58 million children, aged 6 to 11, still out of school – UNESCO

New UNESCO data show that 58 million children aged 6 to 11 are still out of school today, showing little overall improvement since 2007. But a new policy paper highlights that improvements are possible: 17 countries reduced their out-of-school populations by almost 90% in little over a decade by investing in positive actions such as abolishing school fees, introducing more relevant curricula and providing financial support to struggling families.

The data, produced by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and presented at a press conference1 on Thursday 26 June, showed that 

around 43% of those out of school – or 15 million girls and 10 million boys – will probably never set foot in a classroom if current trends continue.

“Combined with UNESCO’s recent news that aid to education has fallen yet again,2 the lack of progress in reducing out of school numbers confirms our fears – there is no chance, whatsoever, that countries will reach the goal of universal primary education by 2015,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

“We cannot meet this news with further inertia. On the contrary, we must sound the alarm and mobilize the political will to ensure that every child’s right to education is respected.”

The lack of global progress mentioned below is largely due to high population growth in sub-Saharan Africa, now home to more than 30 million out-of-school children. Most of these children will never start school and those who do are at risk of dropping out. Across the region, more than one in three children who entered the educational system in 2012 will leave before reaching the last grade of primary school.

The paper also shows critical gaps in the education of older children aged 12 to 15. Globally, 63 million adolescents were out of school in 2012. Although numbers have fallen by nearly one-third since 2000 in South and West Asia, the region has the largest population of out-of-school adolescents at 26 million. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 21 million out-of-school adolescents and their numbers will continue to grow if current trends continue.

The paper includes analysis by the EFA Global Monitoring Report showing that 17 countries, which accounted for about one-quarter of the global out-of-school population in 2000, have bucked the trend by reducing their out-of-school populations by 86%, from 27 million to less than 4 million, in little over a decade. In Nepal, for instance, 24% of children were out of school in 2000, but this rate fell to 1% by 2013. Morocco’s out-of-school population fell by 96% over the same period.

The analysis identifies six policies that have brought about success in these countries and may offer useful lessons for others:

- Fee abolition: Burundi abolished school fees in 2005 and the percentage of children enrolled in primary school in the country rose from 54% to 94% in six years.

- Social cash transfers: In Nicaragua, which introduced social cash transfers to help families offset the costs of schooling in 2000, the percentage of children who had never been to school fell from 17% in 1998 to 7% in 2009.

- Increased attention to ethnic and linguistic minorities: In Morocco, which introduced the teaching of Amazigh, a local language, in primary schools in 2003, the percentage of children who had never been to school fell from 9% to 4% between 2003 and 2009.

- Increasing education expenditure: Ghana doubled education spending and saw the number of children enrolled in school rise from 2.4 million in 1999 to 4.1 million in 2013.

- Improving education quality: Viet Nam, which introduced a new curriculum that paid particular attention to disadvantaged learners, managed to more than halve the percentage of children who had never been to school between 2000 and 2010.

- Overcoming conflict: After the civil war ended in Nepal, children in the regions most affected by conflict – which originally were lagging behind – had the same level of access to school as those in less affected regions.

“These countries face very different circumstances but all share the political will to bring about real change in education,” continued Ms Bokova. “While they have brought about momentous change, their task is far from complete – they must now ensure that every child starts and finishes school while learning the relevant skills needed for a productive life. But today, others can learn from the experiences of countries like Burundi and Ghana: real progress is possible and we owe it to children to pursue it.”

BusinessDay