africa: Schools open again, but where are the children?

UNICEF
Press release

Schools open again, but where are the children?
Numbers On The Wall: 123 Million Will Not See A Classroom This Year

NEW YORK, 16 September 2003 - Over the last two weeks schools around the
world have opened their doors for the start of the new school year, but
UNICEF said today that recent household surveys show that some 123 million
children are currently being left out - perhaps never to see the inside of
a classroom.

"This month millions of families will not share in the pride of sending
their children off to school," said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of
UNICEF. "This is a disheartening reality in a world where education is the
right of every child. And it is a major impediment to any effort to reduce
poverty. The more children we leave out of school today, the more adults
we leave behind a few years down the road. We need some new math."

UNICEF said that in sub-Saharan Africa, 46 million school-aged children
have never stepped foot in a school, a figure that has risen steadily
every year since 1990. Another 46 million South Asian youngsters are not
in school. These two regions together account for three-quarters of the
world's entire population of children who are not in school. UNICEF also
noted that 2 percent of the global out-of-school population (about 2.5
million children) live in industrialized countries.

Globally, girls make up the majority of children who are not in school
globally, comprising up to 56 per cent according to recent surveys.

Higher Barriers for Girls

Two years shy of the 2005 Millennium Development Goal to ensure that girls
and boys have equal access to school, girls continue to be at a distinct
disadvantage. While the gender gap in enrolment has narrowed over the last
decade, girls are still the ones most often denied their right to go to
school, and those who do attend drop out earlier. Globally, some 66
million girls of school age are not in school. Meeting the 2005 goal of
gender parity will require a major effort in most countries. In
sub-Saharan Africa, half of all countries are well short of the goal, and
a quarter are in fact moving in the wrong direction.

UNICEF has spearheaded a strategic effort to get girls into school by
focusing on the specific barriers that prevent girls from accessing and
completing an education. Studies show that strategies that get more girls
into school make schools more welcoming for boys, as well.

"Ignoring the children who are not in school translates into huge losses
in this generation and the next," Bellamy said. "Far beyond the child
losing the direct benefits of an education, absence from school puts
children closer to the threat of disease, abuse and sexual exploitation.
This is especially so for girls.

"On the other hand, when girls are encouraged to attend school, when the
school welcomes them and they are able to complete a quality basic
education, the benefits are enormous. These girls grow up to take better
care of both themselves and their families. Girls who get an education are
much more likely to have healthy children, and their children are more
likely to go to school themselves. This is the key to breaking cycles of
poverty."

Yet there are success stories that point the way for other countries. In
the post-Taliban era, Afghanistan has recognized the value of educating
girls for long-term development. Last year, UNICEF's largest-ever back to
school campaign saw the return to school of more than 1.5 million girls
and boys. This year, there are 4.2 million children in 7,000 schools and
there has been a 37% increase in the number of girls in school since last
year.

In poor families that cannot afford the costs of schooling, girls tend to
be the most disadvantaged. In Kenya, the demand for schooling has surged
since the government abolished school fees in January 2003. Primary school
enrolment has increased by 1.3 million children, upping the national
primary school enrolment from 5.9 million to 7.2 million students.
Classroom sizes have mushroomed dramatically to accommodate the influx of
new students. UNICEF is working with the Kenyan government to help the
school system adjust to the challenges, and to ensure that girls and boys
alike are given the quality education they are due.

Fuel for Development

UNICEF believes that bringing down the barriers that keep girls out of
school is an essential strategy for improving the quality of schools and
making them a more convincing option for poor parents. Making schools more
attractive to all children will help fuel and sustain real human
development. UNICEF will detail these arguments in its annual flagship
report, The State of the World's Children, to be published in December.

"The education of girls simply cannot be a low priority on the development
agenda any longer," said Bellamy. UNICEF will continue to rally the
political and financial support to turn possibility into actuality where
all out-of-school children are concerned, and to make sure that girls are
not forgotten or left behind."

* * *

UNICEF's 25 by 2005 campaign is a major initiative to eliminate gender
disparities in primary and secondary education in 25 countries by the year
2005. The campaign, which includes 13 countries in Africa and six
countries in Southern Asia, focuses on districts where girls' education is
in a critical situation and urgent help is required to meet the MDG of
gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2005.

In each country, UNICEF is working with the government to mobilise new
resources, build broad national consensus about the need to get girls into
school, and help improve schools themselves to make them more welcoming to
both girls and boys.

UNICEF has chosen a manageable number of countries and based its selection
on criteria that looked for countries with one or more of the following:
low enrolment rates for girls; gender gaps of more than 10% in primary
education; countries with more than 1 million girls out of school;
countries included on the World Bank's Education For All Fast Track
Initiative; and countries hard hit by a range of crises that affect school
opportunities for girls, such as HIV/AIDS and conflict.

For further information please contact:
Allison Hickling, UNICEF Media, New York
(+1-212) 326-7224, [email protected]