on the Global Disability Summit and disability inclusive education:

“The third Global Disability Summit takes place this week in Berlin, and policymakers, educators, and civil society actors attending will reflect on the progress made in making education more inclusive, and what challenges remain to be tackled. All children, including children with disabilities, deserve the opportunity to be in school and learn so they acquire the skills and knowledge to thrive and eventually have jobs. While there has been some headway made in the 10 years since the paper ‘Towards a Disability Inclusive Education,’ there is still much more that needs to be done.”

The authors ask: “How can we accelerate efforts to help children with disabilities access quality education?”

To read the blog and get their answers.

The Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub (RSH) is a programme that aims to support organisations in the aid sector to strengthen their safeguarding policy and practice against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Sexual Harassment.

RSH has an Online Hub website available in English, Arabic, French and Swahili and is free for anyone working in the aid sector to use. It includes:

• A resource library with a huge selection of guidance and tools on safeguarding;
• A free e-learning course available in many languages and more.

The resource library has several documents, e-learning courses and podcasts on child safeguarding and education.

Visit the hub.

Global Partnership in Education has published a case study of education of girls in Yemen.

“Yemen’s conflict has left more than 4.5 million children out of school and disrupted the education of many more, including Ragda’s whose schooling was interrupted for 6 months. Fortunately, Ragda has been able to advance through secondary school, but her family, like so many others, had to flee conflict and relocate to a more peaceful part of the country. Ragda’s mother, who never learned how to read, earns a living making henna and is a strong believer in the importance of education.”

Read the case study.

Humanity & Inclusion has published a factsheet on education for adolescent girls with disabilities. They have created a short video to present the main findings: Adolescent girls with disabilities are disproportionately excluded from education due to the overlapping discrimination based on age, gender, and disability.

Watch the video.

Read the factsheet.

Education Cannot Wait has published a new report on the State of Education for Crisis-Affected Children and Adolescents:

“The number of school-aged children in crises worldwide requiring urgent support to access quality education has reached 234 million – an estimated increase of 35 million over the past three years. Of these, 85 million are out of school. Refugees, internally displaced children, girls and children with disabilities remain among those most impacted by these intersecting crises.”

Read more details and download the report.