Salah’s message to world leaders at the UN General Assembly: ‘Let’s
make sure all children, including refugees, can go to school and achieve
their dreams.’
22 September 2020
Globally
renowned footballer Mohamed Salah is to take center stage alongside
refugee youth at the first-ever virtual UN General Assembly (UNGA)
today, calling for every child to access a quality education, including
refugees.
للعربية: https://www.unhcr.org/ar/news/press/2020/9/5f69b7fe4.html
- To watch today’s session entitled ‘Unlocking Hope: A conversation
with Mohamed Salah, Refugee Students and the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees on Quality Education for All’ at the UNGA’s SDG Action Zone,
register at https://live.sdgactionzone.
org/registration and tune in at 09.45 EST / 15.45 CEST HERE - To view the session after it has finished, you can visit the following link
Salah, an Ambassador for Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR’s Instant Network Schools (INS) programme, has teamed up with refugee students from INS schools in Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan, to address world leaders at the ‘SDG Action Zone’ at 09.45EST/15.45CEST today.
His message is clear: ‘We must make sure that all young people –
including refugees – get an education. Now is the time to make sure
refugee students don’t get left behind. And with COVID-19, connected
education is extremely important.’
During the COVID-19 pandemic around 90% of the world’s school-age
children have been affected by school closures, including an estimated 7
million refugees. Adapting to the limitations imposed by COVID-19 has
been particularly tough for the 85% of the world’s refugees who live in
developing or least developed countries. Mobile phones, tablets,
laptops, connectivity, even radio sets are often not readily available
to displaced communities. The UN Refugee Agency predicted earlier this
month that unless immediate and bold action is taken by the
international community to beat back the catastrophic effects of
COVID-19 on refugee education, the potential of millions of young
refugees living in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities will
be further threatened.
Salah says: “Refugee children have been through so much but remain
incredibly strong. They have many dreams and hopes, like all children. I
heard from four students, Pacific, Luel, Salama and Fatna who represent
millions of young people living in refugee camps across Africa. These
four young people have inspired me and given me hope. They have shared
their dreams for the future and told me what education means to them.
Having access to technology and the internet transformed their
classrooms and I want to make sure other children in refugee camps and
communities have the same opportunities. Especially now as we face
COVID-19, education is everything to refugee children and they should
not be left out.”
Fatna, a 20-year-old refugee in an INS supported school in South Sudan,
who sent a message to Salah for today’s event says: “I started school in
2008. We used to write on the ground. I remember the first day when I
connected to the internet and I am learning new things every day from
ICT. It has helped me to get very new information, which I did not know
before. Education is the key to success and education is the key to the
future. Education is the key to life - through education you can achieve
many qualities and be a good person in the future.”
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, who will introduce
Salah at the UNGA SDG Action Zone session later today says: “Education
is a lifeline for all children, and especially those who have been
forced to flee violence and persecution. It provides them with hope,
opportunity, and the tools to make the most of their potential. The
COVID-19 pandemic is regrettably making receiving an education even more
difficult, especially for refugee children who were already twice as
likely to be out of school as non-refugee children. Our cooperation on
the Instant Network Schools programme, championed by Mo Salah, expands
the opportunity to equip refugee children with the skills and knowledge
they need to live a better and more dignified life.”
UNHCR, governments and partners are working tirelessly to bridge
critical gaps and ensure the continuity of refugee education during the
current pandemic through connected learning, television and radio, and
by supporting teachers and caregivers to engage with students while
observing health guidelines.
But without greater support to education, the steady, hard-won increases
in school, university, and technical and vocational education,
enrolment for refugees could be reversed – in some cases permanently –
potentially jeopardizing efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
The Instant Network Schools progamme
was set up in 2013 as a partnership between Vodafone Foundation and
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to provide quality education to refugee
and host country students. The programme transforms an existing
classroom into an online hub for learning, complete with internet
connectivity, sustainable solar power and a robust teacher training
programme.
There are 36 Instant Network Schools currently operating across eight
refugee camps in Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and South Sudan. Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR are expanding the
programme to benefit 500,000 learners and 10,000 teachers. By 2025, 255
new Instant Network Schools will be opened, including 20 schools planned
this year in Mo Salah’s home country, Egypt, and in Mozambique.