Millions of children drop out of school

According to the NGO Save the Children, 10 million children are deprived of education during periods of massive flooding in Nigeria, Mali, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The NGO is calling on governments and partners to take urgent action.

Already facing an education crisis, these countries are further hampered in their development by destroyed or unusable schools; a situation caused by rising waters, displaced people and the postponement of the start of the school year.

“These 10 million pupils forced to stay at home or displaced by the floods add to the already alarming numbers of children out of school in these four countries as a result of conflict and poverty,” according to the United Nations.

Save the Children is launching an urgent appeal to donors to support an intensified response to the consequences of natural disasters in the countries concerned.

The NGO also points out the need to build more resistant schools, adapted to extreme weather phenomena.