The UN says countries aren't doing enough to integrate a growing number of refugee children into their national education systems. A new report has revealed that Germany alone requires tens of thousands of new teachers.
The 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report, Migration, displacement and education, shows that a shortage of trained teachers and funding is hampering efforts to integrate migrant students.
The key takeaways
Half of the world's forcibly displaced people are under the age of 18.
Often they have limited access to the education systems of the countries where they are seeking asylum.
Low- and middle-income countries host 89 percent of refugees but often lack the funds to support their education.
Shortfalls in teaching staff also pose huge obstacles — even Germany would need 42,000 new teachers to properly educate the refugee children it has taken in.
The report said low-income countries Chad, Ethiopia and Uganda were "champions" when it came to integrating refugees into schools.
It also praised Canada and Ireland as "global leaders" in implementing inclusive education policies.
The report urges donors to triple funding for refugee education.
"Everyone loses when the education of migrants and refugees is ignored," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement. "Education is the key to inclusion and cohesion. Increased classroom diversity, while challenging for teachers, can also enhance respect for diversity and be an opportunity to learn from others."
Manos Antoninis, director of the education report, warned countries not to get complacent and "think the job is done once immigrants are in school. They are being excluded in so many other ways."
Too often, these students "end up in slower school tracks or in under-resourced establishments in troubled neighborhoods," he said.
German Development Minister Gerd Müller told the Funke newspaper group that Germany would increase its funding for the education of young people in emergency situations such as war from €16 million ($18.3 million) to €31 million.
Around 75 million children in crisis situations have no opportunity to go to school, the minister said, and "we have to act decisively now, otherwise they will grow up without prospects."
Europe must do more: The report highlighted the fact that a lack of integration and language teaching means first-generation migrant children are twice as likely to drop out of school than local pupils in the EU.
The UN's educational and cultural arm is best-known for naming World Heritage Sites. But UNESCO is also tasked with managing a series of other programs. DW looks at some of the other things UNESCO does.
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Name World Heritage Sites
UNESCO is responsible for identifying and promoting landmarks across the world that it considers to be of "outstanding value to humanity." Whether the sites are manmade wonder or part of Earth's natural beauty, they are listed they become legally protected by international treaties. Notable World Heritage landmarks include the Colosseum in Rome, the pyramids of Giza and the Great Wall of China.
Image: Reuters/A. Bianchi
International Literacy Day
One of UNESCO's main educational programs is World Literacy Day, held every year on September 8. The date highlights the importance of literacy to individuals and impoverished communities. Particular attention is placed on boosting literacy rates among girls in developing countries As part of the program, schools and teachers are provided with training and materials aimed at encouraging reading.
Image: picture-alliance/epa/S. Shahzad
Holocaust remembrance and education
While the United States and Israel both announced that they will quit the body, citing anti-Israel bias, UNESCO has increasingly worked in recent years on promoting Holocaust awareness projects, such as providing educational material and organizing visits to former Nazi concentration camps.
Image: picture-alliance/Schoening
Combating climate change
As part of UNESCO's task to preserve World Heritage Sites, the body also aims to improve education and awareness of climate change. The UNESCO "Man and the Biosphere Program" monitors the effects of climate change and promotes new, multidisciplinary approaches to dealing with its impacts. The organization also seeks to improve worldwide education around the causes and affects of global warming.
Image: Getty Images/L. Schulze
Endangered language projects
UNESCO is also tasked with identifying and trying to preserve endangered languages. One of the UN organization's reports, "Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger," categorized almost 2,500 languages into five levels of endangerment. It found that 200 languages had become extinct over the last three generations, while around 60 to 80 percent risk becoming extinct within the next 100 years.
Image: Sebastian Drude-DoBeS
Freedom of expression and protection of journalists
Along with the UN's Plan of Action for the Safety of Journalists, UNESCO calls for the worldwide protection of journalists and decries those who show impunity against freedom of the press. The organization reports and raises awareness around cases where reporters have been threatened or even killed. It also helps reporters in dangerous regions receive safety training.
