70 million children get no education, says

report
Those living in north-eastern Africa are least likely to go to school, according to new
world rankings
Somali children, such as this boy and girl in a displaced persons camp, are least likely to get
an education. Photograph: Mohamed Dahir/AFP/Getty Images
Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent
Monday 20 September 2010 10.52 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 20 May
201403.10 BST

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Almost 70 million children across the world are prevented from going to school each day, a
study published today reveals.
Those living in north-eastern Africa are the least likely to receive a good education or any
education at all, an umbrella body of charities and teaching unions known as the Global
Campaign for Education has found.
It ranks the world's poorest countries according to their education systems. Somalia has the
least functional system in the world with just 10% of children going to primary school, while
Eritrea is second worst.
Haiti, Comoros and Ethiopia fare almost as badly. Before Haiti's earthquake this year, just
50% of children went to primary school. Now that figure is said to have fallen. Some 2.5
million children were left without a school to go to after the earthquake.

The report's authors, from charities including Plan and ActionAid, measured the likelihood of
children attending primary school, a country's political will to improve its education system,
and the quality of its schools to create the rankings.
The study Back to School? The Worst Places in the World warns that attempts to ensure
all children can attend school are under severe threat. By 2015, there will be more children
out of school than there are today, unless the richest countries dramatically increase the aid
they give to the poorest nations, the authors argue.
"Poor countries are on a worsening trajectory, as severe and deepening pressure from the
economic downturn caused by the crisis of the rich world's banking system bites on their
budgets," David Archer, one of the authors from ActionAid says. Some 2.9bn is expected to
be lost to education budgets in sub-Saharan Africa because of the economic crisis, he warns.
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Kenya, which is rated in the 50 worst countries for education, delayed plans to provide a free
primary school education to 8.3 million children in September. The global economic crisis
was one reason given for this.
Girls are far less likely to attend school than boys in many of the world's poorest countries,
the authors have found. In Malawi, of those that enrol, 22.3% of boys complete primary
compared to 13.8% of girls. In rural Burkina Faso, 61% of girls are married by the age of 18
and over 85% never get to see the inside of a secondary school.
Most rich countries have failed to keep their promises to help poor countries improve their
education systems, according to the study. While the UK fares relatively well, along with the
Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland and Ireland, others such as Greece, Austria, Italy and
Germany are not giving nearly as much as they should.
The report argues that the International Monetary Fund "severely restricts" poor countries'
chances of investing in education, while the World Bank has overseen a "dramatic withdrawal
of education funds from low-income countries, especially in Africa".
Read the full report as a pdf
More news

Topics

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Children

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DocMolotov
20 Sep 2010 15:30
70 million children get no education

01

Pink Floyd will be pleased.

Report

notinuse
20 Sep 2010 16:37

12
"We must not fail the billions who look to the international community to
fulfil the promise of the Millennium Declaration for a better world. Let us
meet in September (20-22 in New York) to keep the promise."
-- UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon