In Chad, that problem's been tackled by teacher Leonard Gamaigue after he saw a group of nomadic children playing under trees during school hours.
"I was touched because at these times, children are supposed to be in classrooms. From there I decided to come and meet the parents, to discuss with them the idea of creating this school. They agreed and we started to prepare everything, the board, cleaning the place. That's how it started."
That was three years ago.
Today, 69 children of different ages come to his mobile classroom for lessons.
Around 7% of Chad's roughly 16 million population are nomads.
They journey from the south each year when seasonal rains turn the semi-arid central regions green with fresh pasture.
This way of life is centuries old.
But it's also incompatible with the central African country's formal education system.
According to the Denmark-based International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, fewer than 1% of nomad boys and "virtually zero" nomad girls were registered for school as of 2018.
"The children are making a lot of progress. They have never been to school before, none of them. And today to see that they can already write their name correctly, express themselves in French, perform mathematics operations. This is very important and significant for us."
Gamaigue says he's also received an education in nomadic ways, such as learning to conserve water, live off a milk-heavy diet, and get used to packing up the school.
He does this every two months or so, to follow the community when they move on.
Ousmane Brahim is a parent and leader of the nomadic camp.
He says a school education is the basis for community and national development and that they are delighted to see how their children are progressing.
