Promoting Tertiary Education for Refugees - Peter-King's inspiring journey in becoming a change maker
Promoting Tertiary Education for Refugees - Peter-King's inspiring journey in becoming a change maker
Currently, only seven per cent of refugees worldwide can pursue higher education, a slight improvement from the mere one per cent in 2019, yet still significantly lower than the global higher education enrollment rate of over 40 per cent among non-refugees. In Nigeria, the situation for Cameroonian refugees is even more dire, with just 1.4 percent having access to tertiary education. Despite these challenges, UNHCR is steadfast in its goal to increase refugee enrollment in higher education to 15 per cent by 2030, viewing it as a crucial complementary pathway towards offering refugees durable solutions.
Cameroonian refugee Peter-Kings Ayuk has taken a giant stride in supporting efforts to achieve these targets by promoting and advocating for the attainment of tertiary education opportunities for Cameroonian refugees.
“I have always viewed education as the door that opens opportunities for any individual. In 2019, there was no access to tertiary education for Cameroonian refugees, and I was devastated because most youths were idle and engaged in negative vices like drug abuse and transactional sex”, Peter-Kings recalls.
In December 2017, Peter-Kings was forced to leave behind civil unrest in his hometown in the Southwest Region of Cameroon, seeking refuge in Nigeria. His aspirations seemed uncertain until he arrived at the Adagom refugee settlement in Cross River State and was registered by UNHCR.
It was here that his dream of becoming a public administrator found new hope in 2020, thanks to the DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) scholarship program that enabled him to study Public Administration. This opportunity not only promised a continuation of his education but also set him on a path to significant personal and professional growth.
His motivation to establish a refugee-led Community-Based Organization that champions tertiary education sparked when Peter-King was selected for a six-month online leadership and public speaking training organised by UNHCR. After that, he attended the World Higher Education Conference held in Barcelona, Spain, representing Nigeria.
Following the summit, he felt inspired to arrange a workshop for 120 refugees and local residents to raise awareness about various scholarship opportunities and educational pathways, including formal, non-formal, technical, and vocational education. This initiative marked the beginning of his newfound calling as a human rights activist dedicated to empowering his community through education.
Forcibly displaced people, including refugee scholars and graduates, have been able to utilize their education and skills to establish organizations/companies, secure employment, and advance innovation and research. This has resulted in a significant positive impact on people's lives globally, highlighting the importance and benefits of educating those who have been forced to flee their homes.
“The outcome of my activities propels me to do more. So far, I have assisted 11 students in gaining admission into various tertiary education, most of them DAFI scholars,” Peter-Kings adds. As a result of the organisation’s advocacies, the Global Refugee Youth network donated school items for 120 refugee children in preschool at the Adagom settlement.
Peter-Kings participated at the 2022 UNESCO World Higher Education Conference in Spain.
Access to tertiary education and scholarships constitutes a significant challenge for refugee youths in Nigeria. “My target is to support the vision of UNHCR in ensuring that by 2030, at least 15 per cent of refugees, including Cameroonians, have access to tertiary education”, he adds.
UNHCR’s 2019 education strategy, Refugee Education 2030: A strategy for refugee inclusion, aims to foster the conditions, partnerships, collaboration and approaches that lead to all refugees, asylum seekers, returnees, internally displaced persons and stateless children and youth and their hosting communities to access inclusive and equitable quality education, including at the tertiary level.
