EDUCATION ‘FORGOTTEN’ IN POST-CONFLICT AID

“Education is the forgotten aspect of post-conflict humanitarian aid and aid for refugees”, New Security Foundation Chairman Dr Harold Elletson told delegates at a ground-breaking workshop on ‘post-conflict distance learning’ during ‘eLearning Africa’ in Dakar, Senegal.

Dr Elletson reminded delegates that nine years earlier in Dakar, the World Education Forum had set the target of universal primary education for every child by 2015, which was adopted as one of the UN’s millennium goals.
“However, over 100 million children still don’t attend primary school. And, of these, 50 per cent are in countries which are either suffering from conflict or recovering from it.”

Dr Elletson said that the figures showed that education had largely been ignored in many post-conflict situations. Recent experience in Afghanistan and elsewhere, however, showed that it was “crucial” for reconstruction. He said that ‘distance learning’offered some really attractive, exciting and cost-effective options for developing or rebuilding education in some of the most difficult places in the world.”

Case studies at the workshop highlighted recent initiatives in Cote d’Ivoire and Somalia. Fatoumata Koné of the Ivorian Ministry of Education  described the situation in Dabakala province, which had been under the control of rebels and where fighting had destroyed dozens of schools. She said that the most important problems the region currently faced were “infrastructure, human resources and  the establishment of high-quality teacher training”. She hoped that an agreement will shortly be concluded with a major IT supplier for the delivery of computers, allowing the implementation of a comprehensive programme of distance learning.

Sidiki Traoré of the African Virtual University described the AVU’s recent experience in Somalia, a country plagued by terrorism and piracy, where it has delivered English language and journalism courses involving international partners through distance learning. Mr Traoré said that the courses, which were accessed by 4,000 students from 6 universities had helped to “enhance human capital and provide hope and life”.

The New Security Foundation will be publishing a report on ‘Post-conflict distance learning’. For more details, please contact info@newsecurityfoundaton.org .

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