‘I have not lost my dreams’: Refugee education funding cuts threaten millions

“When we left Sudan, I was worried that my education would stop,” said Jamila Mostafa, 19, one of the estimated 13.1 million refugee children of school age worldwide in 2025.

Yet nearly half – 5.8 million – remain out of school as funding cuts threaten to roll back years of progress in educating children and adolescents forced to flee their homelands due to war, conflict, violence or persecution.

A generation at risk

The warning comes in a new report by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

“At a time of severe pressure on humanitarian and development financing, cuts to education risk reversing decades of collective investment and closing opportunities for a generation of young people,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih, a former refugee from Iraq.

The transition to secondary education remains one of the biggest challenges for refugee children, according to the report. Only 32 per cent were enrolled in high school in 2025, compared to 65 per cent at the primary level.

However, many young refugees arrive at primary school unprepared.  Two in three lack the foundational learning that prepares them for the classroom.

Gender gap, enrollment goals

Even though refugee girls and boys attend primary school at similar rates, the gap widens sharply in secondary education. Increasing numbers of adolescent girls leave school due to poverty, early marriage, safety concerns and other pressures.

Meanwhile, progress in higher education underscores the value of sustained investment. Refugee enrollment at the tertiary level reached a record 11 per cent in 2025, with more than 450,000 students attending university or undertaking technical and vocational training.

This means UNHCR and partners are on track to ensure that 15 per cent of refugee youth can access higher education by the end of the decade, known as the 15×30 pledge.

Faiza Qudrati from Afghanistan grew up in Kazakhstan and studied medicine before switching to psychology.

“For me, higher education gives me a chance to grow, learn and one day help other people in the same way that support was once provided to me,” she said.

Unequal access

Although higher education can significantly improve the lives of refugee women and girls, providing them with access to skills, qualifications, employment and greater financial independence, access is still deeply unequal. 

Refugee enrollment remains below the national average in more than 80 per cent of reporting countries. In low-income and conflict-affected countries, only two per cent of refugees were enrolled in higher education, compared to 13 per cent of nationals.

UNHCR stressed that improving refugee education also means strengthening national education systems by investing more in teachers, classrooms, learning materials and financing to benefit both refugees and host communities.

Shaping their own future

UNHCR called for the international community and development partners to safeguard education funding and invest in the national systems of countries hosting refugees.

“Education gives young people the tools to shape their own future,” said Mr. Salih. “Our responsibility is to make sure they have that chance.”

Jamila, the young Sudanese woman in Egypt, is continuing her high school education through UNHCR-backed support. She has developed a particular interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and how it can help address social and economic challenges. She hopes to study technology at university.

“School gives me confidence,” she said.  “It reminds me that even though I lost my home because of the war, I have not lost my dreams.”