‘ELIMU KWANZA!’ - A Brighter Future for the Children of DRC Safe Education for Internally Displaced Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo

War Child Holland War Child Holland (2014) C1
Prioritise education in conflict-affected areas: Across the world 28 million1 primary school-age children living in conflict-affected countries are out-of-school, and they form half of the world’s total out-of-school population. During conflict, infrastructure assets such as schools are damaged or completely destroyed during fighting. Children may choose to stay away from school due to their and their family’s safety fears in the midst of conflict, or the need to supplement their family’s income amidst conflict-related financial loss. Children who are internally displaced by conflict face a particularly challenging task accessing education due to the specific conditions created by their displacement, such as loss of livelihoods making school fees hard to find, and discrimination from host communities. Children caught in conflict are being deprived of their right to education2 and denied the opportunity to benefit from the protective and life-sustaining mechanisms of education.