Lost generation of 15 million children out of school in Middle East

UN says 1 in 4 children shut out of formal education, civil war undoing work to improve standards
April 15, 2015 1:32PM ET
by Michael Pizzi @michaelwpizzi
Nearly 1 in 4 children in the Middle East and North Africa is either out of school or at risk of dropping out, the United Nations said Wednesday in a report
highlighting the disruptive impact of war on a region where education rates had been steadily improving for years.
More then 15 million children are currently out of school, and another 6 million are believed to be at high risk of dropping out, UNICEF and UNESCO
said in a joint study on education in 20 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. The 15 million figure includes the more than 3 million Syrian
and Iraqi children who are out of school as a direct result of the violence roiling their countries.
As the violence expands, millions more are at risk of becoming a lost generation, deprived of the knowledge and skills needed to be successful adults,
the report said.

Over the past decade, Middle Eastern governments have managed to slash out-of-school rates by over 40 percent. Regional education ministries and
international organizations have invested heavily to improve the quality of secondary education to discourage teenagers from dropping out and
made strides in closing the gender gap.
That progress, however, has markedly slowed in recent years, the report found. Part of the explanation is that certain factors, including poverty and
conservative attitudes toward women, are persistent. Girls are still 25 percent more likely to be deprived of schooling than boys, the report found. And
fertility rates, while tapering slightly, continue to outpace countries abilities to build schools, provide transportation to schools and properly train teachers.
But the spate of armed conflicts engulfing Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen have severely complicated government efforts. In Syria, which once had one of
the highest enrollment rates in the Middle East, nearly half the people have been displaced from their homes. The obstacles facing children in such a
chaotic environment are manifold.
You have child refugees, children displaced within their country and another group who are in their own homes but dont have access to their school
because its been bombed or destroyed, said Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNICEF in Beirut.
Those who have registered with the U.N. as refugees mostly in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey are supposed to receive free schooling. But that isnt
always the reality. Roughly 75 percent of Syrian refugees live outside U.N. camps, where children attend makeshift schools. Unable to work regular
jobs under local laws, many Syrian parents send their children into the streets to beg. At the same time, already impoverished host communities have
been overwhelmed by the number of refugees, with some residents resenting that their schools and welfare programs have been inundated by refugees
who arent paying taxes. Increasingly, refugees say, schools have closed their doors to Syrian children.
So we need to support not only Syrians but also communities in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt that have been strained for over four years,
Touma said.
However, the outlook is not hopeless. The flow of refugees and destruction of schools will not come to a stop until the regions wars do, but numerous
experiences show that even in very challenging environments, flexible and innovative measures can keep education going, the U.N. report said.
Low levels of funding emerge as the most critical bottleneck for reaching conflict-affected children with education, the report concluded. In 2012, for
example, only 1.3 million children targeted by emergency response programs in the Palestinian territories, Sudan, Syria and Yemen received educational
support. Funding shortfalls, due in part to unfulfilled promises from donor governments, prevented the U.N. from reaching another 2.2 million.
Unless we tackle this problem, through prioritizing investment in education, we might come to a point where we have lost a generation not just in Syria
and Iraq but all over the region, Touma said.

Colombia to resume bombing of FARC targets

Ten soldiers killed by rebels in early morning ambush described by President Santos as a "rupture" of FARC's ceasefire.

16 Apr 2015 20:25 GMT | War & Conflict, Latin America, Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, FARC

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has ordered the resumption of bombing raids against FARC rebels after an attack he blamed on the group
killed 10 soldiers, a move that will intensify combat after efforts to ease tensions.

As part of peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Santos last month stopped air raids on rebel hideouts in recognition of
a unilateral ceasefire declared in December by the group.

The soldiers were killed in rural southwestern Cauca province in the early hours of Wednesday when the FARC launched an ambush, hurling grenades
and firing on them as they sheltered in a covered sports pitch, the army said.

"This incident was a product of a deliberate attack by the FARC, it was not a coincidence and this implies a clear rupture of the promise of a unilateral
ceasefire," Santos said, after meeting with his defence team in the city of Cali.

"I have ordered the armed forces to lift the suspension of bombings on FARC camps."

Santos said the attack, which also killed a FARC fighter, would not go unpunished. At least nine government troops were confirmed injured.

But FARC commander Pablo Catatumbo said the rebel fighters had only defended themselves, in line with the guerrillas' ceasefire announcement last
December.

"There was a military confrontation caused by an army seige, which is not new. This operation against these units has been going on for four months,"
Catatumbo told a press conference in Cuba, where peace talks are being held.

Catatumbo, who led the guerrilla units involved in the clash before joining the FARC negotiating team in Havana, called on Santos to reverse his
decision to renew air strikes.

"The solution is not to start bombing again. Please, they've been bombing in Colombia since the war began and it's only accomplished one thing, to
increase the number of dead," he said.

The government has refused to commit to a bilateral ceasefire until there is a final peace deal.

Civilians celebrate tense truce in Colombia

Deadliest attack since ceasefire

Al Jazeera's Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from the Colombian capital Bogota, said: "This is the deadliest attack since they [rebels] announced the
unilateral indefinite ceasefire back in December. And it comes just a few days since the Colombian government announced the extension of the
suspension of the air raids over FARC camps.

"At this point it is not clear what kind of consequences [the attack] will have on the peace talks."

FARC negotiators committed to a unilateral ceasefire to promote peace talks that have taken place in Cuba over the past two years, saying they would
only fire weapons if attacked by the armed forces.

In a good faith gesture, the government responded by suspending all aerial attacks on guerrilla camps, a move that Santos reaffirmed this week.

But it is unclear how much control the leadership in Havana has over all of FARC's estimated 7,000 troops on the battlefield, especially in turbulent,
lawless areas like Cauca, where rebel commanders are known to be heavily involved in drug-trafficking.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies