As many children head back to school to begin another year of learning, many others around the world face some very different experiences than just walking through their school gates into class.

Wars, conflicts and natural disasters spare no children. In fact, children suffer the most. In countries affected by emergencies, children often lose their homes, family members, friends, safety and routine.

While the life-saving needs of shelter, food, healthcare and safe water are crucial, the schools and teachers that sustain an entire future generation must also be a priority.

Every child has the right to an education, to give them a future and to allow them and their community to thrive. Giving children an education can help to transform countries by boosting economic growth, reducing poverty and contributing to the building of a peaceful society. Unicef works all over the world to bring quality, often transformative, education to all children who need it.

Every girl and boy, regardless of who they are or where they live, is entitled to nothing less than full and complete access to quality education. But many of the world’s poorest and most marginalised children are denied this basic human right.

Back to school: children attend class around the world Show all 30 1 /30 Back to school: children attend class around the world Back to school: children attend class around the world Yemen A student stands in the ruins of one of his former classrooms Unicef/Clarke for UN Back to school: children attend class around the world Mali Sitan Doumbia, 5, plays with her friends at the Early Childhood Development Center in Mali Unicef/Keita Back to school: children attend class around the world Democratic Republic of the Congo Teacher Edouard Kabukapua, 28, accompanies his students as they sing on their way to their class in a temporary tent school in Mulombela village, KasaÃ¯ region, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has deteriorated dramatically over the past year. A surge in violent conflict in the KasaÃ¯ and Eastern regions has forced many people from their homes, including in the Kasai region. Unicef has scaled up integrated health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, education, protection in the country Unicef/Tremeau Back to school: children attend class around the world Democratic Republic of the Congo Tshiela, 10, sits in what was once her school, before residents fled the fighting Unicef/Tremeau Back to school: children attend class around the world Cameroon Students learn with the help of a computer tablet provided by Unicef at a school in Baigai Unicef/Prinsloo Back to school: children attend class around the world Syria Saleh*, 15, made the trip from his village in southern rural Aleppo to sit his final Grade 9 exams. He missed a year of schooling when violence escalated in his village Unicef/Al-Issa Back to school: children attend class around the world Malawi Students sit in their classroom at Makankhula Full Primary School in Dedza district. This outdoor classroom is not by choice, and is typical of Malawi's rural schools, where the lack of resources results in many young students learning under a tree. The primary school faces many challenges such as only having 16 teachers and a handful of classrooms for over 1,200 children Unicef/Brown Back to school: children attend class around the world Sudan Sunlight is filtered by reed walls as it streams into a classroom as students attend a mathematics class at the Upper Nile primary school in the Protection of Civilians Unicef/Hatcher-Moore Back to school: children attend class around the world Syria A child packs up his notebook at a make-shift school in rural Dar'a Unicef/anonymous Back to school: children attend class around the world Yemen Students play chess in Nosaibah School for Girls in Sana'a, Yemen Unicef/Fuad Back to school: children attend class around the world Democratic Republic of the Congo Students attend a class in a temporary tent school set up by Unicef Unicef/Tremeau Back to school: children attend class around the world Yemen Students sit under a tree as a teacher leads a class in Bait Al Faqueeh Unicef/Obadi Back to school: children attend class around the world Sudan Displaced children study in a tent classroom at the primary school in the Protection of Civilians Unicef/Hatcher-Moore Back to school: children attend class around the world Jordan A boy plays in the Unicef-supported Makani centre in Irbid Unicef/Shennawi Back to school: children attend class around the world Côte d’Ivoire Overcrowded class at a primary school in Gonzagueville. Unicef partnered with Conceptos Plasticos, a Columbian company that produces buidling materials with recyclable plastics, to build classrooms in this overcrowded preschool and primary school where in some classes there are more than 100 children, some of them as little as 3 years old In CÃ´te d'Ivoire, many children do not access to education for lack of