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Education

Good quality and inclusive education for every child by 2030

We work with international institutions, governments, donors, civil society coalitions and children themselves to ensure every last child has access to good-quality learning opportunities.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time in human history, an entire generation has had their education disrupted. Even before the pandemic, 258 million children were out-of-school, putting their futures at risk. 

Even when children were in school, they were not learning basic skills like literacy and numeracy. The most marginalised children are most at risk of missing out on education and being left behind - such as refugees, girls, those from low-income households, ethno-linguistic or religious minorities and those with disabilities. 

Our priorities

Save Our Education campaign: The rapid spread of COVID-19 has forced the world’s schools to shut their doors and over 1.6 billion learners have had their education disrupted. Globally, children have lost a total of 112 billion days of school. Our new Save Our Education report reveals nearly 10 million children may never return. 

Education in emergencies: For most children affected by emergencies their right to education is an unfulfilled promise. Save the Children plays a leading role in the education in emergencies field as co-lead with UNICEF of the Global Education Cluster and as a founding member of Education Cannot Wait. We have a particular focus on ensuring that every last refugee child has access to education within 3 months of crossing an international border in search of protection.

Financing: Financing for education is woefully low and insufficient if we have any hope of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4, which promises inclusive and good-quality education for all. We are working to call on national and donor governments and multilateral funders to close the education financing gap.

Our key policy asks

 

1. Responding to the COVID-19 education emergency: The Save Our Education campaign calls on all stakeholders to keep learning alive while schools are closed through inclusive, quality distance learning, ensuring children can return safely to school and using this moment to build back inclusive, safe and resilient education systems that can better respond to crisis in the future. 

2. Education in emergencies:  All stakeholders must work together to increase financing and prioritisation of education in emergencies, and to improve coordination, policies, and plans which deliver protective, safe, inclusive, and good-quality learning environments in crisis contexts.

3. Education for refugee children: The international community and refugee hosting country governments must ensure that all refugee children have access to good-quality learning opportunities by: closing the financing gap; developing and implementing inclusive policies and plans; and improving the quality of educational provision to refugees and host communities.

4. Financing: Governments need to increase the amount they are spending on education. International donors need to increase their aid budgets and spend on education and need to spend more multilaterally. This includes financing the Global Partnership for Education, the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies, and supporting the establishment of an International Financing Facility for Education.

5. Girls Education: To strengthen learning and wellbeing for the most marginalised girls, and ensure all children are empowered equally through education, governments must address the intersecting barriers to girls’ education by: making teaching and learning gender-transformative; establishing girl-friendly, safe, inclusive, and empowering learning environments; strengthening community support for girls’ education and building gender-transformative education policies and systems.    

Our Key reports

Save Our Education: Protect every child’s right to learn in the COVID-19 response and recovery

Save Our Education Now: An Emergency COVID-19 Education Plan to get the poorest and most marginalised children safely back to school and learning

Let Girls Learn! Our global policy position on girls’ education and realising gender equality in and through education

Progress Under Threat: Refugee education one year on from the Global Refugee Forum and the impact of COVID-19

Read the latest blogs on education

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Our Experts

Hollie Warren; Head of Education

Hollie Warren

Head of Education

h.warren@savethechildren.org.uk
@holliewarren__

Hollie Warren is the Head of Education Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children UK. She has worked at Save the Children for over ten years, with seven years' experience of working on both UK and global education policy and advocacy. She is currently the Chair of the Send My Friend to School coalition - the UK coalition of the Global Campaign for Education.  Previously, Hollie worked as an Education Policy Adviser in Save the Children’s UK Poverty department, working on the ‘Read On. Get On.’ campaign focused on early years education and literacy in the UK. 

Anya Cowley

Anya Cowley

Education Policy and Advocacy Adviser
a.cowley@savethechildren.org.uk
@AnyaCowley_

Anya is responsible for global education policy and advocacy, with a focus on girls’ education. Her role focusses on ensuring that the UK Government and other leaders prioritise access to quality education in their foreign and development policy. 

Anya has over four years’ experience working with Save the Children to influence policy and practice at national and global levels to ensure all children realise their right to be safe and learn, and to ensure states uphold human rights and international humanitarian law during armed conflict. 

She co-chairs the Gender and Development Network Girls’ Education Working Group, an influential network of UK-based NGOs and experts working to put gender equality at the heart of international development. 

Emma Wagner

Emma Wagner

Senior Education Policy and Advocacy Adviser for Education in Emergencies
e.wagner@savethechildren.org.uk
@ewagner48

Before joining Save the Children Emma, co-founded Umoja Tanzania, a successful youth education charity in Arusha, Tanzania. She is chair of Umoja UK, a UK registered charity. 

 She has worked for seven years at Save the Children, in Public Affairs and in the Education Team. She is responsible for policy and advocacy on education in emergencies, refugee education and the Save Our Education campaign. She is a member of the Advocacy Working Group of the Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies, and a member of the Global Campaign for Education, the Moving Minds Alliance and the civil society constituency  for Education Cannot Wait.

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