Authors: Anderson, A.; Brooks, D. (HPN), ODI (2005) In December 2004, the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) launched a handbook entitled Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction. This article describes the use of the standards to develop education and child protection responses in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh. The tsunami's effects on the education system in Aceh were devastating. Over 40,000 students and 2,500 teachers and education personnel were killed. Some 2,135 schools were damaged, and 150,000 students lost access to proper education facilities. Schools opened again on 26 February, two months after the tsunami. In many locations, makeshift tents were used, or students and teachers from destroyed schools were absorbed into surviving ones. Three agencies involved in the INEE Working Group - the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Save the Children and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) - distributed the Minimum Standards handbook to their staff in Aceh, who used it to develop and coordinate their education and child protection response. The report higlights the following lessons learned from the process: discussions on implementing the INEE Minimum Standards should be introduced in coordination meetings right at the outset of the response, including dissemination of the handbook and discussions on how to best utilise this tool within the local context staff need to be familiar with the INEE Minimum Standards, and also advocate within their organisations and to partners on implementing the standards translating the handbook into local language(s) is a priority staff continuity is important for maintaining the pace of coordination and implementation training materials and workshops are needed through in-depth discussions on implementing the INEE Minimum Standards, actors can gain a better understanding of how to strengthen or build upon previous systems of education. The reprt also outlines next steps for each of the organisations involved and for the INEE.

This document is an attempt to open a dialogue among educators working in the area of complex emergencies. It recognizes that most of the newly tested educational interventions lack a long-term perspective. Education, whether for peace and reconciliation or in the reconstruction of human resources, is hardly addressed at present. The case studies described here provide a vivid account of an approach using kits. Clearly, different contexts and levels of emergency warrant different kinds of response.

SPESSA is an interactive program allowing access to statistical data and information on the status of education systems in Africa.