Education in emergencies

What is it?

The EU stands firm in defending the right of every child to learn — a right protected under international law. This right does not stop in times of humanitarian emergencies. 

With its policy and programming on education in emergencies and protracted crises, the EU aims to minimise the impact of crises on children’s learning, protection and well-being.

The EU helps children caught in crises go back to and stay in education, support teachers with training, coaching, and professional development actions. The EU also works towards protecting education from attack, and on the rollout of the Safe Schools Declaration.

We are committed to working holistically and offering life-saving interventions, combining the delivery of education with mental health and psychosocial support, protection, water and sanitation initiatives, registration for food and shelter distributions, healthcare and vaccination, disaster preparedness or anticipatory action.

Facts & figures

On education in emergencies the EU spent:

To support learning for children and adolescents caught in humanitarian emergencies, the EU has set aside:

The EU promotes projects that target at least 50% girls’ participation and provide inclusive learning opportunities, including for children with disabilities.

Why is this important?

The EU recognises that education is a lifeline for more than 234 million children and young people affected by crises. 

The role of education in crises

Safe schools and learning are an integral part of an effective response to the life-threatening situations, offering children protection, hope, a sense of normalcy and provide a basis for the future. Education helps protect children from trafficking and recruitment into armed groups, from abuse and exploitation, from child labour or early marriage and pregnancy. Education contributes to children’s equilibrium, and to healing trauma.

Education is also one of the best ways of investing in peace, stability, and economic growth. Yet it is also one of the most underfunded areas of humanitarian aid: only around 3% of global humanitarian funding is allocated to education. 

Humanitarian funding crisis

In 2025, a broad-ranging humanitarian funding crisis triggered a further global reduction of 33% in the funding request and 43% reduction in the target population for education in emergencies.

The projected 24% drop in international aid to education in 2026 will push 6 million more children out of school, 30% of them in humanitarian settings. This is equivalent to emptying every primary school in Germany and Italy combined. It would raise the estimated number of out-of-school children from the current 272 million to 278 million worldwide.

Education under attack

During armed conflict or insecurity, education comes under direct attack. The attacks on education and the military use of education facilities increased by 20% in 2022 and 2023 compared to the 2 previous years. Around 6,000 attacks on students, educators, schools, and universities were reported. This means an average of 8 attacks per day. The highest numbers of attacks on education were recorded in:

• Palestine
• Ukraine
• the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Myanmar 

More than 10,000 students and educators were reportedly killed, injured, abducted, arrested, or otherwise harmed (Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack). 

How are we helping?

Policy

The EU is one of the top donors and policy shapers of education globally. By making education in emergencies part of its humanitarian response – linked closely with development cooperation – the EU makes full use of its humanitarian and development funding instruments to support children affected by crises. 

The following priorities help the EU support the continuity of quality and safe education during crises: 

1. partnerships for a rapid, efficient, effective, and innovative education response
2. promoting access, inclusion, and equity
3. championing education for peace and protection
4. supporting quality education for better learning outcomes

They are set out in the European Commission’s communication of May 2018, endorsed by EU countries in Council Conclusions in November 2018: 

Communication on Education in Emergencies in Protracted Crises 

In March 2019, the Commission published its guidance document:

Education in Emergencies in EU-funded Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Funding

Since 2019, the EU maintains the share of funding allocated to education in emergencies at 10% of the initial humanitarian aid budget.

EU humanitarian funding is delivered through its humanitarian partners, notably NGOs, United Nations agencies, and international organisations.

Actions

EU humanitarian aid supports children and teachers in both formal and non-formal education. This includes accelerated education programmes that condense several years of the curriculum to help children reach the grade corresponding to their age faster. 

EU interventions aim to restore access to education since the onset of a crisis by:

• increasing focusing on rapid education response
• providing protective quality education services

EU-supported projects prioritise hard to reach areas, heavily affected by population displacements, insecurity and conflict, where humanitarian funding is often the only way to ensure that children have access to learning. 

The interventions focus on children who are most in need:

• out-of-school girls and boys and those at risk of education disruption, including forcibly displaced children (refugees, internally displaced)
• children in host communities and returnees
• children in active conflict zones and those living in areas with fragile education systems
• vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, including girls, children who are separated and unaccompanied, living with disabilities or additional needs, associated with armed forces and groups and belonging to ethno-linguistic minorities and poorer socio-economic groups
   

EU-supported actions include: 

• formal and non-formal learning activities
• providing teaching and learning materials
• training and mentoring teachers and other education workers
• psychosocial support and life skills training (including health and hygiene awareness, mine risk education, conflict and disaster risk reduction activities, and personal resilience and recreation sessions)
• school infrastructure rehabilitation and improvement

EU-funded actions also support:

• parent-teacher associations
• community-based school management
• student/children clubs,
• peer-to-peer training and activities

About 1/5 of all actions include innovative solutions for students and teachers.

_{Last updated: 22/01/2025}