Blog

In this blog, we hear from four humanitarians who share their stories on education.

For example, Noureldeen Salah, Education Officer, Gaza, State of Palestine, said: “I recently met a seventh-grade girl who ran to her mother after a few hours in a learning space, saying, ‘I can’t stop learning! There is so much I don’t know yet.’ Learning made her feel ‘like I’m flying, and education is the key to rebuilding our country.’”

And Mohamad Kinan Turkawi, Education Officer, Syria, said: “One moment I’ll never forget was when UNICEF supported children with visual impairments to learn in Homs. The number of children attending classes doubled. Seeing their smiles and the hope in their parents’ eyes was powerful. For many, it felt like the start of a new life.”

Read the stories.

The International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education has published a special issue on “the future of the curriculum”. Most articles are open access and come from a variety of countries.

Yana Manyukhina, in the editorial, writes: “Collectively, the papers in this special issue outline a vision of curriculum futures that is both ambitious and achievable. It is ambitious in its commitment to genuine student agency, democratic participation, and holistic development. It is achievable because it builds on existing good practice, demonstrated innovations, and children’s own capabilities and interests. This vision recognises that the challenges facing young people today – from climate change to social fragmentation to technological disruption – require educational approaches that develop not just academic knowledge but also critical thinking, empathy, creativity, and capacity for collaboration. It acknowledges that children are not empty vessels to be filled with predetermined content, but active meaning-makers who bring valuable knowledge and perspectives to their educational experiences.”

Read the journal.

In Argentina, indigenous children, boys and girls, have to learn in an education system that is monocultural and monolingual. In 2006, “Intercultural Bilingual Educational policies” were adopted and there are now formally certified Indigenous teachers. Indigenous teachers make significant contributions to their communities by serving as cultural brokers, project designers, environmentalists, local agricultural promoters, land defenders, and translators, among others. They connect children and youth to educational opportunities and other rights. Given their own educational trajectories, Indigenous women teachers, particularly, are at the forefront of addressing limiting gender norms, attitudes and practices. However, despite the vital role Indigenous teachers play, educational policy has neglected to address the systemic barriers that Indigenous women encounter in their journey to become teachers.

Read the article.

The Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, SUMMA, has published its Education Innovation Map to highlight initiatives, programmes and practices that are proven to be effective, create value and contribute to improving the quality, equity, and inclusion of education systems.

It is a map that offers relevant and pertinent information on the type of problems that school communities are facing, the way in which they are solving them and the type of results that such solutions are showing.

Look at the map.

In 2023, education and gender experts from South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Malawi met to exchange ideas on how to end school-related gender-based violence.

In 2025 they met again to discuss their progress: Zambia had finalised and disseminated Child Safeguarding Guidelines for the Education Sector; Uganda had implemented initiatives from policy alignment to training and learner empowerment; South Sudan drove interventions forward despite armed conflict and climate shocks; and Malawi had developed standards for a National Safe Schools Framework.

Read the blog.

This blog talks about the work of the Hanuman Community Learning Center (HCLC), a small space that offers learning to out-of-school children. Apart from the learning centre, HCLC ran sensitisation campaigns in communities and organised child-led advocacy campaigns:

“In one powerful initiative, children showcased their artwork, crafts, and songs to Janakpur City officials to urge stronger action against child labor and demand every child’s right to education.”

Read the blog and learn more about HCLC.

By 2050, nearly every child will face more frequent heatwaves — threatening their health, disrupting their education, and putting their future at risk. Heat does not affect all children equally. Cruelly, and like so many climate impacts, it will be those with the fewest resources who will be worst affected. Heat could therefore further stratify classrooms and communities along economic, gender, and disability lines. At the micro level, children who have access – either financially or geographically – to schools with climate control could have more schooling, be better able to focus, and ultimately secure better learning outcomes. This is as true in Lusaka as it is in London. But it is also not an inevitability. If the global community is serious about realizing every child’s right to learn, it is time to move heat from a climate issue to an education issue.

Read the blog.

Since 1995, the world has moved closer to gender parity in education. Girls now enrol in primary, lower and upper secondary school at rates equal to boys. Globally, 91 million more girls are in primary education than three decades ago, and 136 million more are in secondary. Yet the picture is far from complete.

Today, 133 million girls remain out of school. Progress differs sharply by region: Central and Southern Asia has achieved parity in secondary enrolment, while sub-Saharan Africa continues to trail behind. Oceania, once at parity, now sees girls at a disadvantage. In Latin America and the Caribbean, boys are less likely than girls to advance through secondary education. When poverty and location intersect with gender, the disadvantages become even more severe: in Guinea and Mali, practically no poor young women are in school.

The unfinished business of girls’ education is not just about rights. It is about futures for women, for their children, and for societies. The promise made in Beijing remains possible, but only if we match evidence with action.

Read the full blog.

Joselyn Atyang is the headteacher of the Bidong Primary School in Uganda’s Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement. The school has 2,550 learners of whom over 1,500 are refugee children. Classrooms are overcrowded.

In addition to overcrowding, Joselyn’s school faces shortages of critical resources, including desks and toilets – especially for girls. Language barriers further complicate classroom instruction and inclusion.

To address these challenges, investment by Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has been used to create more inclusive learning environments and to support and offer development opportunities for teachers. The approach to improve the quality of teaching uses an adapted version of Uganda’s Teacher Competency Framework to help educators identify key areas for growth and receive targeted, longer-term professional development.

In 2023, ECW renewed its programme in the country. The expanded programme focuses on access, quality of delivery and the strengthening of systems in support of inclusion across Uganda’s education system. The investment is addressing barriers to quality formal and non-formal education by building and rehabilitating schools and providing children with MHPSS.

Read the full article.