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Global Report on out-of-school children

Wednesday, 21. January 2015 - 12:35

Adolescents twice as likely to be out of school as primary school-age children say UIS and UNICEF. New report shows why ‘business as usual’ won’t lead to universal primary or secondary education.

Around 63 million adolescents between the ages of 12 to 15 years are denied their right to an education according to a new joint report from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and UNICEF, "Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All – Findings from the Global. Initiative on Out-of-School Children". The report and related data tool were sponsored by the Global Partnership for Education.

Globally, one in five adolescents is excluded from the classroom, compared to one in 11 primary school aged children. So, adolescents are twice as likely to be out of school as their younger counterparts. The report shows that, as children get older, the risk that they will never start school or will drop out increases.

In total, 121 million children and adolescents have never started school or dropped out despite the international community’s promise to achieve universal primary education by 2015. Data show that there has been almost no progress in reducing this number since 2007. Children living in conflict, child labourers and those facing discrimination based on ethnicity, gender and disability are the most marginalised. There is also a growing concern that previous gains in expanding access to education will erode without a major shift in policies and resources. If current trends continue, 25 million children – 15 million girls and 10 million boys -- are likely to never set foot inside a classroom.

“Business as usual strategies based on more teachers, more classrooms and more textbooks are not enough to reach the most disadvantaged children,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. “We need targeted interventions to reach the families displaced by conflict, the girls forced to stay home, the children with disabilities and the millions obliged to work. But these policies come at a cost. This report serves as wake-up call to mobilize the resources needed to guarantee basic education for every child, once and for all.”

As pressure mounts to include universal secondary education in the post-2015 global development agenda, the report shows the way forward to break the barriers, often related to poverty, that keep children out of school. Key findings are presented in an interactive data tool illustrating why millions of children are being left behind.

In Nigeria, for example, the data tool shows that two-thirds of children in the poorest households are not in school and almost 90 per cent of them will probably never enrol. In contrast, only 5 per cent of the richest children are out of school and most of them are expected to start in the future.

The report calls for action to invest in better data and demonstrates that reaching the most marginalized may cost more but that better statistics and innovative tools can help governments and donors to spend their education budgets more wisely.

Source: 
www.uis.unesco.org
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Global Report
out-of-school children
UNESCO Institute
UNICEF