Many countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are plagued by war and other troubles, which displace and endanger millions of children. They are forced to move from their homelands to European borders in order to find safety. Displaced families are often separated, and they suffer extremely poor living conditions. Many children are orphaned and must afterward attempt to get themselves out alone.

To date millions of children have fled their country of origin in the wave of migrants trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. Children make up about one-fifth of the refugees in the European crisis.

Reliable reports show that a huge amount of asylum requests are filed for minors, of which another huge amount were unaccompanied minors. These children are fleeing unstable, war-torn countries that are no longer safe for them to live in. They come from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq, as well as African and Asian countries. Many of them have suffered psychological trauma within their countries, which is increased by the migration between their home country and wherever they are seeking refugee status.

Many children are forced to cross the sea in order to reach Europe, which unfortunately means that some drown. Just to sight one example, between November 2016 and January 2017, about 190 refugee children died in the Mediterranean Sea. This number is constantly increasing. Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian child just a few years old who was found dead on a Turkish beach, is just one example.

Children make up a large part of those living in refugee camps. Living conditions there are extremely rough. Children and adults alike lack food, water, clothing, and appropriate housing, including sufficient hygienic facilities.

Many children are held in camps during the asylum and immigration process, a system which amounts to detention. Far from being provided with any psychological or legal support, it instead has a negative impact on children’s physical and psychological development.

Refugee children face a plethora of difficulties and challenges ranging from Stress Response Regulation to a series of mental health challenges, and from child labour to sexual exploitation, just to name a few. However, one of the greatest challenges is Poor Access to Education.

An important aspect of a child’s upbringing is their access to education. This access to meaningful education is compromised in regions of conflict. In 2011 at the beginning of the Syrian War, Syria reported universal enrolment in primary school and near universal enrolment in lower secondary school. But as of August 2019, within Syria, over 2 million children (1/3 of Syria’s child population) are out of school and 1.3 million children are at risk of dropping out. In refugee host countries, over 800,000 children remain out of school.

There are several circumstances contributing to the lack of enrolment and the risk of additional students dropping out. For refugees, access to schools can be extremely limited. Since 2014, the United Nations has verified over 385 attacks on education facilities and military use of over 50 schools. Many refugees do not have a school located near them, therefore the children cannot make the journey because they do not have reliable means of transportation. In addition, when refugee children migrate to neighbouring countries, they must learn a new curriculum. Oftentimes, the new curriculum is in a new language, so the refugees must learn this new language before they can continue their education. Many children also face discrimination and harassment from other students when enrolled in school.

In addition, the emotional trauma from their migration and the previous violence many children have witnessed affects their cognitive, emotional, and social development which will increase their academic challenges.