Education in emergencies: Smart learning solutions and role of governance to mitigate the challenges

An emergency situation could be natural or man-made. Natural calamities include earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, fire and epidemics while conflicts, wars, violence and accidents are considered man-made emergencies. The traditional components like shelter, food, water and health are often on high priorities in life-saving assistance, while providing education is often ignored in humanitarian crises. The young people and children may be at risk of violence, sexual abuse, child labor, mobilize by armed groups or other life-threatening activities during emergencies. Education programs in emergency can help children or youth to overcome from disaster situation like fear, loss, stress, violence and to learn tolerance, risk reduction and life skills. Any type of emergency usually causes disturbances and irregularities in education systems. A smart education system may play a leading role to restore the academic cycles for such students during the emergencies. The smart education system could be described as a learning environment where rich and interactive knowledge is shared among different stakeholders with the integration of smart devices and technology. The paper explores the possible new technological solutions for providing education which could be employed in a faster and effective manner during such situations. To make any program successful, a well-defined strategic planning is also required. Hence, the role of governance is crucial to plan, implement and monitor such programs. The study proposes a conceptual framework explaining smart learning solutions and governance role to implement such solutions to fulfill the educational needs of the emergency-affected children and adolescents to overcome from future threats to live and their livelihoods.