Education in emergencies

Nine school children have been reunited with their families after being stranded at school for two days by the devastating flash floods in Northern Nepal, as rescue efforts continue to reach other students, Save the Children said.

Nearly two-thirds of children surveyed across four districts in southern Yemen are out of school following more than a decade of conflict and displacement, Save the Children said as the new school year begins.

In the Afar region, Hayat*, a mother of two, has embraced the Emergent Literacy and Math (ELM) at Home initiative to transform her household into a vibrant learning environment. Following regular visits from teachers and participating in school-based parental meetings, Hayat* began creating teaching materials from available home resources to teach her son, Ali*, letters, colors, and numbers through play. This home-based intervention has led to a remarkable transformation in Ali’s* confidence and academic skills; he is now able to identify the English alphabet, handle a pencil to write letters, and read words and phrases—changes so visible that neighbors now remark that Hayat’s* house "looks like a school."

In the Afar region, Senait*, a mother of four, is witnessing a major shift in how her youngest daughter, Helen*, prepares for school. Unlike her older siblings who started primary school without any preparation, Helen* is supported by the Emergent Literacy and Math (ELM) at Home initiative. Through monthly teacher visits and school-based parental meetings, Senait* has learned to use local materials like cardboard to teach Helen* colours, letters, and numbers so she is well-prepared to start school. This "play-based" approach has not only improved Helen’s* literacy but has significantly boosted her confidence and communication skills.

As Save the Children Türkiye, in cooperation with Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, the Ministry of National Education, local municipalities and our local partner, we implemented the Climate Awareness and Resilience for Emergencies & Sustainability Project (CARES), a child-centred initiative carried out in collaboration with the Refugees Association in Sultanbeyli, Istanbul.

Millions of children in Sudan have missed nearly 500 days of learning since the war started in April 2023 in what has become one of the world’s longest school closures, surpassing the worst shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The armed conflict in Northern Mozambique has triggered a severe child rights crisis, leaving 441,721 children and 5,365 teachers in urgent need of humanitarian education support, with 138 schools closed and 82,800 children having their learning interrupted. Despite the critical scale of this emergency, humanitarian education funding has alarmingly declined over the past four years, dropping from 37.5% coverage in 2022 to just 5.1% in 2025, marking the lowest funding level across all humanitarian clusters. Save the Children, alongside its allies, is therefore demanding urgent action from donors, UN agencies, and government stakeholders to demonstrate their duty of care and commitment to reverse this situation, protect the right of conflict-affected children to safe and uninterrupted learning, and prevent long-term, intergenerational impacts resulting from a lack of education.

Record numbers of attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine in the past two months have forced school closures and also disrupted the remote learning that children have relied upon for nearly four years of war, said Save the Children

Children in frontline areas of Ukraine have lost 25% more days of learning due to the war than the world’s longest COVID-19 school closures, as a lack of bomb shelters means it is still too dangerous to for children to attend class, Save the Children said today.

In this powerful firsthand account, a father of five and child protection expert exposes how war has shattered childhood in Gaza. Once joyful and free, play has turned into a survival tactic amid rubble and fear. With every playground destroyed and every safe space gone, Gaza’s children are being robbed of their future. This deeply human opinion piece calls for urgent action to protect a generation growing up in the shadows of war.