Education

An estimated 244 million children are out of school worldwide, including almost 180 million children at the secondary level. Moreover, nearly half of all preschool-aged children—more than 175 million children—are not enrolled in a pre-primary education program. Discrimination of marginalized groups by teachers and other students, long distances to school, formal and informal school fees, and the absence of inclusive education are among the main causes. Millions stop going to school to work long hours, often under hazardous conditions. Others experience violence or abuse from teachers or fellow students, or find their schools targets of armed attack. Some girls are denied an education when they become pregnant or are forced out of school to marry. Even when in school, millions of children receive a poor-quality education that leaves them lacking essential skills and knowledge, including about their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Youth who are in institutions or prisons often get substandard education or none at all. As children increasingly rely on technology to learn, governments have been slow to provide children with the same protections as they enjoy in their physical classrooms, enabling the misuse or exploitation of children’s personal data collected from online educational settings.