World Refugee Day: ‘Education is their best defence’

At what age do you learn to draw a war? At what age do you learn to overcome trauma? At what age do you learn to lose your school? These are the questions posed in a video by the NGOs Entreculturas and Alboan in order to make an urgent call to defend education in the face of war, because ‘when everything is lost, school protects’. On World Refugee Day, they defended education as the best defence in these situations. 

The event was attended by Obed Ombuna, regional education coordinator for JRS East Africa, with more than 20 years' experience in the African context as a specialist in emergency education; Luca Fabris, head of the Human Mobility team at Entreculturas, who has been working for 15 years on projects and programmes focused on supporting refugee populations; and Lucía Rodríguez, head of Political Advocacy at Entreculturas, where she has been working for 25 years, and a specialist in International Development Cooperation. 

There are currently 56 active conflicts around the world, where more than 300,000 children are recruited by armed groups, and more than 20,000 of them suffer sexual violence. ‘No one should have to learn to draw a war,’ they declared, a phrase that weighs heavily on the legacy and the world we seek to offer these children who live surrounded by violence, weapons, bombings and, above all, anguish at not being able to understand what is happening around them, especially when they see their homes and schools destroyed for no reason. 

The latest UNHCR report from 2024 on global refugee trends revealed figures from a forced displacement crisis never seen before: 123.2 million people have had to flee their homes worldwide, of whom 42.7 million are refugees and 73.5 million are internally displaced. Within these figures, it is estimated that at least 49 million are children. These are alarming numbers, which, added to the 56 armed conflicts currently active in the world, have led to more than 224 million children living in crisis or emergency situations. Of these, at least 72 million do not have access to education, a gap that poses a latent threat to their present and future. 

Luca Fabris, head of Entreculturas' Human Mobility team, highlighted the fundamental role of schools in conflict situations. ‘In a world wounded by violence, education protects, rehabilitates and saves lives,’ he said. Fabris highlighted the work on the ground of Entreculturas, Alboan and the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in countries such as Colombia, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad, among others, where schools are often the only safe spaces for displaced children. 

The testimony of Obed Ombuna, regional education coordinator for JRS in East Africa, was particularly moving. He recounted his experience in the refugee camps in Dadaab and Kakuma, Kenya, which are home to more than 700,000 displaced people from countries such as South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘In these places, school is the only safe and structured space. There, children not only learn: they begin to regain normality and hope,’ he explained. 

Ombuna, who suffered forced displacement and had to choose between eating and going to school when he could, said that his story is not only his own, but that of millions of children who suffer from a lack of access to education and basic living conditions. ‘I didn't understand what it meant not to go to school, but every day a child doesn't go to school is one less day they have to change their life and achieve something better,’ he said.  

He also highlighted the fundamental role of teachers as agents of change: ‘Teaching in a refugee camp was one of the hardest but also most rewarding experiences I have ever had.’ He understands this work thanks to the inspiration he received from a primary school teacher he met while working in the countryside with his father, who left him with a phrase that has stayed with him throughout his life: ‘Teaching is not just a job, it is a way of building futures,’ he said. From that moment on, he knew he had to become a teacher to break the cycle of poverty and enable these children and their families to do the same. 

Lucía Rodríguez, Head of Political Advocacy at Entreculturas, closed the event by emphasising that ‘education must be guaranteed from the outset of a humanitarian emergency, not as a secondary resource’. ‘In an increasingly less hospitable world, where borders are closing and spending on security continues to grow, Entreculturas and Alboan are committed to investing more in education,’ she said. Rodríguez affirmed that education is capable of protecting, building peace and justice, and is the best defence for displaced populations. 

The ‘School Refuge’ campaign aims to raise awareness among teachers and students about the value of school in contexts of violence, using education as a tool for social transformation. This initiative reinforces the need for countries to commit to protecting educational centres from military use and armed attacks, where they have historically become the main target of violence in times of war. They propose transparent and sustainable international investment in emergency education, demanding that this right not be violated in favour of other priorities. Because when a child picks up their backpack in exile, when a child enters a classroom in a refugee camp, they are not just going to school: they are resisting. They are building, despite the chaos, the possibility of a better future.