IN SCHOOL AND LEARNING
In the past decade, millions of children around the world have gained access to educational opportunities. But there is still much work to be done. By the end of the 2013 school year, over 59 million children of primary school age and nearly 65 million young adolescents have been out of school. An estimated 250 million children in the world can not read,
write or do basic math – 130 million of them have attended school. The children excluded from learning opportunities are among the most vulnerable and hard to reach in the world. They come from the poorest households and often have to work to help support their families. Some face discrimination as ethnic minorities.
Others live with disabilities. Most often they are girls. The Out-of-School Children Initiative is a global effort to uncover data and details about the children left behind and offer policy recommendations and interventions that will allow every last child to go to school and learn.
Sujood and Nidal, two children of Syria now refugees in Jordan, talk about how conflict has affected them and the education of millions of children in the region. Conflicts in Syria and Iraq have forced three million children
More than 59 million children are out of school worldwide. Who are these children? Where do they live? And what keeps them out of school?
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Though there has been considerable progress in reducing the number of children excluded from educational opportunities since 2000, the successful efforts have faltered in recent years.
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Since 2000 there has been progress. Some countries have reduced the number of out-of-school children by more than half.
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Many factors keep children in West and Central Africa from enrolling in school and completing at least a primary education.
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