Emergency Education Projects

UNESCO with funding from the Government of Japan is implementing two emergency projects in education to provide adolescent girls and boys of IDP communities and Syrian Refugees currently residing in the Kurditsan Region of Iraq with the support needed to continue their education.

Both projects were launched in May of 2015 and will be implemented over a period of 12 months.  

Bridging the gaps in secondary schooling for girls of IDP communities in Iraq

As Iraq is currently contending with one of the largest numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world, hundreds of thousands of children and adolescents are at risk of losing their educational gains achieved so far. In this context, adolescent girl are particularly vulnerable.

Timely interventions to provide access to secondary education for girls in Iraq are extremely important to bring out of school internally displaced girls into schools and protect them from abuse and violence.

Funded by the Government of Japan for $2,000,000, this project aims at providing the urgently needed bridge of the educational gaps in secondary education for 14,500 girls from IDP communities.

The main expected results are:

• Access to Secondary Education through provision of catch up classes;
• Provision of education through alternative approaches including educational TV, peace education for social cohesion and technical and vocational education to IDP girls;
• Provision of safe learning spaces, incentives for IDP teachers and students, printing of textbooks, coverage of examination fee and schools of operational cost. 

Expanding secondary education for Syrian refugees in Iraq

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq currently hosts over 217,000 Syrians, 35 per cent of them (ca 75,000) are children and youth under the age of 18. A majority of them have no access to education.

This humanitarian support project aims at expanding access to quality secondary education for 6,120 Syrian boys and girls living within and outside camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I). It harnesses education to contribute to stability and security and to promote conflict prevention, a culture of peace, and social cohesion among refugees and the host communities.

Project interventions include the provision of prefabricated school premises, the renovation of existing schools, training of teachers and members of Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and the provision of incentives to teachers and students incentives like textbooks, stationery, examination packages and schools running costs, for the academic year 2015-16.

The main expected results are:

• Access to secondary education and accreditation is provided and educational system strengthened;
• Syrian teachers and PTA members trained on INEE minimum standards, classroom management, pedagogy and role of parents in supporting schools;
• Provision of safe learning spaces, incentives for Syrian teachers and students, printing of textbooks, coverage of examination fee and schools operational cost for five secondary schools in camps.