The number of out-of-school youth worldwide rose by six million since 2021, and now totals 250 million as of September 2023, according to new data from UNESCO and the Global Education Monitoring Report.  The Covid-19 pandemic clearly exacerbated the existing global education crisis, leading to what UNICEF has dubbed the “worst education crisis on record.”

As the pandemic’s devastating impacts linger, members of civil society, including Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) and its Jesuit partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have redoubled efforts to help bridge gaps and provide education to the most vulnerable.

Here are some highlights:

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Syria offered non-formal education programmes for vulnerable children in Syria, which entered its 11^th year of conflict in 2022. With CJI support, it provided learning opportunities to 2,908 children and improved the wellbeing of 2,889 others through access to safe spaces and child protection activities.

CJI support has enabled 452 underprivileged students from Moran Memorial School and 381 more from St Xavier’s School Sadakbari, both in Nepal, to receive quality education from Jesuit institutions.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, CJI partner Fe y Alegría provided primary education to 3,263 students (1,763 girls; 1,500 boys) in Kishasa, Kikwit, and Mbanza Ngungu. The CJI-supported program also offers capacity-building workshops for teachers, school principals, and parents.

Fe y Alegría likewise made an impact in the Amazon region through its intercultural and bilingual education project with the Jesuit Service for the Pan-Amazon Region, which CJI has been supporting for years. In the past year, 6,710 primary school students and 4,144 high school students enrolled in its program, which also helps to promote awareness about ecological and social justice.