It is the only region in the world where the number of out-of-school children is on the rise.
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More than 40% of the 244 million children who still do not go to school in the world live in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) said on Thursday 1st. September, back-to-school day in France, which hosts the institution’s headquarters.
The African continent is thus home to 98 million of children and young people aged 6 to 18, not attending school. In particular in Nigeria (20.2 million), Ethiopia (10.5), the Democratic Republic of Congo (5.9) or Kenya (1.8), according to Unesco. “No one can accept this situation. Education is a right and we must do everything to ensure that this right is respected for every child”said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay in a statement.
It is in Africa that we find the most children out of school and this is also where the problem persists. Contrary to the global trend – the figure has been in constant decline for more than twenty years – sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where the number of children deprived of education increase.“The out-of-school rates (decreasing) slower than the growth rate of the school-age population”.
More than 400 million children did not go to school in 2000, according to Unesco, which salutes the “progress” in this area, over the past two decades, even if their pace “has slowed down substantially in recent years”. The United Nations will organize on September 19 a summit dedicated to education in which the Heads of State and Government will participate.