As children around the world prepare to head back to school, millions of others will never make it to a classroom.
Some live in countries torn apart by conflict, with schools shuttered, teachers scarce, and routes too dangerous to navigate. Others have fled their homes as refugees or have been displaced by natural disasters. Still others face formal government restrictions, including the exclusion of young girls from classrooms, that simply shut down their formal pathway to learning. that simply shut down their formal pathway to learning.
The number of school-age children not in school worldwide is now over 270 million, UNESCO estimated this year. This number has risen by over 6 million children since 2021. And while this education deficit certainly didn’t begin this year, it’s harder to ignore and even more difficult to remedy, as instability grows and foreign assistance shrinks. Following significant foreign aid shifts by Western governments, UNICEF estimates that international assistance for education will fall by $3.2 billion before 2026, a 24% reduction from 2023.
That’s bad news for everyone. Access to quality education is one of the best building blocks for development; this foreign aid reduction across traditional donor nations impacts children and the communities most in need of support. While foreign assistance represents a fairly small share of education spending globally, aid can account for as much as 20% to 40% of education spending in places such as Liberia, Malawi, and South Sudan, countries especially vulnerable due to legacies of conflict, environmental disasters and poverty.
For these children, and the countries in which they live, the consequences extend well beyond the classroom.
We know this at in the United States: Education for any community is one of the strongest predictors of long-term success. It’s not just economic, though – education helps guarantee national security and human rights. Children who are in school are more shielded from exploitation from child labor, child marriage, human trafficking, and recruitment by militas, cartels, and extremist organizations.
Education encourages innovation, skills training, and the sustained growth of economies and commercial markets. And communities with stronger education systems are more resilient and better equipped to recover from conflict, war, and even natural disasters.
While accountability, effectiveness and eventual independence from foreign assistance must be central tenets, education of the world’s most vulnerable can’t become an unintended casualty of broader political decisions. At a time when the global community is facing the highest levels of armed conflict since World War II, the current risks to education funding and access for the world’s most vulnerable children should concern everyone.
But it’s not too late to course correct.
For these children, the most sustainable and effective support would be to reinforce existing educational systems in each country, whether at a local or national level. With renewed access to funding and technical assistance, much of this can be facilitated through private organizations, nonprofits, and faith-based institutions who have the know-how, local relationships, and longstanding reputation for proven impact.
This approach, building on existing educational structures, would prioritize partnerships with trusted organizations, including faith communities, civil society, and responsible private-sector implementers with subject-matter expertise. While these organizations cannot replace governments, they can help keep children learning while continuing to strengthen national education systems
Foreign assistance, as well as diplomatic engagement, must also come with standards. The United States, through formal compacts like the Millennial Challenge Corporation, has long required progress in economic reforms and anti-corruption regulations. Similar guidelines – including political recognition – must be enforced when considering education.
One of the most egregious examples is seen in the Taliban’s increasing efforts to “normalize” their regime in Afghanistan through economic engagement and political visits. But while the regime travels to sell deals and make promises, girls are still banned from education after the age of 12.
Political engagement requires standards, and education for all – girls and boys – is core to that.
For nearly 280 million children this year, the first day of school isn’t on the calendar, and the repercussions are grave. Interruptions have lifelong consequences for children, their countries, and the long-term security and prosperity of the global community at large. For these children, their communities, and international stability, we can all do better.
