Deepening Funding Cuts Push Nearly 6 Million Refugee Children Out of School

Refugee enrolment in higher education reached a record 11 per cent in 2025, up from 9 per cent in 2024, with the total number enrolled exceeding 450,000 for the first time.

For a child forced to leave home, school can offer a familiar routine, friendships and a chance to imagine a future beyond displacement. That opportunity remained out of reach for nearly six million refugee children in 2025, according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, which warns that deepening funding cuts could push millions more out of classrooms and undo years of progress.

UNHCR's annual education report, Pathways to the Future: Education, Opportunity and Self-Reliance, estimates that 5.8 million children, representing 44 per cent of the world's 13.1 million school-aged refugee children, were out of school last year. Behind those figures are young people whose chances of gaining qualifications, finding work and supporting themselves depend on access to an education that displacement has made harder to secure.

Secondary school is where opportunities narrow

The move from primary to secondary school remains one of the toughest stages for refugee learners, with enrolment falling from 65 per cent among children of primary-school age to just 32 per cent at secondary level in 2025. Those figures reveal how sharply access narrows as children grow older, putting the education they have already received at risk of ending before they gain the skills and qualifications needed for further study or employment.

Refugee girls face particularly severe pressure during this transition, which UNHCR describes as close to breaking point. Girls and boys attend primary school at broadly similar rates, but the gap widens sharply in secondary education as poverty, protection risks, early marriage and other pressures force more adolescent girls out of classrooms. Losing access to school can restrict their future choices, including opportunities to earn an income and gain greater independence.

Higher education reaches a record, with uneven access

Refugee enrolment in higher education reached a record 11 per cent in 2025, up from 9 per cent in 2024, with the total number enrolled exceeding 450,000 for the first time. The increase shows what sustained investment can achieve and keeps UNHCR and its partners on track towards their goal of 15 per cent enrolment by 2030, supported by university places, vocational training, connected learning, scholarships and opportunities to study in third countries.

Access remains deeply unequal: refugee higher education enrolment was below the national average in more than 80 per cent of reporting countries. In low-income and conflict-affected countries, only 2 per cent of refugees were enrolled, compared with 13 per cent of nationals. For refugee women and girls, the chance to gain advanced skills and recognised qualifications can open routes into employment and greater economic independence, making those disparities especially consequential.

Funding decisions will shape children's futures

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih, who experienced displacement himself, said education helped him rebuild his life and find opportunities that might otherwise have been denied to him. "Education is protection," he said, describing learning as a route to opportunity and self-reliance and warning that financing cuts could reverse decades of investment and close doors for a generation.

UNHCR is calling on the international community and development partners to safeguard education funding and strengthen national education systems in refugee-hosting countries. Schools serving refugees alongside local children need enough teachers, classrooms, learning materials and reliable financing to make inclusion work. The stakes extend beyond attendance: education gives displaced children a stronger chance of supporting themselves and contributing to their communities, whether they return home, settle in their host country or find opportunities elsewhere.