The Director-General of the UN education agency calls for collective mobilisation to ensure that the right of all children to access quality education is respected

244 million children and young people aged 6 to 18 will not start the new school year

photo_camera UNICEF - A 12-year-old boy, who does not go to school, sells bananas in Uruzgan province in western Afghanistan

New estimates from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization show that sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the most children and youth out of school, with a total of 98 million children. It is also the only region where this figure is increasing. The second region with the second largest out-of-school population is South and Central Asia, with 85 million.

The Director-General will renew the call for school enrolment at the Education Transformation Summit on 19 September, convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and bringing together heads of state and government.

New UNESCO projections confirm that the gap between the percentage of girls and boys out of school has narrowed worldwide. The gaps at primary - 2.5% - and secondary - 3.9% - that existed worldwide in 2000 have been minimised to zero; however, regional disparities persist.

escolarizacion-niños
A new method to obtain more reliable figures

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the experts of the Global Education Monitoring Report have cross-referenced multiple data sources - including information from surveys and censuses - so that the figures are as close to reality as possible. This is the first time this methodology has been used for education, which is a significant improvement in the robustness of the estimates. It was previously used to calculate health indicators.

It was also able to fill important data gaps in countries with large numbers of out-of-school children for which good quality statistical data had not been available for more than a decade, such as Nigeria, where there are an estimated 20.2 million out-of-school children and youth, Ethiopia (10.5 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (5.9 million) and Kenya (1.8 million).

With UNESCO's help, 90% of countries have defined national indicators to assess progress towards quality education for all by 2030, including out-of-school rates.

escolarizacion-niños
An uncertain start to the new school year for four million Ukrainian children

The war in Ukraine has spoiled the start of the new school year for Ukraine's four million schoolchildren, UNICEF Executive Director Cattherine Russell said at the conclusion of a three-day visit across the country.

Thousands of schools across the country were damaged or destroyed, and the government estimates that less than 60% are considered safe and ready to reopen.

On the first day of the academic year in Ukraine, Russell visited a rehabilitated primary school damaged during the first weeks of the war. Due to the capacity of the school's bomb shelter, only 300 pupils can attend at any one time, 14% of the school's pre-war capacity.

"The new school year should be a time of excitement and hope, as children return to the classroom and share stories of their summer with friends and teachers," said Russell.

"However, for four million children in Ukraine, the feeling is one of unease. Children return to schools - many of which were damaged during the war - and tell stories of destruction, not knowing if their teachers and friends will be there to welcome them back. Many parents are hesitant to send their children to school, not knowing if they will be safe," she added.

UNICEF is working with the Ukrainian government to help Ukrainian children learn. Some 760,000 children have received formal or non-formal education since the war began. More than 1.7 million children and caregivers have benefited from mental health and psychosocial support supported by the UN agency.

Russell said, "Schools in Ukraine are desperately seeking resources to build bomb shelters instead of playgrounds, and children are being taught about unexploded ordnance instead of road safety. This is the harsh reality for Ukrainian students, parents and teachers".
 

650,000 Ukrainian refugee children still out of school

While Ukrainian children face imminent and ongoing threats to their lives and well-being, refugee children face other challenges. As of 31 July 2022, an estimated 650,000 Ukrainian children living as refugees in 12 host countries were still not enrolled in national education systems.

UNICEF supported about half of them with formal or non-formal education and the organization is working with governments and other humanitarian partners to ensure that refugee children can enrol in schools or have access to online learning.
 

More in Society