Education: A Basic Human Right

With over 2 million children finding themselves displaced and for long periods of time, education becomes paramount in helping these people move forward with their lives. Some children may spend the whole of their prime educational years in refugee camps, detention centers or in countries that are not prepared to accommodate them. The educational needs of the students are ones where an education is provided in some way, to allow for the normalcy of routine, to continue disrupted educations and to give students the opportunity to help themselves.

I find it very sad that some children are not attending school when it is offered as they were waiting to return to their homes, as this may be years or not at all, these children may never receive an education. The basic educational needs in these situations are teachers who are willing to go and teach, consumable resources such as books and a safe place to congregate. Extras such as electricity and internet access are certainly desirable but are not necessary for students to learn.

Spaces need to be flexible to cope with the number of students coming and going, emotional support needs to be provided for teachers and students, children need to be encouraged to attend and programs need to be developed to address long term issues and sustainability. Access to resources and professionals via the e-space would allow for an education comparable to first world countries.

What comes to mind when I think about what might not be important, is geographical location. With access to the outside world a viable option even in a refugee camp, access to an education is only limited by the people willing to participate as educators, as students willing to learn and members of a global community willing to get together and help each other out.

It has been a good reminder to me that the people who have been displaced were once just like me, families with parents that went to work and children that went to school, families that enjoyed life much as we do. I’m sure they never imagined they would find themselves in this position, just as we don’t.