The number of children attending school in the world today is higher than ever, thanks to the increase in the world's population, said UNESCO in a report published on Thursday, although it regrets that the number of children not attending school is still as high as ever.
“Today, more children than ever are in school and progressing in their education,” said the U.N. organization in its annual report on world education, presented in the northeastern Brazilian city of Fortaleza.
The number of children in school rose by 110 million between 2015 and 2023, to 1.412 billion.
School completion rates have also risen since 2015, albeit slowly, from 85 percent to 88 percent at primary level and from 53 percent to 59 percent at secondary level, i.e. 40 million more high school graduates than eight years ago.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization pointed out, however, that 251 million children are not in school, a drop of just 1 percent from 2015.
A third of children and teenagers in poor countries have no access to school, compared with just 3 percent in the richest countries.
“Exclusion is exacerbated by social norms and poverty, particularly in Afghanistan and Nigeria,” the report pointed out. At least 1.4 million teenage girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The report was presented at UNESCO's global meeting on education, being held under Brazil's presidency of the G20 at the end of November, and “aims to promote multilateral dialogue ... recognizing that education is a factor of social equality and a driver of sustainable development.”