Photo: UNHCR/Courtesy

Tens of thousands of refugee and asylum-seeking children in Egypt are out of school, in many cases due to significant bureaucratic registration barriers and a lack of free, publicly available education, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

HRW urged the Egyptian government should immediately remove barriers keeping refugee and asylum-seeking children out of school, while urging international partners to support humanitarian funding for education for refugees there.

According to the watchdog, Cairo requires proof of residency as a prerequisite to enroll in public schools, an impossible hurdle for many refugee and asylum-seeking families.

It stated that school fees for children’s enrollment and transportation, are also a barrier amid Egypt’s deteriorating economic crisis.

HRW added that some children face bullying, abuse, and discriminatory practices from other students and teachers, further deterring enrollment or leading students to drop out.

“Many refugee and asylum-seeking children in Egypt have found the school doors firmly shut, depriving tens of thousands of their fundamental right to education,” said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“Egyptian authorities should ensure that all children have access to free, public primary and secondary education, regardless of their legal status.”

As of November 2024, Egypt hosts 834,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

This is more than double the number from a year earlier, and the real number is most likely much higher, with the Egyptian government estimating that 1.2 million people have fled Sudan to Egypt.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that there there are 246,000 school-age refugee and asylum-seeking children in Egypt, approximately half of whom were out of school as of October.

A recent assessment found that nine thousand children arrive every month and approximately half of those recently arrived were out of school. These numbers do not include the estimated 100,000 Palestinian refugees who have crossed into Egypt from Gaza in the past year and who do not register with UNHCR.

According to a diplomatic source in Cairo, the vast majority have not been able to secure legal residency or enroll in public schools.

HRW said it conducted 27 remote interviews with refugee community leaders, teachers, parents, and other family members from Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea, and Palestine. Human Rights Watch also conducted two remote interviews with representatives of humanitarian organizations and a diplomatic source in Cairo.

Researchers also reviewed Egyptian laws and regulations, official statements, and publicly available information and wrote to the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education on October 8 and to UNHCR on October 24, but did not receive a response.

“All children are receiving education except mine. One of my sons drew a picture of his school in Sudan, reflecting on his memories,” said a Sudanese father unable to register his children in school.

The rights group said some of those interviewed said that refugees and asylum seekers from non-Arabic speaking countries are discriminated against in enrollment, which affects access to public schools for sizable populations, including some 40,000 registered from Eritrea and 18,700 from Ethiopia.

It recommends that Cairo should allow refugee and asylum-seeking children of all nationalities to enroll in public schools and remove bureaucratic barriers such as the residency requirement and school fees.