APA- Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) At least 7.6 million children in Ethiopia have remained out of school due to various shocks and hazards, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), has revealed.
The report highlighted that ongoing conflicts in the country’s Amhara, Oromia, and other regions have significantly exacerbated the situation.
In its publication, covering the reporting period from July to September 2023, UNICEF has emphasized that the longer children remain out of school, the less likely they are to return to formal education.
The quarterly publication, released Wednesday revealed that a total of 8,552 schools have reported varying degrees of damage in Ethiopia, constituting almost 20 percent of all schools in the eastern African nation..
Furthermore, the publication emphasized that the education cluster remains one of the most underfunded areas, with current funding covering only 22 percent of the target, supporting just 851,000 children. This falls significantly short of the humanitarian responses plan in Ethiopia.
Official data indicate that the education cluster aims to reach 3.8 million children, which represents only 30 percent of the children in need based on 2023 calculations and planning.
MG/as/APA