Never before have so many people been on the run because of crises and conflicts. A total of 68.5 million people were in the world in 2017, 970,400 people were recorded in Germany, reported the UN refugee agency.

This puts Germany in sixth place worldwide behind Turkey, Pakistan, Uganda, Lebanon and Iran. The challenge of integrating displaced persons has been great ever since. Above all, education systems and thus educators, teachers and professors, have to face it.

In German day nurseries, schools and universities, however, they are doing well compared to other countries. Refugees are encouraged and in many places people are involved in helping them to start a new life. This emerges from the current World Education Report, presented by the UN cultural organization Unesco and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday in Berlin.

It is the only report on education that looks at and interprets studies from all over the world. Each year, the authors define a focus in the respective meta-study, this year exploring the question of how migration and flight affect education systems.

Accordingly, the authors point out measures for the integration of refugees and migrants in Germany as positive. They praise

  • the investment in language promotion . Germany has increased its funds here, especially for linguistic education in day care centers.
  • the recognition of professional qualifications . In 2012, the Federal Government adopted the Recognition Act, which allows the recognition of foreign professional qualifications, regardless of residence status or nationality.
  • the support programs . The readiness of the population to help with language acquisition, graduation or education is "enormously large and a huge help", says Maria Böhmer, President of the German Unesco Commission.

So does this mean that the German education system is doing everything right to integrate migrants and refugees? "We are on the right track, but we are far from reaching our goal," says Böhmer.

In some cases it is problematic, according to the report, that too many refugee students are placed in special classes for too long a period. These are study groups in which the students should learn German as quickly as possible. Important to arrive - but if the children learn in isolation from the locals, it prevents the exchange of both groups.

Missing teachers

According to Weltbildungsbericht, there are also a lack of staff in Germany despite many helpers: 24,000 teachers and 18,000 teachers are also needed for integration. Teachers too often fail, or are insufficiently prepared, to deal with personal conflicts and traumas that accompany migration and flight. "We must not leave teachers here alone," says Böhmer.

The recognition of professional qualifications works in most cases, according to Böhmer. This is also shown in an interim report by the Federal Employment Agency: In May 2018, 306,574 people from the eight main asylum-accessing countries were employed. In May 2017, there were 203,736 people left.

But it is also clear that missing qualifications and recognitions are still an obstacle for many refugees on the way to working life, says Böhmer. For example, a person who has worked as a doctor in a developing country can not practice his profession in Germany without further ado.

Especially young women have the greatest difficulties so far to gain a foothold in the German working world, says Böhmer. These often take care of the children - and therefore have less time to learn German or to write applications.

A total of four million refugees without education

Children of refugees worldwide have little chance of education. About four million people between the ages of five and 17 do not attend school at all. In low-income countries, barely half of the children who have fled are enrolled; a secondary school attend only eleven percent.

According to the World Education Report, there is a shortage of teachers and specialists everywhere refugees live: for example, the enrollment of all Syrian students in Turkey would require 80,000 additional teachers.

Globally, many education systems are in some cases not in line with Unesco standards. Governments around the world have committed themselves to ensuring "equitable and quality education and opportunities for lifelong learning by 2030".

Same attention for everyone

UNESCO calls on governments around the world to meet the educational needs of migrants and refugees and give them the same attention as locals.

Some countries treated refugees as short-term groups, which was wrong. Education systems should ensure that the education of refugees is as little disrupted as possible - for example, because they have to move within a country again and again.