“Seeing my children learn happily and make progress brings me great joy. I am grateful to everyone who has supported them and other students in our community.”
— Daw Yu Way, a mother of two children in Magway.
People in need, targeted, prioritized and severity by location
The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
Source OCHANeeds
Nearly five years after the February 2021 military takeover, access to safe and protective education remains severely constrained. Nationwide, 29 per cent of assessed school-aged children were not attending formal school, with rates highest among non-displaced stateless children (74 per cent), followed by IDPs (61 per cent) and returnees (48 per cent), according to MSNA 2025.
Conflict escalation has caused large-scale displacement, destruction of schools and loss of livelihoods, leaving families unable to meet education-related costs. School closures due to conflict account for 35 per cent of drop-outs, while financial barriers represent 23 per cent, up from 14 per cent in 2024. Teacher shortages exceed 50 per cent due to displacement and dismissals, forcing reliance on volunteers.
Unsafe learning environments expose children to protection risks, including recruitment by armed actors, child marriage, child labour, sexual exploitation and trafficking; undermining children's mental well-being and development. Natural hazards, including floods and the March 2025 earthquake further worsened conditions, damaging more than 24,200 units of infrastructure including schools and learning centres across 422 villages. An estimated 3.5 million people (98 per cent children) need education-in-emergencies assistance. Sagaing has the highest needs (28 per cent of the Education Cluster PiN), followed by Mandalay (13 per cent) and Rakhine (10 per cent), all marked by conflict, displacement and high levels of vulnerability.
Response
In 2026, the Cluster targets 1.1 million people (32 per cent of those in need), including 519,000 boys and 594,000 girls, of whom 141,000 children with disabilities. Adults (educators and stakeholders) account for two per cent of the target. IDP, returnee and non-displaced stateless children—76 per cent of the total target—will be prioritized. Sagaing and Rakhine will receive the largest shares (38 per cent and 18 per cent respectively).
Assistance will combine in-kind support and CVA, depending on market functionality and security conditions. CVA will support access to learning materials and education costs where feasible, while in-kind modalities remain essential in areas with disrupted markets or restricted access. To continue scaling up the delivery of assistance, the Cluster will build upon already established localization efforts; onboarding and supporting more local partners to lead the response especially in locations with complicated access.
The Cluster will coordinate with the Protection Cluster on risk mitigation and PSEA, including gender-based violence (GBV)/PSEA training for educators and referral pathways. Collaboration with the WASH Cluster will promote hygiene and AWD awareness in learning spaces, while linkages with the Health and Nutrition Clusters will ensure integrated school-based services. Protection measures, including explosive ordnance risk education (EORE), child safeguarding, and safe learning environments, will be mainstreamed. The response will focus on three pillars: access to learning, quality education, and local capacity strengthening.
Monitoring
The Cluster will continue to promote the use of the ActivityInfo platform, introduced in 2024, to track and report on response progress on a quarterly basis. Periodic ActivityInfo orientation sessions will be organized for reporting focal points before each reporting cycle and whenever there are changes in personnel. Additionally, more frequent orientations will be offered to local partners to strengthen their understanding of the platform and improve the completeness and quality of their reporting.
Each quarter, reported data will be consolidated and analysed, and the results presented in dashboards that visualize response progress, remaining gaps and coverage by population group and location. These dashboards will guide partners’ targeting and prioritization across geographical areas throughout the year. In line with the low-visibility operating modality required by the current political context, partner identities will continue to be anonymized in public-facing products to safeguard operations. Dashboards and related analyses will be made available via the Education Cluster online platforms and MIMU.
People in need, targeted and prioritized breakdown
People in Need
People in Need by SAAD
People Targeted
People targeted by Saad
People Prioritized
People prioritized by SAAD
Education Cluster Strategy:
https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/humanitarian-needs-and-response-pl…