Between 2015-2019 more than 22,000 children and young people but also teachers and academics were injured, killed or harmed. Afghanistan, Colombia, Cameroon, DRC, Myanmar, Palestine, Syria, The Philippines, Turkey, Ukraine, Yemen… around the whole world, schools and universities continue to being occupied, bombed and destroyed; school boys and girls are being abducted or recruited at school or on the way to/from school; in other cases attackers threaten them with the use of force, including sexual violence. In addition to any physical damage, which is already appalling, the moral and psycho-social damage to the life of these children should be a major concern. Yet, education under attack in armed conflicts is still a daily reality for too many of them.
Wars, armed conflicts, and displacement are not only attacks to spaces, places and people, but also violations of a fundamental human right recognised in numerous international, regional and national instruments. Education is a right in itself and a multiplier of other rights. Legal frameworks, measures and tools already exist that provide a variety of solutions. Alas, proper knowledge of such instruments and possible avenues for action is still limited.
This MOOC will fill this knowledge gap and will mobilise more people and resources in the defence of such a fundamental right when and where it is most needed. Thanks to the regional reach of the Global Campus of Human Rights, case studies and examples from the field will be used to illustrate situations, violations and existing good practices. Academics and experts will contribute analytical and practical inputs, while testimonies from affected children, young students and teachers/educators will contextualise impact and hopefully inspire change.
This MOOC is offered within the framework of the collaboration between
the Global Campus and
Right Livelihood.
The MOOC runs over 5 weeks and is organised in 3 modules:
Module 1 – Education as a right for children
Module 2 - Protecting the right to education of children in armed conflict
Module 3 - The way forward
Building on previous cooperation, the Global Campus of Human Rights and the Right to Education Initiative are collaborating to introduce greater clarity on a rights-based approach to education in armed conflict, as well as concrete ways for putting it into practice. The MOOC offers a wealth of specialised knowledge and examples, enabling participants to benefit from rich and varied competences. It features relevant actors from a multitude of perspectives on education and armed conflicts (read bios here), including but not limited to:
Delphine Dorsi
Director, Right to Education Initiative
Elin Martínez
Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Sergey Ghazinyan
Legal Expert, Yerevan State University
John Paul P. A. Amah
Children's Rights Officer, Global Campus of Human Rights
Bede Sheppard
Deputy Director, Human Rights Watch
Siraj H. Khan
Law and Policy Manager, Education Above All Foundation
Ariel Solari
Team Lead, INEE
Apolline Montoya
Advocacy and Policy Adviser, GCPEA
At the end of the course, participants will have gained:
Ultimately, the course is a pathway to:
You can start the enrolment process by clicking the "enrol" button.
The course is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which means we do not select participants on any basis. Rather, we welcome anyone who is interested in learning more about the topic to enrol and participate for free.
Our course is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which means all components are open and totally free for anyone.
There are no registration or tuition fees. The certificate of participation is also free and offered to all those who successfully complete all the course requirements (see below for details on the certificate).
We want all participants in our courses to enjoy a great learning experience and we strive to always improve accessibility. Each week of the course includes one or two video lectures with accompanying transcripts and reading materials. The texts are in PDF format, work at low bandwidths, are printable and can be zoomed to the desired size. Some readings may include pages from accessible websites. This makes all of them accessible to those who use assistive technology software such as screen readers. Likewise, weekly discussions and module quizzes can be completed through our platform which is accessible, for example, to people who use speech input, keyboard accessible controls or text to speech tools. For more details please visit EdX Website Accessibility Policy.
The course is self-paced and mostly asynchronous so participants can study in their own time. However, to enhance peer learning, interactive participation and self-assessment, weekly topics and discussions as well as module quizzes are proposed at set dates. In any case, they are all open until the end of the course to facilitate access and completion at any preferred time.
At the end of the course, if you have actively participated in all required weekly discussions and successfully completed all quizzes, you will receive a certificate confirming your participation.