Teaching Children to Feel Safe Again
UNESCO’s work with displaced children in Gaza offers a different perspective on education during conflict. Rather than beginning with textbooks or academic achievement, the programme starts with something more fundamental: helping children regain a sense of safety. Through art therapy, cultural activities, theatre, and psychosocial support, UNESCO has reached more than 1,200 displaced children and adolescents while also supporting hundreds of caregivers to strengthen children's emotional recovery.
What stood out to me is that UNESCO treats education as part of healing, not simply learning. In a conflict zone, children cannot fully engage with lessons if they are overwhelmed by fear, grief, or uncertainty. Emotional well-being is not separate from education, it is the foundation that makes learning possible. A classroom becomes meaningful only when children feel secure enough to ask questions, build friendships, and imagine a future beyond survival.
This challenges a common assumption about humanitarian aid. Rebuilding schools is essential, but rebuilding children's confidence is equally important. Education is not only about teaching mathematics or reading; it is about creating spaces where children can once again experience normalcy, trust, and hope.
These findings suggest an important direction for Megaphone. Protecting education should mean protecting childhood itself. By highlighting stories of resilience alongside the realities of conflict, Megaphone can help redefine education not as the transfer of knowledge, but as the process of helping children believe they are safe enough to dream again.
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