With global displacement reaching over 117 million people by the end of 2023, the need for inclusive and well-financed education solutions is more urgent than ever.

While primary school enrollment among refugees has reached approximately 65%, only 42% are enrolled in secondary education and a mere 7% make it to tertiary education.

Significant progress has been made in moving from fragmented responses to supporting refugee inclusion through partnership approaches.

At the heart of this effort is the education multistakeholder pledge made at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum that galvanized political will, financing and technical support to ensure children living as refugees are not left behind.

In this blog on World Refugee Day, we recount how GPE is supporting this goal through its partnership approach which mobilizes education partners at country level behind government-led reforms.

Mobilizing more financing for refugee inclusion

The shift to recognizing education for refugees as a long-term development priority is critical given the protracted nature of displacement—many refugees remain in exile for over a decade.

GPE works with governments to include children and youth living as refugees within national education systems, strengthening capacity and resources to meet their education needs.

In Ethiopia, 6 secondary schools for refugees have been transitioned into the national system with 5 more scheduled by the end of 2025. GPE further supports education system strengthening in 18 other refugee-hosting countries that protect refugees’ access to public schools, with current investments exceeding $1.5 billion.

Innovative financing mechanisms are helping bridge the resource gap for refugee inclusion. The GPE Multiplier has successfully leveraged $525 million in cofinancing for refugee-inclusive programs in 7 countries including Kenya and Moldova.

Sustainable approaches that benefit both refugee and host communities

The case of Burundi demonstrates how countries can move from parallel systems for refugees to integrating them into national systems.

As of 2024, Burundi is home to approximately 87,000 refugees, primarily from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Historically, students living as refugees in Burundi still followed the Congolese curriculum, creating parallel systems that limited integration within the host country.

However, since 2021, Burundi has taken steps to align education for refugees with national systems by developing a law guaranteeing access to basic education for all, including students with refugee status. The country is now preparing to phase out the alternative Congolese track and fully integrate refugee students into its national education system.

Over more than a decade, GPE has been supporting Burundi’s Ministry of Education and development partners' work to improve access to quality education, including for refugees. Burundi’s Partnership Compact marks the country’s commitment to making education more equitable and inclusive.

Burundi is also one of the 7 countries where GPE’s Multiplier has mobilized cofinancing for refugee education, pooling funds from GPE and the World Bank to alleviate the financial burden of education on disadvantaged families, including for refugees and host communities, by supporting school feeding programs and expanding the distribution of school kits to vulnerable students.

Additionally, Burundi is using its Multiplier grant to fund school expansion by building and renovating classrooms, including in schools which are near refugee camps, with the aim of reducing the number of students per classroom to increase teaching and learning quality.

Intersectional strategies are essential, especially for girls and children with disabilities

While children living as refugees can face some of the same challenges—for instance related to the language of instruction— girls, children with disabilities and other marginalized groups with refugee status face unique barriers to education.

Such intersectional inequalities require targeted strategies to ensure no girl or boy living as a refugee is left behind.

In Chad, GPE’s system transformation grant focuses on inclusive curricula, teacher training and school infrastructure and promotes female leadership in education.

In South Sudan, a GPE Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) initiative supports research on strategies to achieve gender equality and inclusion in communities of refugees and internally displaced persons.

These efforts recognize that girls who are refugees often face compounded barriers ranging from a lack of access to menstrual hygiene products to safety concerns while children with disabilities require tailored support and accessible learning environments.

A recent analysis of 71 partnership compacts—the strategic documents where partner countries outline their priority education reforms—reveals that:

• 89% of partner countries explicitly address marginalized subgroups in their priority reform including refugees, children with disabilities, ethnic minorities, girls and other vulnerable populations.
• 66% of partner countries have made the inclusion of marginalized children central to their priority reforms, embedding it as a core commitment.

What distinguishes some partner countries is their commitment to inclusion in all aspects of education, making schools safe places for all children to learn.

For example, countries are redesigning their national education management information systems to disaggregate data based on different demographic and background characteristics, ensuring all children who are marginalized can become visible in national planning and resource allocation.

Rwanda and Sudan are among the partner countries disaggregating data by refugee status, ensuring refugee students are not overlooked.

Another approach being taken is to redesign teacher training to prepare educators for diverse classrooms, incorporating approaches that support children living as refugees, with disabilities and who are facing poverty.

This is the case in Mauritania where teacher training modules are being introduced to prepare teachers to respond to the needs of diverse student populations and school difficulties, including school violence and gender-based violence.

Looking ahead: Strengthening data, financing and the voices of refugees

Significant gaps remain to fully include refugees in national education systems.

Key challenges relate to integrating teachers who are refugees into national systems, providing adequate language support to children and school support in areas hosting refugees.