Education: The Big Picture

Education is the doorway to a better life. With a proper education, children learn basic skills—like literacy—which increase their adult income so they can send their own kids to school and break their family out of the cycle of poverty.

Most importantly, education empowers people to protect their own rights. When a child gets an education, they are able to fully understand their rights and stand up for themselves. They develop a deeper sense of their place in the world and pride in what makes them special. This kind of empowerment is what education is all about.

Everyone agrees that education is crucial to a child’s development. That’s why it’s one of the fundamental human rights to which every child is entitled.

…education is crucial to a child’s development.

But education is not available for all kids in many parts of the world. In fact, more than 120 million kids between the ages of six and 11 are not in school because they are working, sick or can’t afford it. Sometimes, it’s because there are no schools nearby.

More than half of these kids are girls and many of these girls live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, two of the poorest regions in the world. In East Asia and Latin America, girls are also out of school at higher rates than boys.

Getting Children to School: We Can Do it Together

“Why should I care if a kid in Ecuador isn’t going to school? It doesn’t affect me.” These are words you might hear a lot as someone who cares about universal education. The problem with these statements is they don’t consider how important an educated global population is to everyone.

Education for all benefits the whole world, not just the kids who get to go to school. Think about it: people who have a basic education can think differently, express their ideas and contribute to making the world the best it can be. Educated people can help lift their communities and nations out of poverty, strengthen economies and contribute to the global marketplace. With education, everybody wins.

It’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure all kids get the chance to go to a school that’s a great place to learn. Universal education can be achieved by building and supporting better schools with trained teachers, textbooks, lunch programs and more. This is support that you are equipped to provide.

If we all work together, we can ensure kids all over the world go to class.

Education Status: Kenya

Education and the Millennium Development Goals: Targets We Can Meet

There are two Millennium Development Goals that relate to education. These goals call for universal education for all children and specifically address gender inequality in schools. These goals show that getting an education—a basic right we often take for granted—is a major struggle in a lot of places, especially for girls.

The two Millennium Development Goals that relate to education are:

Goal: Achieve Universal Primary Education

What We Need To Do

Make sure all children—boys and girls—finish primary school.

The Challenge

• About 120 million children are out of school—that’s more than the entire population of Mexico.
• More than half of the children who do not attend school are girls, and many of them live in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia.

Goal: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

What We Need To Do

Show the world that gender equality and the empowerment of women are basic human rights. Women should have an equal place in education, employment and political decisions, as well as access to the same opportunities as men.

The Challenge

• Two-thirds of adults who can’t read are women.
• Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours but earn only 10 percent of the world’s income and own less than one percent of the world’s property.

Causes: Why are So Many Children Out of School?

They are many root reasons why kids aren’t in school:

• Cost: In many countries, families have to pay for school fees, school uniforms and textbooks. It isn’t possible for people living in extreme poverty to pay these fees. Some kids have to work to support their families instead of going to school.
• Access: Schools in rural areas can be dozens of miles apart. When the only way to get around is by walking, a school that is ten miles away is impossible to reach every day. Some rural communities don’t have access to a school at all.
• Health: Many children can’t go to school because they are sick or hungry. Some have to stay home to take care of sick relatives or younger siblings if their parents have died from serious diseases like AIDS.

These are the main barriers to education that apply across the world, but there are other local and individual circumstances that keep kids out of school. For example, in Sri Lanka or Sierra Leone, many schools have been destroyed by war or natural disasters.

Girls Face Extra Barriers

More girls are out of school than boys because girls usually have more responsibilities at home—like collecting water—that leave no time for class. In countries where boys are valued over girls, parents are more likely to send a son to school instead of a daughter.

North America: In a Position to Help

In the developing world, people and governments believe all children should go to school and that we should all contribute to meeting this goal. For example, taxes are used to build schools and to buy books and supplies. But developed countries still don’t meet every child’s needs.

In wealthier countries, kids who are living in poverty are much more likely to miss school days or drop out altogether. Literacy rates are lower than they should be, especially in neighborhoods where people are living in poverty. Even though education is open to all, there are still problems that stop students from getting the education they deserve.

Even though there are problems, almost 100 percent of elementary-school-age children are in school in developed countries. This is a far different picture from the developing world, where millions of children are denied their basic right to an education every day.

We have the resources to help give kids in the developing world the opportunity to learn.

Global Status: Where the World Is Now

There are children who aren’t in school all around the globe. But in many developing countries, being out of school is not unusual. Most kids don’t get to go to class. Instead, they are working to survive.

These Statistics Tell the Story:

• In the least developed countries, 40 percent of children drop out of primary school.
• Only 37 out of 155 developing countries have achieved universal primary school completion.
• 133 million young people cannot read or write.
• Of the estimated 700 million primary-school-age children in the world today, roughly 120 million are not in school. Nearly three-quarters of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and 53 percent are girls.
• Two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women.

“Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” –Oprah Winfrey

A story you should hear about Education

Take Action for Education

There are many actions you can take to help kids in the developing world get to school. Try these as a start.