Is education truly a priority for children?

In the past, it was common to hear elderly people say they were illiterate because they had never attended school. Yet as Hong Kong’s socio-economic landscape evolved over the past century, its education system and supportive measures became increasingly comprehensive. Today, it is rare to find children missing out on schooling. In fact, many parents devote significant time and resources to researching kindergartens, pre‑nursery programmes, and enrichment classes, hoping to give their children the best possible start. However, when families face vulnerable circumstances or emergencies, neither parents nor governments give priority to children’s education, and the consequences are all too often overlooked. What is lost in these moments is not only a child’s opportunity to learn, but also a family’s hope of escaping poverty, a nation’s drive for development, and the world’s prospect of a sustainable future.

The number of children and young people out of school has now risen for the seventh consecutive year, reaching 273 million. According to the 2026 UNESCO GEM Report, one in six school-age children worldwide are excluded from education, and only two in three students complete secondary school. However, there are only less than five years left to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. To meet even the most basic target, one child would need to be enrolled in school every two seconds, through the concerted efforts of governments, civil society, and the public. The question remains: is there still time?

Education systems worldwide are under immense strain. The problem is not a lack of proven or effective teaching methods, but rather the perception of education as dispensable, which too often prevents it from ranking among national development priorities. Meanwhile, drastic cuts in international aid, coupled with a succession of emergencies across the globe, place educational progress at risk of regression. If international aid to education is projected to fall by 24%, a total of US$3.2 billion, UNICEF estimates that 6 million more children risk being out of school by the end of 2026, 30% of them in humanitarian settings.

Education Support Amid Emergency

Education is a fundamental right for all children. It equips them with knowledge, nurtures diverse capabilities, and helps break cycles of poverty and inequality, while contributing to a more sustainable future for the world. No child should be deprived of their right to education because of conflict, displacement, sudden disease outbreaks, or humanitarian disasters. Yet in reality, children living in fragile environments or emergency situations often see their educational rights neglected.

At World Vision, we prioritise supporting affected children during humanitarian crises and natural disasters. We treat child protection and education in emergencies as lifesaving interventions. Safe spaces are provided for learning and playing to shield children from violence and exploitation, including forced labour, sexual abuse, early marriage, and recruitment into armed groups, all of which threaten their physical and mental wellbeing. In humanitarian situations where children cannot access education, World Vision works with a variety of partners to implement non-formal programmes that support re-entry into formal systems.

In Ukraine, as the conflict continues, countless children’s education has been disrupted. Security threats and widespread damage to infrastructure have closed thousands of schools, affecting education and leaving many children behind, especially the youngest. According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science, one in five children aged three to five no longer has access to preschool education. The situation is even more critical for internally displaced families and those living near the frontlines, where absenteeism exceeds 30%.

To respond, World Vision launched the project “Safe Access to Equitable and Inclusive Education in Ukraine”. The initiative supports vulnerable children, including those with disabilities, through 11 education centres across affected regions. As of April 2025, nearly 1,600 children are enrolled in non-formal education under the programme, receiving catch-up classes, psychosocial support, and protection services. “We’re not just providing education; we’re helping children stay resilient and hopeful for the future,” says Maksym Didukh, project manager at World Vision.

But the risks remain high. Children continue to face serious threats to both their safety and their education. In June 2025 alone, Ukraine recorded 1,455 air raid alerts. Of these, 303 lasted longer than three hours, 565 occurred at night, and 890 during the day, forcing schools across the country to evacuate or close repeatedly. Some areas were hit particularly hard. For children, this means hours each week spent underground in shelters, often in cramped, poorly ventilated spaces. A single month of alerts could add up to dozens of hours hiding from missiles instead of learning, playing, or simply feeling safe.

A child's prime years for learning last only a brief dozen years. Once missed, they are difficult to reclaim. This impact is profound not only on the child's own life, but also on the future of the entire world.

Ethiopia

Writing the First Word of a New Chapter at 12

Before a child opens their first textbook or writes their first sentence, something much smaller but deeply powerful happens: they write their name. For 12 year old Bereket, that moment arrived only recently, far later than it should have, but exactly when his life was finally safe enough to begin.

In a classroom filled with students, Bereket walked in for the first time. He hesitated at the doorway, unsure if he belonged at his age. But the teacher smiled warmly, handed him a pencil, and said, “You can start today.” With those words, the world opened for him.

A pencil rested in his hand, unfamiliar and slightly awkward to hold. His teacher gently encouraged him to try, and he lowered the tip to the page. Slowly and carefully, he wrote his name for the first time: B-E-R-E-K-E-T. When he finished, he stared at the word for a long moment. It was perfect for him. His name. His beginning. His step into a world he had waited years to enter.