infrastructure in their community. Unicef/Dejongh Back to school: children attend class around the world Yemen Students listen to their teacher during a class held in a Unicef tent school, after the Aal Okab school which they used to attend was destroyed in June 2015, in Saada, Saada Governorate, Yemen Unicef/Clarke for UN Back to school: children attend class around the world Central African Republic Gracia Rita, 13, is in her last year of primary school at the Combattant School in Bangui Unicef/Sokhin Back to school: children attend class around the world Mali Fatoumata Ouattara, a Mama Yeleen - a model mother trained in early childhood development (ECD), watches children during a drawing and colouring session with children at the Early Childhood Development Center in Mali. The Mama Yeleen initiative is promoted and supported by Unicef and its partners Unicef/Keita Back to school: children attend class around the world Yemen Students gather outside the Nosaibah School for Girls in Sana'a, Yemen. Nearly half a million children have dropped out of school since the 2015 escalation of conflict in Yemen, bringing the total number of out-of-school children to 2 million. Unicef/Abdulhaleem Back to school: children attend class around the world Sudan Pupils sit in a classroom during lessons at the Upper Nile primary school in the Protection of Civilians site in Bentiu, South Sudan Unicef/Hatcher-Moore Back to school: children attend class around the world Malawi Binafrey Viera (center) enjoys being in class at an ECD center at Luwani Refugee Camp in Malawi Unicef/Chikondi Back to school: children attend class around the world Bangladesh Rohingya refugee Anjali, 8, attends a class at a Unicef-supported learning centre at the Balukhali makeshift settlement, in Ukhia, Cox's Bazar Unicef/Sujan Back to school: children attend class around the world Central African Republic A community teacher (centre in blue) plays with children in the playground at the child friendly space in Ndenga village. The village hosts a away from Kaga Bandoro, program for local children formerly associated with the anti-balaka armed group Unicef/Sokhin Back to school: children attend class around the world Yemen Fatima Abdullah Abduoh, 12, attends a Unicef child friendly space. Fatima lost her elder sister to an illness during the conflict Unicef/Fuad Back to school: children attend class around the world Central African Republic Jospin stands in front of the blackboard in a classroom at the MINUSCA site in Kago Bandoro, Central African Republic Unicef/Sokhin Back to school: children attend class around the world Yemen A student attends class. Almost three quarters of public school teachers have not been paid their salaries in over a year, putting the education of an additional 4.5 million children at grave risk Unicef/Fuad Back to school: children attend class around the world Uganda Pupils of Bright Centre Early Childhood Development Centre, in Zone One, Block IV, Bidibidi refugee settlement in Yumbe district in northern Uganda, sing and play in their classroom Unicef/Bongyereirwe Back to school: children attend class around the world Côte d’Ivoire Students in class at a primary school in Gonzagueville. less than seven children out of ten go to primary school. In Côte d’Ivoire, UNICEF distributes school kits to children and supports the Ministry of Education by building schools and training teachers. Unicef/Ddejongh Back to school: children attend class around the world Sudan South Sudanese refugees children playing with their locally made toys together with a caregiver at reception Bright ECD Centre, Yumbe District Unicef/Sibiloni Back to school: children attend class around the world Sudan A child points out letters of the alphabet on a blackboard in a tent for pre-school children at the primary school in the Protection of Civilians UNICEF/Hatcher-Moore

Around the world:

· 61 million children of primary school age (typically aged 6-11) are not in school

· 60 million adolescents of lower secondary school age (typically aged 12-15) are not in school

· More than a half of all out-of-school children are in sub-Saharan Africa

· 53 per cent of children out of school are girls

· 1 in 4 of out-of-school children live in crises-affected countries

· Of the primary school-aged children not in school, 20 per cent dropped out before finishing primary school, 41 per cent will probably never attend and a further 39 per cent are expected to enter school as over-age students.

On current trends, the world will not achieve universal primary education for many decades to come, much less secondary schooling for all by 2030 as set out by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4.

As economic crises and depletion of international education funds further stretch the resources the world is willing to devote to education, the number of children out of school will continue to stagnate and the quality of schools will decline.

Unicef’s work