More than 260 million children worldwide attend school, but the World Bank warns that more than half of those without education are not learning. For millions of children around the world, something as simple as going to school is an experience they are unlikely to ever have. A new UNESCO report has found that around 264 million children worldwide have no access to education, which shows that for them, not going to school is tantamount to not going to school. Half of all children – 61 million in all – will not reach adulthood, raising standards for those who desperately need to escape the attraction of mass poverty. According to the United Nations, 759 million adults are illiterate and have no access or knowledge of improving living conditions. [Sources: 0, 3, 7, 13]
Armed conflict also means children struggling to get an education, and that affects not only children in Africa but also in other parts of the world. An estimated 10 million children from Africa drop out of school every year, and the number of early school leavers has increased by 2 million since its peak in 2015. The number of children learning and going to school is almost certainly much lower – according to the World Bank, 95% of children with disabilities in the world’s poorest countries are not in school. [Sources: 2, 11, 13]
We have a learning crisis where, according to the World Bank, one in six children and one in six young people do not achieve the minimum literacy and maths skills, and the majority of them do not even know that they are at school. [Sources: 14]
With one in three children still out of school, progress towards universal primary education has stalled. Worldwide, children attending private schools tend to do as well on international tests as children in public schools. It seems that the world of education is in constant flux and no one can decide whether to start school sooner or later in a child’s life. I do not believe that paying a lot of money to a school guarantees good teaching, but if children are not forced to go to school and if schools function very differently, they will grow into competent adults. [Sources: 9, 12, 13, 16]
One of the most important studies on education worldwide refers to the World Assessment of Children’s Completing Education (WACE) of the World Health Organization. This study examines the performance of children in different countries in a variety of international tests. If we look at how children from each country perform on these tests, we can better understand how literacy rates and people’s level of education compare from one country to another. The measure of the most “educated” countries is the percentage of people with at least a tertiary education in a country. [Sources: 6]
The learning barometer has been adjusted to measure whether a child is in school or is likely to drop out. Not learning leads to disturbing results, so education planners begin to focus on learning and count the number of children sitting in the classroom. [Sources: 13]
To address the education crisis, national and international action must be taken on two fronts: governments must get children into school, and they must ensure that they learn meaningful lessons from their time in the classroom. Education must be taught to children, which requires effective monitoring to ensure that children go to school and learn what they need to know. If every child has a quality education, there will be no shortage of trained teachers and adequate resources for the education system. To get all children to school, the government needs access to the best and most effective methods of teaching, training, and support. [Sources: 11, 13, 14]
The region also needs to address the persistent problem of food insecurity, which is a major contributor to the education crisis. Focusing on feeding models for schools that provide income for local smallholder farmers ensures that we get a grip on the number of starving schoolchildren. Governments must be held accountable for enforcing discriminatory measures that block children’s right to quality education, and by 2030 all children must receive high-quality and accessible education. [Sources: 7, 8, 10]
The ultimate goal of the education system is to equip children with the numeracy, literacy, and broader skills they need to reach their potential, as well as the skills their country needs to create jobs, innovation, and economic growth. Good education is crucial to help children reach their full potential and is a key element of their economic and social development. But there is no such silver lining for students who cannot go online, or for teachers who do not even have the resources to experiment with e-learning. Children who leave school worldwide due to coronavirus may never set foot in a classroom again, and many do not learn basic skills like reading and math while at school. [Sources: 4, 5, 13, 15]
We know that children and young people are at greater risk in a crisis and when children lose access to education, they lose important opportunities and protective measures, but that is not all. [Sources: 1]
Sources:
[0]: https://www.fatherly.com/news/unesco-report-kids-no-access-to-education/
[1]: https://www.educationcannotwait.org/covid-19/
[2]: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/10-barriers-to-education-around-the-world-2/
[3]: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/feb/02/hundreds-of-millions-of-children-in-school-but-not-learning-world-bank
[4]: https://qz.com/1826369/how-coronavirus-is-changing-education/
[5]: https://time.com/5810017/coronavirus-school-closings-education-unesco/
[6]: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country
[7]: https://www.humanium.org/en/right-to-education/
[8]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/12/18/many-worlds-children-education-proves-elusive
[9]: https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/amanda-ripley-how-to-spot-world-class-education/
[10]: https://borgenproject.org/education-and-child-hunger/
[11]: https://theirworld.org/explainers/right-to-education
[12]: https://expatchild.com/school-starting-ages-around-world/
[13]: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/too-little-access-not-enough-learning-africas-twin-deficit-in-education/
[14]: http://uis.unesco.org/en/news/education-data-release-one-every-five-children-adolescents-and-youth-out-school
[15]: https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/education
[16]: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200808/brief-history-education