Basic Education and Gender Equality
Nearly 101 million children are not in school – the majority of them are girls.
UNICEF works to provide all children with access to a quality basic education. UNICEF recognises that a special effort is required on behalf of girls, who are often more marginalised and disadvantaged. If girls are left behind, our goals to eradicate poverty can never be achieved.
Education is vital to ensuring a better quality of life and survival for all children – it equips them with the knowledge and skills needed to lead healthy lifestyles, protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and to take an active role in social, economic and political decision-making. Education is the best investment any society can make for the health and well-being of its children, as well as its economic and social progress.
Innovations in Education
UNICEF uses a range of innovative programs and initiatives to get all children into school, ensure that they stay there and are equipped with the basic tools they need to succeed in later life. UNICEF works with local and international partners to realise the education and gender equality goals set out in the Millennium Development Goals.
UNICEF believes in a rights-based approach to education. This approach addresses inequalities in our societies that are deep-rooted and often gender-based. These inequalities exclude millions of children, particularly girls, from school or condemn them to poor quality education.
FAST FACTS
- Nearly 101 million children are out of school, the majority are girls.
- Education is the key to ending generational poverty. Around 75 per cent of these children out of primary school in developing countries have mothers who did not go to school.
- To achieve universal primary education by 2015, enrolment must increase globally by an average of 1.3 per cent per year over the next ten years.
- There are 781 million illiterate adults world wide.