Back to School for Children in Crisis: How Your Donation Helps

Every August, American children head back to school. New supplies, a first day, a year laid out ahead of them. For more than 224 million children worldwide living through conflict, displacement, and extreme poverty, that year does not materially exist. Not because no one cares — but because the systems that make school possible have collapsed around them.

Why Education Is the First Thing Lost in a Crisis

When conflict strikes, schools close for reasons that compound quickly. Buildings become shelters for the displaced, or are damaged or occupied. Teachers leave — either because they are themselves displaced, or because they cannot be paid. Families pull children out to work, to help at home, or because the route to school has become dangerous. In protracted crises, this is not a temporary disruption: it becomes a new normal.

The longer a child is out of school, the harder it is to return. A seven-year-old who misses a year falls behind peers and faces a classroom that has moved on. A ten-year-old out for three years may not fit into any existing year group. Adolescent girls face particular barriers to re-entry: once a break becomes extended, family expectations, early marriage, and caregiving responsibilities can make returning to school very difficult. Research consistently shows girls’ school attendance is more sensitive to household economic pressure than boys’.

What "Back to School" Actually Looks Like When You Are Displaced

For children who do return, school in a crisis zone is not the institution most people picture. Learning happens in tents, in damaged buildings, in shifts that accommodate the number of children and available teachers. Children displaced across borders often face instruction in a language they do not speak. Textbooks, if they exist, may be from a different curriculum. Teachers themselves may be volunteers with no formal training, doing their best with almost nothing.

Behind the logistics is the psychological reality. Children who have witnessed conflict, lost family members, or lived through repeated displacement carry trauma that affects concentration, behaviour, and learning. Schools that work in crisis contexts address this — but it requires trained teachers and support systems that most emergency programs cannot provide.

What the Evidence Says Actually Works

Research on education in emergencies consistently points to a few interventions that make a measurable difference:

• School meals — children whose families are food-insecure attend school at higher rates when a meal is provided. This is one of the most cost-effective enrollment tools documented across low-income settings.
• Cash transfers to families — when families receive direct cash support, they are less likely to keep children home to work. The income gap that education competes against is real; reducing it keeps children in classrooms.
• Teacher presence and pay — schools without trained, compensated teachers do not function. Recruiting and supporting local teachers — including from displaced communities — is consistently more effective than shipping in short-term volunteers.
• Psychosocial support — children who receive structured mental health support alongside education show better learning outcomes and lower dropout rates in post-conflict studies.

What Our Programs Provide

Our Back to School programs address different parts of the education gap. Back to School Kits equip individual children with what they need to walk into a classroom: a bag, uniform, books, and supplies. Kits are available for children in Gaza, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, and Senegal — with the contents adapted to what each context requires. The Gaza Back to School Kit, for example, addresses the specific shortages created by conflict and supply disruption in the territory.

The Feed a Child program addresses a different barrier: hunger. For $25 a month, it provides school meals to a child in crisis — removing the economic pressure that keeps families from sending children in the morning. And for families who have lost a parent, our orphan sponsorship provides ongoing monthly support that covers school costs, nutrition, and wellbeing over time, not just for one school year.

Each addresses a different reason children are out of school. Which one fits depends on where you want your support to go.

Sources

UNICEF Education in Emergencies — 224 million children affected by school disruption in crisis (2024 estimate). UNESCO Institute for Statistics — out-of-school rates by region and crisis context. World Bank, Returns to Education meta-analysis — 10–20% earnings increase per additional year of schooling for girls. Evidence for Learning / J-PAL — school meals and cash transfers as enrollment interventions in low-income settings. Human Appeal orphan sponsorship program — active in Gaza, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia.

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