Blog

This report from the Center for Global Development highlights that despite rising school access in low- and middle-income countries, learning outcomes remain poor, prompting a shift toward foundational literacy and numeracy. This study uses longitudinal data from Indonesia to link early-grade skills to adult earnings, finding that a one standard deviation increase in foundational skills correlates with an 11% rise in income. The effect is only partly explained by completed schooling and suggests strong economic returns on early education investment.

Read the report.

This new report from Inclusive Futures and Humanity and Inclusion explores how to transform education for refugee children with disabilities, drawing on practical lessons from early childhood development projects in Kenya’s Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee settlements.

It highlights four key strategies: multi-sectoral collaboration, inclusive classroom practices, community-led inclusion teams, and caregiver support groups. The findings underscore that inclusive education in refugee contexts must be holistic, locally adapted, and rooted in community empowerment to overcome systemic barriers and ensure meaningful learning outcomes.

Read the report.

In May 2025, NORRAG hosted the online launch of its eleventh NORRAG Special Issue (NSI11), titled “Multilingualism and Language Transition: Innovations and Possibilities”.

The NORRAG Special Issue, drawing on research and practice from 21 contexts across four continents, offers a robust exploration of the role of language in transforming education systems. The publication and the recording of the launch event are available online with captioning in multiple languages. 

Read the publication and access the recordings.

This blog reflects on a panel discussion marking the REAL Centre’s 10th anniversary. It highlights the lived experiences of educators and learners with disabilities, emphasizing that inclusion must be intersectional, context-driven, and rooted in practice, not just policy. The panel collectively argues that inclusive education is already being practiced in overlooked spaces, and real progress lies in centering those experiences and dismantling structural inequities.

Read the blog.

This policy brief developed by the Global Education Cluster (GEC), the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies (EiE Hub) and the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) assesses the consequences of recent aid cuts on education. It sets out recommendations for policy makers, donors and practitioners. Its key points include:

• The aid cuts in 2025 have had a devastating impact on education services in crisis contexts, while education faced steeper cuts than most other sectors. Humanitarian actors were forced to reduce their funding requests by 33% for education, leaving more than 33 million people in need outside the scope of aid planning.
• Frontline education providers in crisis contexts have already been forced to scale back, and the majority have had to slash education budgets. In practice, this has led to fully or partially closed schools, reduced or unpaid teacher salaries, increased dropout rates, and a reduction in services to students.
• Donors should sustain and increase humanitarian funding towards Education in Emergencies, with an emphasis on local leadership. Local communities, teachers and civil society are already stepping in to fill gaps left by aid agencies – they should be supported through more decision-making power and funding.

Read the report.

The Global Partnership for Education hosted a gathering of education leaders in Hanoi.

“During the meeting, country representatives reflected on tough questions: how do we recover from learning loss? What does equity really look like in the classroom? How can technology and teaching work together to unlock every learner’s potential? Participants, with a collaborative spirit, candidly tackled systemic education issues like teacher shortages, inclusive education and early childhood learning.”

For each region, different themes were identified. Across all regions, partner countries emphasized the priorities of foundational literacy and numeracy, early childhood education as well as a focus on equity and inclusion. Many also raised concerns about high dropout rates and the need to improve access to quality education, especially in rural and underserved areas.

Read the blog.

This tool from Together for Girls to access data on violence against children in 24 countries. You can build, download and share custom tables, graphs and maps using data on key indicators from the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) and other trusted sources.

The data dashboard allows for a search on one or several categories and one or several countries.

Access the database.

Child labour is one of the biggest barriers to educational attendance and completion. The International Labour Organization and UNICEF have published the latest data on Child Labour.

“Child labour still affects nearly 138 million children worldwide; 54 million of these children are in hazardous work. Over the last four years, the world has returned to a path of progress to end child labour, but despite recent gains, the fight against child labour will continue for decades into the future without rapidly accelerating progress.”

Read the report.

The Global Alliance – Cities4Children has published “Children, climate change, and slums: Risks, realities, and resilience in Action”.

Save the Children has published “Born into the Climate Crisis 2: An unprecedented life: Protecting children’s rights in a changing climate”.

EENET has been using a series of social media posts to draw attention to Education under Apartheid.

The posts compare the experiences of learners under apartheid in South Africa with the experiences of Palestinian learners living under Israeli apartheid.

The set of six messages can be found on LinkedIn:

Apartheid myths and reality.

Segregation and inequality in education.

Violence against students.

Cultural suppression.

Restricted movement.

International response.