Refugee children will access quality education and get protection from violence, abuse and exploitation.
This follows a deal between the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Unicef that will also provide emergency support to the children and their families for two years.
“This agreement renews our commitment to safeguard the rights and wellbeing of refugee children,” Unicef said on Monday.
As of September, Kenya had 447,141 refugees and 51,218 asylum seekers. Most reside in refugee camps in Garissa and Turkana counties.
Out of every two refugees, one is a child of school age (four-18 years) yet more than 48 per cent miss school.
A recent report commissioned by the UN refugee agency suggests that only three per cent of refugee children manage to attain higher education.
Titled 'Refugee Students in Higher Education', the report attributes the low enrollment levels to pressure on families to contribute to household finances instead of secondary and tertiary education.
This is in addition to a low number of higher education institutions for refugees and a low number of students, particularly girls, graduating from secondary schools.
In a statement, Unicef also indicates that violence, including sexual abuse and gender violence against refugee children, has surged during school closures.
Before Covid-19, only a third of refugees in Kenya had access to secondary education and less than a sixth had access to tertiary education, including technical and vocational education and training.
The refugee agency now says that the learning situation has been worsened by Covid-19 as most refugee learners lack access to remote learning.
“With some affected by school closures, remote learning has not always been available and even if so, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, TV and radio sets as well as internet connectivity are often not accessible to those displaced,” UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said.
Mantoo expressed worry over the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic that may force displaced and destitute students to drop out of school and into work, begging and early marriages to try and support their families.
Edited by Henry Makori
