Qatar, December 12, 2018:  Education Above All (EAA) Foundation announced the efforts to build a global consensus on recognising the academic credentials of migrants and refugee children at the 2018 Global Education Meeting.

As representatives from around the world gather to discuss progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, EAA has announced a global initiative to develop agreements on recognising the educational achievement of school-age children who had to flee their homes or have chosen to migrate to another country.

During a parallel panel session hosted by EAA, UNESCO and UNHCR, and moderated by renowned BBC correspondent Yalda Hakim, panellists including Maha Mamo, a former stateless person, Karim Albrem, Global Youth Advisory Committee of UNHCR, Dr. Alexandru Manus, Southern New Hampshire University’s Office of Academic Quality, Accreditation and Support, Romanian, and Stig Arne Skjerven, Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT), Norwegian ENIC-NARIC, will call for systematic amendments to be made regarding the way educational achievements of refugees and migrants are recognised. The proposed changes will enable refugees and migrant children to have an equal opportunity to learn, and become productive members of society in their host communities.  

On this occasion, Mrs. Leena Al-Derham, Senior Education Specialist at Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, stated:

“The current system unfairly impacts refugees and migrants, yet ample instances exist that demonstrate the effectiveness of accrediting educational achievements in higher education. These examples of co-operation can serve as a blueprint for certifying attainment and skills at other levels of the education system too. We know this can be done. If we are successful, we remove a huge barrier faced by an entire generation, many of whom just want the chance to finish their education and learn the skills they need to one-day return home and help rebuild the communities they had left behind.”

With 64 million children still without access to primary education, and almost half a million more out of school refugee children this year compared to 2017, the scale of this problem is increasing faster than the combined efforts can address it.

EAA will be calling on its fellow SDG members to build upon what it has collectively learned, and dramatically scale up work to educate the increasing number of migrants and refugee children – and out of school children everywhere.  This will be critical to achieve SDG4 and the wider SDG framework, and EAA will continue to negotiate with the steering committee to advocate for collective action.

EAA is proud of the decision by UN member states taken on November 13 to adopt the refugee compact and to commit to seeing the recognition of credentials for migrant and refugee children and young people.  EAA will continue to voice its concern on global stage on important issues and to ensure every child and young person has the right to access education.