Obstacles keeping millions of children out of school

• Child labor: Because many families cannot afford school fees and need additional income, many children work in hazardous conditions instead of attending school.
• School fees: In many poor countries, it can cost a month's wages or more to send one child to a government primary school. Enrolments doubled or tripled in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi after these countries abolished school fees. Yet, at least 101 countries are still charging fees for primary education.⁵²
• Lack of government resources: Many of the world's poorer countries are heavily in debt. They have had to cut the amount they spend on education, health and social services to pay the interest on their debts.
• Poor quality: Even those who are able to attend school cannot afford the basic supplies for learning. In addition, classrooms often lack the basic tools for learning, such as books and desks. Finally, poor communities often do not have properly trained teachers. Class sizes may be very large, or the school day may last only 2 or 3 hours. In these circumstances, even the children who do attend school may fall behind or perform below standards, since they are unlikely to acquire functional literacy skills.
• Many children face social barriers and discrimination as well:
  • Discrimination against girls and women: The majority of out-of-school children are female, partly because schools are physically unsafe, too far away from home, or lacking any female teachers.
  • Disability: Many countries do not provide any help for children with disabilities to attend school.
  • HIV-AIDS: In Africa and parts of Asia, AIDS is forcing children to drop out of school - either because they have lost their parents, because they have to stay home and care for sick relatives, or because they have to work to help the family survive.
  • Conflict: Wars and civil strife destroy communities and uproot children. Refugee children frequently get no access to education.
  • Lack of relevance: Some governments insist that all schools conform to a rigid academic format that is out of step with local cultures, languages and livelihoods. Parents may see this type of schooling as a threat to cherished ways of life.

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⁵² Global Monitoring Report, 2003/4, UNESCO, 2003, Paris, Executive Summary, available from http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/
ev.php-URL_ID=24284&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html: Internet accessed March 2005.