Angelina Jolie advocates to ensure 'education for refugee children' amid coronavirus: ‘We must find ways’
The activist says distance learning isn’t practical without access to resources
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Angelina Jolie is advocating to ensure education in select countries continues amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The activist warned during a Unesco and UNHCR livestream on Monday that children without access to proper remote learning tools “may never” return to school unless something is urgently done.
Jolie, 45, is a Special Envoy for the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
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“If you were a refugee child before the pandemic,you are already twice as likely to be out of school than other children,” she said during the live stream, according to Gov.uk.
Jolie continued: “For millions of children and youth, schools are a lifeline of opportunity as well as a shield. Classrooms offer protection — or at least a reprieve — from violence, exploitation and other difficult circumstances.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Without urgent practical assistance, some of the children left without schooling worldwide due to the coronavirus may never set foot in a classroom again,” she stressed. “We must find ways to try to ensure access to continuity of education for young people across the world.”
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Angelina Jolie (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
The purpose of the livestream was in the hopes that other countries will match the aid the United Kingdom has budgeted for 10 of the world’s poorest refugee populated countries, according to UNESCO.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Ensuring education for refugee children is something we can make happen, if we all come together,” Jolie concluded.
Baroness Liz Sugg, the U.K. Special Envoy for Girls’ Education, announced that the country is pledging £5.3 million (about $6 million) in aid to support teachers and refugee children in lesser resourced areas for the next seven months.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Angelina Jolie as she poses on the red carpet at the Hollywood & Highland Center Theatre during the 84th Academy Awards (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images)
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“Education must be prioritized in the global recovery from coronavirus. This epidemic is not just a health crisis, it is an education crisis, especially for refugee children. Without school and an education they will be unable to rebuild their lives and achieve their full potential,” Sugg said.