New UNICEF Campaign To Show Real-Life Hurdles Of Students In Crisis-Stricken Countries

The United Nations Children's Fund has partnered with the European Union to create a new social media campaign that highlights the value of education for young adolescents living in crisis-stricken countries. The public awareness campaign aims to encourage 20 million students to continue their education despite living in not so ideal circumstances.

Take Education Seriously

According to the official UNICEF website, the #EmergencyLessons campaign is specifically targeting youths in Italy, Ireland, Greece, Hungary Slovakia, Slovenia and the UK. For the next 7 months, the campaign will be showing the real-life challenges children in Iraq, Guinea, Ukraine and Nepal are facing as a means to embolden European students to take their education seriously.

"Here in Europe, we tend to take school for granted, and forget what a vital part of life it is to children," EU's crisis management commissioner Christos Stylianides told UN News Centre. "We hope this campaign will better help Europeans understand why, when disaster strikes, opportunities to learn are just as important as access to food, water, vaccines and shelter."

Campaign To Celebrate The Perks Of Education

The #EmergencyLessons campaign will also show the many benefits of going to and staying in school. This includes building life-long relationships with classmates, having the full support from teachers and the developing the sense of stability by routinely showing up for class.

"Young people understand better than anyone how important education is to their lives today and to their futures," claimed UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake. "Who knows better than they that their tomorrows depend on what they learn today. Their future, and ours, depends on it."

Crisis Affecting Millions Of School-Age Children

As of the moment, there are roughly 75 million children around the world living in crisis-stricken countries. Most if not all of them are in dire need of strong educational support.

BBC News reported that young refugees are 5 times more likely to discontinue their schooling compared to their less war-torn peers. Gender also plays a role in this glaring statistic. For some reason, girls are 3 times more likely to drop out of school than boys during times of crisis or conflict.