The reduction in foreign aid by donors in 2025 has had a drastic impact on the world’s most vulnerable, not least when it comes to education. Across global crises – whether driven by armed conflict, climate change or natural hazards – millions of children and youth are denied educational opportunities. This policy briefing assesses the consequences of recent aid cuts on education, and sets out recommendations for policy makers, donors and practitioners.
The policy briefing from the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies (EiE Hub), the Global Education Cluster (GEC) and the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) provides an overview of the current landscape for humanitarian education financing, including analysis completed by the GEC on how the United Nation’s “re-prioritised” global response plan affects the sector. It also draws on recent consultations with more than 1,000 members of INEE from across the Education in Emergencies (EiE) spectrum, providing an alarming snapshot of how aid cuts have affected frontline responders, and children and youth.
Key points
- The aid cuts in 2025 have had a devastating impact on education services in crisis contexts, while education faced steeper cuts than most other sectors. Humanitarian actors were forced to reduce their funding requests by 33% for education, leaving more than 33 million people in need outside the scope of aid planning.
- Frontline education providers in crisis contexts have already been forced to scale back, and the majority have had to slash budgets. In practice, this has led to fully or partially closed schools, reduced or unpaid teacher salaries, increased dropout rates, and a reduction in services to students.
- Donors should sustain and increase humanitarian funding towards Education in Emergencies, with an emphasis on local leadership. Local communities, teachers and civil society are already stepping in to fill gaps left by aid agencies – they should be supported through more decision-making power and funding.
