Ms Brid Kennedy:

One reason children are not returning to school after the pandemic is the worsening economic crisis in an increasing number of countries. Both issues are inextricably linked. Children are ending up in more child-labour circumstances because, as we have heard, one or both parents of a child may be dying. Some parents who are not employed find it easier to get the children employed, with girls in one role and boys in another. It is important to address the economic situation, support good governance and support governments to be accountable and deliver on their own plans for their countries.

On the question of what we can do, we should support the right to free education, be it through NGOs or through supporting governments in providing good-quality education systems that allow children to go to school such that they do not have to do child labour to support their families to survive. Also, we could interrogate how we can reach the furthest behind, especially regarding sustainable development goal 4, which is all about quality education. Children often drop out of school because the system in school is not favourable. It may not be safe to go to school and there may be corporal punishment. The physical shapes of schools may not be good, and there are rainy seasons and very hot seasons. Therefore, it is a matter of determining how we can support quality education.

The funding word was mentioned but it is a matter of increasing funding. We really commend the Irish Government on how it has been continually increasing funding for education in recent years. That is making a difference. The statistics in general show more children have been getting educated over the past two decades than before that. The pandemic has resulted in a bit of a setback so it is a question of getting the figures back up again. Education in development and emergency contexts must be considered. Only in the past few years has ECHO, the humanitarian organisation of the EU, started funding education in emergencies. Education needs to be prioritised almost as much as the provision of food, water and shelter in emergency contexts so children will not fall back into dreadful coping strategies required by their parents.