Calling it a 'hidden crisis', a UN report has found that armed conflicts are robbing 28 million children of their right to education while subjecting them to violence. The report, The Hidden Crisis: Armed Conflict and Education, prepared by UNESCO warns that the world is not on track to achieve by 2015 the goal of providing education to all that 160 countries signed in 2000. “In conflict-affected poor countries, 28 million children of primary school age – 42 percent of the world's total – are out of school,” said the report released on Tuesday. It warns that children in conflict-affected poor countries are twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday as children in other poor countries. “Only 79 percent of young people are literate in conflict-affected poor countries, compared with 93 percent in other poor countries,” it said. Over 43 million people are reported to have been displaced mostly by armed conflicts though the actual number is probably far higher. Refugees and internally displaced people face major barriers to education, according to the report. The report calls for a determined international response to tackle the crisis.
