Opinion
Canada can play vital role in getting refugee children back into classrooms
By Kevin Frey and Scott Walter July 28, 2020
Canada should spearhead a truly global and coordinated response to the education challenges posed by COVID-19 by convening a high-level event virtually during the United Nations General Assembly in September.
International Development Minister Karina Gould, during a UN political forum earlier this month, said 'every child deserves a quality education in an environment that is safe and inclusive—even in the midst of a pandemic.' The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
COVID-19 has created an unprecedented crisis in education. The pandemic has put 1.5 billion children out of school. That’s in addition to the 75 million children and youth who were already out of school due to conflict and crisis. COVID-19 threatens hard-won global advances in access to quality education, and its effects will be especially severe for refugee and internally displaced children—especially girls—whose educational futures were already on hold. We cannot abandon them.
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