An emergency can be a natural disaster, such as earthquakes and floods, or human-made situations, such as war.

An economic or social crisis, such as the rise of HIV/AIDS, can also be called an emergency and needs to be dealt with immediately for people to move on and get ahead in their lives.

How do emergencies affect children's education?
The most direct way that emergencies affect education is when schools are destroyed during a natural disaster or war. Schools are vulnerable during emergencies because they might be used as shelter by refugees or army barracks by the military. Schools are also almost always targeted during conflict. Some children are unable to go to school because they get caught up in the fighting and become injured or disabled.

In 1995 an eight year old orphan girl called Faduma, from northern Somalia (Somaliland), talked at a UN conference about her wish to go to school.  The only school in her town was on top of a rocky mountain.  But Faduma’s legs had been blown away by a landmine when she was just 4 years old, so it was impossible for her to get there.

UNICEF, alongside Faduma’s community and the Ministry of Education, built a school in her name close to her home.  Faduma enjoys going to school a lot and dreams of becoming a politician some day – “I want to take up the fight against landmines”, she said – a dream that can become reality through getting an education.                                            

Emergencies tend to affect girls the most, as parents are more likely to send their sons to school when they are too poor to educate all their children. If there is a natural disaster like drought, for example, parents who farm land are not able to grow enough crops to sell, so they are not able to pay school fees or buy textbooks for their children.  Girls are traditionally expected to stay at home and help in day-to-day family life like cleaning, cooking, fetching water and caring for the sick.  This role becomes even more demanding during emergencies limiting their chance of going to school.

Emergencies have psychological effects on children – when they are caught up in war or a natural disaster, they may become traumatised and this can make it harder for them to concentrate and learn.

What part does education play in emergencies?

When we think of emergencies, we usually think of the help people need as being food, shelter and access to clean water.  No-one dies from not going to school so sometimes we don’t realise how important education is during emergencies.  However, in reality, education plays an incredibly important role in the short-term and long-term effects it has on children during emergencies.  It gives children a sense of security even when they are faced with chaos all around them.

Here are a number of ways education can help children in emergency situations:

Psychologically

• Education helps to make a child’s situation feel more like normal and get their minds off the situation.  When a natural disaster or war strikes, children lose the protection they might be used to.  For example, friends and family may go missing (including their parents or guardians) and the government might not be in a position to protect its people (during war).  Children need stability to be able to develop well – schools can provide an environment where they can be protected, have support from teachers and friends, and learn about coping with the sudden stress an emergency brings.
• Child Friendly Spaces can be set up to help children express the bad experience they have suffered in a non-threatening and caring environment.

Health

• When an emergency strikes and people have to evacuate their homes, they can end up in a camp with hundreds or usually thousands of other people.  The condition in the camps might be unhygienic and so disease can spread very quickly, affecting children the most.  By teaching children about hygiene, like the importance of washing their hands, the spread of disease is less likely.
• During natural disasters, such as floods, it is important that children learn how diseases like cholera are passed on, so that they can take measures to protect themselves and their communities.

Protection

• Children become incredibly vulnerable during emergencies.  They might become separated from their parents and have to fend for themselves, becoming so desperate that they are easily taken advantage of by others.  This can be in many forms – they might be kidnapped and sold as slaves, taken to another country or forced into being soldiers.  Rebel or government armies recruit tens of thousands of children, boys and girls, and some aged 10 years or younger as child soldiers (which can mean a messenger, cook, porter or fighter for the army).  Most are recruited by force, others join because they are so poor that it is their best option for survival as they can be sure of regular meals. Education is an effective way of preventing the rise in recruitment of child soldiers.  A school provides them with a protective environment where they are less likely to be vulnerable enough to be taken advantage of.
• Through education children can learn about other dangers that surround them.  For example, both during and after war, children are exposed to the threat of landmines.  There are 110 million active landmines, as well as millions of unexploded bombshells and grenades.  Children’s natural curiosity when they are faced with any strange object can, in these instances, lead to their deaths.  Through education children can be warned and taught to recognise such major threats to their lives. 

Their future

• Sometimes emergencies, such as war, can go on for years.  If children are denied their right to school during this time, they are also denied their right to learn skills that will enable them to have a better future (perhaps skills for a job to support themselves).
• Women and sometimes young girls become the head of their household during an emergency if the males in the family are killed.  Often they do not know how to cope but education can help them to assert themselves, as well as teach them skills to earn enough money to look after their families.
• Finally, education in emergencies is important because it enables children to learn about conflict resolution – how to resolve arguments and disputes – without going to war.  Children also get the chance to learn about how to look after their environments, which might prevent natural disasters from occurring in the future

What does UNICEF do for education in emergencies?

UNICEF’s main priorities in an emergency situation always include education.  The safety, protection and emotional needs of children are UNICEF's foremost concern. 

A range of activities UNICEF undertakes in an emergency for education include:

• Providing tents to temporarily replace destroyed schools
• Providing emergency school supplies and learning material, including school-in-a-box kits recreation kits and exercise books
•  Providing school furniture (desks and chairs), uniforms and school bags, if needed
• Recruiting and training teachers, including how to support distressed children
• Clearing schools of rubble and carrying out small repairs
• Developing clubs and community groups so that people can support each other and talk about their fears.

UNICEF focuses on returning children to school as soon as possible after an emergency strikes. In 2009 a tsunami hit Samoa and completely destroyed the Falealili Secondary School. A temporary arrangement was made with another school 5km away so that the children could attend classes there until their own school could be rebuilt. Ensuring as little disruption in education as possible following a disaster encourages students to focus on the future and resume some normalcy in their lives.

UNICEF also works to provide clean water and good health and hygiene care during emergencies, including building toilets and hand washing facilities at schools.

Child Friendly Spaces

Often during emergencies, people evacuate their homes and live in temporary shelters, or refugee/IDP camps.  Within these camps, Child Friendly Spaces exist as a reassuring place where children can learn and play until it is safe enough for them to return home.

The Space also offers an area for counselling, so children who have suffered trauma can get help and are able to express their feelings, often through artwork.  This helps because children can unburden themselves instead of keeping their feelings locked up inside.  Play and games also help children to support each other.

Child Friendly Spaces are important as they teach children to accept others even if they are different or have different beliefs/ideas.  This is called tolerance and respect for others.  These are two very important skills that can have a great effect on how children treat people through their whole lives.

Education after conflict
Occupied Palestinian Territory, January 2009
Iyad El Baba, UNICEF

The Occupied Palestinian Territory has been fraught with conflict. Children's education has been interrupted by the fighting. In January 2009, a ceasefire meant that  thousands of children could return to school. UNICEF provided essential educational equipment and materials to help to restore a normal routine for the children. Recreational materials were also provided so that the children could be encouraged to find enjoyment in the school yard. Memories from the conflict remain fresh in their minds.

"On the first day of my return to school I was expecting to find damage and destruction because I know that war machine didn't leave anything in place - no human, no stone. When I first entered I was shocked from the scenes that I saw - classrooms damaged, windows broken, every corner in the school reminds us of the war," said Hanady Akeela, 17.

Helping students on the journey to recovery, the teachers are encouraging children to talk about their experiences. Myasoun Al-Emawi is an English teacher at a temporary learning site set up in tents for girls in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza. She said, "We had each girl talk about her experience. Even the teachers were offered the chance to tell their stories. Every girl had a story to tell."