These 13 facts will change your perspective on Education

Every year, the World Statistics Day is celebrated on 20th October. It could be a perfect day to reflect upon the state of education globally. It does not matter, whether you are from an upper-income country or from lower income country, there are many issues plaguing education today. In the year 2000, 164 governments agreed on the Dakar Framework for Action, Education for all at the World Education Forum. This framework established 6 goals for global education which were to be fulfilled by 2015. These goals were — Early childhood care and education, Universal primary education, Youth and adult skills, Adult Literacy, Gender parity and equality and Quality of education. The Education For All Global Monitoring Report of 2015 published by UNESCO highlighted the gaps that still remain in achieving global literacy. This post presents to you 13 facts which bear testimony to where we stand in terms of education for all. Why is this important? Because awareness could be the first step towards achieving this ambitious goal.

FACT 1

Primary Education remains a distant dream for many

The state of education is especially poor in the sub-Saharan Africa which is home to more than 50 percent of children outside the schools. Ironically, more than 60% of the population in sub-Saharan countries is less than 25 years old.

FACT 2

A large number of students drop out during their Primary Education

Even though there has been a huge increase in the enrollment rate since 1999 (the enrollment rate in primary education is approximately 93% in 2015), the number of dropouts remains a serious issue.

FACT 3

Low and Middle-income countries have highest dropouts

FACT 4

The children in conflict-affected areas are the biggest casualties

According to a report by Internal Displacement Centre, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons have grown to 51.2 million in 2013, the highest number since the Second World War. Half of these forcibly displaced people are children. 2.2 million out of the 4.8 million school children inside Syria were out of school, as were a half-million refugee children in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey .

FACT 5

Not all countries have benefitted from ICT

Information and Communication Technology effectiveness depends on trained teachers who can use it to maximize teaching and learning. While one part of the world has successfully implemented ICT in the classroom, lack of training for teachers poses serious barriers to the countries like Egypt and Oman.

FACT 6

National Standards for Education are not really followed

FACT 7

Education can decrease childbirth mortality

FACT 8 Education could be the answer to child marriages

Between 2011 and 2020, more than 140 million girls will become child brides, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). If current levels of child marriages hold, 14.2 million girls annually or 39,000 daily will marry too young. Of these 140 million girls, 50 million will be under the age of 15. The girls who complete their education are likely to enter into marriage as adults. They are also less likely to die from childbirth.

FACT 9

17 percent of the world adult population is still illiterate

The saddest part, two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women, a proportion that has remained stubbornly unchanged for the past 20 years. Both education for all and gender parity are part of Millennium Development Goals. But these numbers paint a really sad picture.

FACT 10

Unemployment remains a serious concern

FACT 11

Children with learning disabilities are bullied in school

In August 2012 National Centre for Learning Disabilities collected data from a random sampling of 1,980 adults in the United States, evenly distributed across males and females, via an online survey. The sampling was representative of the U.S. population and had a margin of error of 4.4 percent.Twelve percent of the respondents cited having a learning disability and 8 percent of the parents surveyed had a child with a learning disability. The results revealed that school is not easy for children with learning disabilities. These children are more prone to bullying. The learning disabilities are often misunderstood.

FACT 12

The majority of people are ignorant of learning disabilities

Even the parents and teachers related to children with disabilities do not fully understand the nature of learning disabilities. About 1/3rd of the people participating in the survey by NCLD, associated the learning disabilities to incorrect causes like watching TV, childhood vaccination and poor diet. Another study commissioned by Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation in 2010 showed that 70 percent of the educators and parents related learning disability with retardation and mental illness. How are schools and parents supposed to help kids if they do not understand what learning disabilities are?

FACT 13

Learning Disabilities are often associated with sensory disabilities like blindness and deafness

Hopefully, by now you must have known why these numbers are important and make sense. Can you think of something that can be a step ahead in changing the current statistics? How do you think these things will affect all of us? If you are a teacher reading this, do not forget this to share with your students. Who knows this could be an eye-opener for them. You can access the Global Monitoring Report of Education for all here . To access the National Centre for Disability click here.

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Originally published at blog.clickeinstein.com on October 20, 2015.