In an earlier news post, we shared about Nepal selecting three priority areas to transform its education system: early education, gender equality and inclusion, and quality teaching.
The Global Partnership for Education has now published a video about this transformation.
Preparing teachers for conflict-affected classrooms is a global urgency that receives too little attention. Most teachers enter their classrooms unprepared to deal with conflict-related tensions, sociopsychological well-being and trauma. In the DRC, several Teacher Training Institutes have developed and implemented a teacher training module on conflict resolution, education in emergencies and trauma-sensitive pedagogy. Teachers stressed that they need practical strategies to address conflict in their classrooms and the everyday violence they witness among students.
This network sets out to encourage international conversations between researchers, policy makers and practitioners as to how inclusion and equity can become a reality. It involves a series of one-hour online discussions, each focused on developments in one country. It was inspired by discussions about inclusive education between UK and Australian teachers and practitioners.
During a Side Event at the United Nations, two Lumos Youth Advocates, Yevhenii and Sofiia, talked about education in armed conflict.
Yevhenii said: “What I realise is that education system are often designed for stability but crisis test whether they are truly inclusive. Children with disabilities face additional barriers. Children without parental care face additional risks… Inclusive education is not only a policy, it’s a cooperation.”
Sofiia said: “Inclusive education is not only about access. It is about understanding different realities.”
To watch the videos:
The GPE’s Sally Gear and Michelle Djong Hui Ing reflect on the lessons learned from GPE 2025:
“Compared with earlier approaches, an independent rapid review found that policy dialogue in partner countries increasingly drew on gender analysis to identify system barriers and in many contexts, discussions moved beyond enrollment gaps to consider issues such as school-related gender-based violence, gender norms, teacher deployment and leadership, and the availability of gender-responsive data systems.”
The authors give the example of Ethiopia where intersectionality mattered for disabled girls’ education.
“Building on lessons from GPE 2025, GPE’s latest strategic plan GPE 2030 introduces a more explicit focus on intersectionality. Education systems will be supported to better address how gender intersects with disability, refugee status, geography, poverty and climate vulnerability—factors that together shape who is excluded from education and why.”
The latest edition of International Review of Education, Journal of Lifelong Learning has been published. Many of its articles focus, like EENET’s latest EER, on the environment and sustainability.
Two articles investigate the role of educators as potential change agents for sustainability and climate action, while another examines the lifelong learning potential of sustainability-led initiatives. A fourth article considers the contribution of lifelong learning to country-level efforts to promote sustainable fishing. The last three articles explore, respectively, mobile learning, the inclusion of Indigenous students, and postsecondary access to education for working adults.
In Lesotho, students raised concerns not just about being excluded from school decisions, but also about pressing issues such as disability inclusion, menstrual hygiene, access to sexual and reproductive health rights, the persistence of corporal punishment, poor infrastructure, and the absence of their voices in curriculum design. The results were pupils leaving schools early, especially in rural communities.
This changed in 2024 with creating tools for youth engagement like democratically elected student councils and committees, peace clubs and mediation groups. The creation of platforms where students could be heard was a key factor. Through the formation of student-led clubs, leadership development programs, and school-wide dialogues, learners gained the confidence and tools to advocate for their needs.
Nepal has selected three priority areas to transform its education system: early education, gender equality and inclusion, and quality teaching. Changes in early education focus on playful learning and “a joyful start”: “At the door, each child chooses a way to greet their teacher: a heart for a hug, a fist for a fist pump, a hand for a handshake.”
To improve inclusion, teachers received inclusion training through the municipality. Girls and Inclusive Education Networks (GIEN) have been established in all seven provinces. These networks bring together advocates for girls, children with disabilities and marginalized learners to ensure equitable access to learning opportunities and that they are safe from exploitation, abuse and violence in schools. One teacher, Nana Mallu, introduced simple but effective changes: rearranged seating to mix students by gender and learning levels. The result: Students interact more freely.
“For children, ‘saving a life’ means more than biological survival. It means preserving the capacity for healthy development, learning, emotional regulation, and social connection. Child development doesn’t pause while humanitarian actors sequence their interventions. The brain architecture being shaped today will determine cognitive function, emotional health, and economic productivity for decades,” argues Sweta Shah.
“The humanitarian community has a choice: Continue defining ‘lifesaving’ narrowly and watch Gaza’s children survive physically while continuing to suffer otherwise, or recognize that for children in protracted crises, mental health, child protection, and education are not secondary concerns—they are survival itself.”
Plan International’s qualitative and longitudinal research study, Real Choices, Real Lives, has been following the lives of 142 girls in nine countries – Benin, Brazil, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Philippines, Togo, Uganda and Vietnam – from their births in 2006 through to 2024 when they turn 18.
To mark the end of the study, Plan International has released a final report, drawing on 18 years of annual interviews documenting girls’ experiences, aspirations, and how gender norms influence their lives. This timely report reflects the crossroads we face for girls’ rights. In a moment of profound uncertainty and the rise of anti-rights actors shaping the development landscape, it is crucial to reflect on how far we have come so that we can navigate the path ahead.
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