An estimated 262 million children in the primary and secondary age group are still out of school, which means one in six school going children is yet to begin their education.
The figures have come out in a study conducted by Save the Children known as Global Childhood Report. In the primary and secondary age group, one in three children do not go to school in poorest countries and the figures are alarming among refugee children (one in two children).
However, the report points out those 35 countries were able to bring down the rate of out of school children by 33 per cent between 2000 and 2017. Though many of the countries had shown remarkable achievement in the said period, the report says that the progress had shown decline in the recent years. It says that the rate of out of school children in about 36 countries have shown an upward graph.
In the report, Save the Children says that there is still a long way to go for attaining universal primary/secondary education. It also notes that the quality of education has to be improved as the survey has shown that about 617 million children are not able to read or do simple mathematics.
With respect to education of girls, the report points out that a drastic change has come in educating girls. However, the hurdles of early marriage, teen birth, gender disparity all still in vogue and have to be addressed so that all the girls get good education as of boys.
