00:00We can have some accelerated learning, they can catch up, but I don't want to give the impression that there
00:06is any way we can compensate for the damage that conflict causes. We can't.
00:13With conflicts raging around the world, millions of children risk becoming a lost generation, missing months or even years of
00:20school.
00:21So how do you keep children learning when war makes the classroom impossible?
00:25I sat down with Education Above All Foundations, Dr. Malia Malik, to find out.
00:30Dr. Malik, thanks for joining us.
00:32From Gaza and Sudan to Ukraine, what does prolonged disruption from education do to a child?
00:38The impact of that is devastating.
00:41First and foremost on the children, teachers themselves, very many of whom have died and are killed, maimed, abducted because
00:49of these conflicts.
00:50And also on the education systems themselves, not just the school building, which of course can be rebuilt, but the
00:56wholesale destruction of education systems in the immediate aftermath of the conflict.
01:02In the medium to long term, we see a vicious cycle of conflict causing not only damage to education systems,
01:11but economic degradation and long term poverty and cycles of violence.
01:17So COVID showed us what even a relatively short disruption from school can turn into.
01:22What does that tell us about active conflicts and how that can impact children?
01:26COVID is a really good example and analogy for active conflicts because COVID, although not a conflict, was a pandemic.
01:33They're very seriously disrupted the education system.
01:36But COVID also showed us the ability of human beings to rise to the challenge.
01:41So during COVID, we were able to look at new technologies, ways of delivering learning outside the traditional paradigm of
01:49a school building.
01:50And we found innovative ways of delivering learning to children, making sure that they stay engaged.
01:57So now attacks on education have risen by more than 40 percent.
02:00Why are schools, teachers and students increasingly becoming under attack?
02:05So 40 percent increase isn't just a small increase.
02:08It's a surge, right?
02:09So we need to understand what's going on.
02:11And within that, I think the really alarming red line we've crossed this year is that government forces, i.e.
02:18members of the United Nations, you know, state parties have crossed the line
02:22and are willing to use extreme state violence to attack schools, to attack education.
02:29And that should alarm all of us, because that restraint that we assumed was there on the part of legitimate
02:37states, who are members of the UN Security Council, members of the UN, that is softening up.
02:43And that should really worry us.
02:44And you're saying we haven't seen this before to this level?
02:47We haven't seen it to this level.
02:48And there's been a crossover in terms of states being willing to take the risks of attacking civilian targets, civilian
02:55infrastructure.
02:57Now, here in the Gulf, children are growing up with war very close to home.
03:01How can that impact children?
03:03EAA, as a Qatar-based foundation, has experienced something unique this year, which is that since the start of conflict
03:11in January,
03:12children studying in Qatar, for example, but also other GCC countries, have had to adapt to rocket fire, interception, shell
03:23fire.
03:24Clearly, that is a kind of constant interference, constant stress, anxiety for children,
03:33has psychosocial and emotional impacts on these children, on the teachers and the parents.
03:38So now, once a conflict does end, can children who have lost months or years of education ever fully catch
03:45up?
03:46There's quite a lot we can do, including technology, including accelerated learning programs, to get the kids back to closing
03:54the knowledge gap.
03:56Even before we think about knowledge gaps, learning gaps, we have to think about that child as a whole,
04:02make sure that we address that trauma and they are able to actually function in a healthy way.
04:08in an emotionally secure way.
04:11And lastly, the international community is meant to protect schools, teachers, students,
04:17but we're seeing more and more conflicts erupting across the globe.
04:20Does that mean the international community is failing in this regard?
04:24We can't help but reach that conclusion.
04:26I think there's a huge failure in terms of the international community, especially states,
04:32and I think those institutions that are there to try and preserve international peace and security are failing.
04:39For me, this is then not about abandoning those institutions.
04:43For me, it's I'm more determined than ever and would call for a strengthening of our commitment to multilateralism
04:51as a way of bringing about peace rather than more.