Conflict had disrupted Bereket’s childhood, closing schools, displacing families, and leaving children like him with no safe place to learn. For more than four years, schools in his area remained closed. Whenever he thinks about children elsewhere going to school, he wishes he could be like them. “I always dreamed of holding a bag and going to school. After some time, I started believing school was not meant for children like me. This made me so sad,” he said.

The Moment that Changed Everything

When peace slowly returned and families began rebuilding, the IHOPE project by World Vision, began helping communities reopen pathways back to learning. The project helped thousands of children return to learning by supporting both schools and communities. Across the project area, 6,792 children were enrolled in formal education, and 503 more joined non formal programmes such as Accelerated Learning Programmes. Many of these children had been out of school for more than three years, while some, like Bereket, had never attended school at all.

In Bereket’s community and the neighbouring district, 28 classrooms were rehabilitated, repaired, and furnished, creating safe and welcoming environments for children returning after years of instability. His classroom was among those that received new desks, repaired windows and doors, and fresh paint. The project made sure he had the materials he needed. More than 9,000 children across the intervention areas received writing equipment, including exercise books, pens, pencils, sharpeners, and erasers. For Bereket, these were the first learning materials he had ever owned, and he carried them with the pride other children reserve for treasured possessions.

He quickly ran home to show his mother. “Look, Mom, I can now write my name in both Amharic and English,” he said, his face bright with excitement. His proud mother held the exercise book in her hands and smiled in a way she had not in years.

From that day forward, everything changed. Bereket began reading simple words, counting confidently, and answering questions with his hand raised high. He began forming friendships with other children who also joined late because of the conflict. Many of them, like Bereket, were enrolled through the project’s back to school campaign.

Bereket now dreams of becoming a teacher so he can help other children who have lost years of learning due to conflict. “I want them to feel what I felt when I wrote my name,” he said. “I want them to know they can learn anything.”

Writing his name was not just a personal achievement. It was a turning point, a declaration, and a quiet but powerful moment that signalled a new chapter. For many children in crisis, it is the first sign of confidence. For Bereket, it is the first step toward a life filled with possibility, identity, and dignity. More than 8 million children in Ethiopia are still waiting for the same opportunity, and continued support is essential to help them return to learning safely and with dignity.

DR Congo

Don’t Let Children Fight for Education

"During the 2022–2023 school year, the principal asked us to go home and stay close to our parents because the war was close."

Like thousands of children, Kelly saw her life turned upside down in a matter of hours. Gunshots rang out. The crowd fled. She took to the road with her mother and siblings, taking the only route still open: the Virunga park.

"We spent three days walking day and night to reach Kirumba. I saw monkeys on the road that had snatched a woman's food supplies. I was too tired, but I couldn't stop."

In the chaos, she lost sight of her little sister, who was later found with another family. After two weeks in Kirumba, they returned to Kiwanja, where the fighting had stopped. But the school did not reopen.

"When I got back, I found my friend Queen in the neighbourhood, who told me that the school had completely closed its doors. There are some classmates I haven't seen again since that day."

To cope with the emptiness, Kelly and her siblings invented a game in the yard. "We would pretend to play school. One played the principal, another played the teacher, and the others were the students."

For months, their classrooms became dormitories for displaced people. "They did everything in there. Cook, eat, and sleep. When classes finally resumed, we found our classrooms filthy. Desks were broken, and grass had grown everywhere."

Thanks to the Integrated Response to Emergency Education in Eastern DRC project supported by World Vision, Kelly and thousands of other children were able to find their way back to school. The project provided basic but vital supplies including backpacks, geometry sets, notebooks, and pens. Girls received hygiene kits, while schools were equipped with latrines and handwashing facilities. In Rutshuru territory (North Kivu), 23,700 schoolchildren were supported across 60 schools, and 480 teachers were trained in risk reduction, participatory teaching, psychosocial support, and positive masculinity.

Ebola: a new sword of Damocles

"What scares me the most is that we've been told that this time, Ebola has no specific treatment," whispered Kelly. On the radio, guidelines and protective measures were repeated, but in the schoolyard, fear was raw.

"I'm so scared when playing with my friends at school because I don't want to catch this disease that has no cure. They tell us that if we come into contact with an infected person, we both risk dying."

Still, World Vision set up "Team Up", a series of fun, educational activities to keep school a place of life, not just instruction. Yet rumours began to spread: "They're going to cancel this event that brings us so much joy at school." Kelly refused to give up. She joined her school's hygiene committee. "In total, there are 16 committees. In each class, there are volunteers like me who remind everyone how important it is to wash our hands before entering class and to avoid physical contact."

Hope despite everything, warning despite the fear. Kelly wants to believe that this time, the school will not close. "I missed school so much. I don't want to see our classrooms closed again."

But the risk is real. Closing schools during the Ebola outbreak would be a catastrophe: lost school years, child marriage, unwanted pregnancies, and children on the streets. In this new fight, Kelly and her classmates have not yet won. They just need us not to let them down.