Education
Every child has the right to go to school and learn.
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The world has made great strides towards universal education. In the early 1950s, only half of the kids who should have been in primary school were. Today, that's risen to nearly 90%.
But this success masks stark disparities. For too many children living in poverty, for kids living with disabilities or from ethnic minorities, and for girls growing up in the wrong place, education remains out of reach.
Even when kids can attend class, schooling does not always lead to learning. An estimated two thirds of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries aren't able to read and understand a simple text.
Quality education is a child's right. To deny it is to threaten their chance at a happy, healthy future.
What we do
In 147 countries around the world, UNICEF works to provide quality learning opportunities that prepare children with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive.
We make targeted efforts to reach kids and teens who are excluded from education on the basis of gender, disability, ethnicity, language and poverty. Our programmes also prioritize children living through – or displaced by – conflict and natural disaster. In many humanitarian emergencies, UNICEF is the largest provider of educational support, working with our UN and local partners.
Through it all, we focus on closing the gap between what students have and what they need – learning in a safe, friendly environment; from qualified, motivated teachers; with tools and languages they can understand. Explore our work across these key areas:
Programme overview
Children with disabilities face persistent barriers to education stemming from discrimination, stigma and the routine failure of policymakers to address exclusion in school. As a result, they're among the kids most likely to be out of school, and are often placed in segregated schooling. Many miss out on opportunities to learn and develop skills for employment and independent living. UNICEF supports inclusive education as the most effective way for all children to acquire the knowledge and life skills everyone needs to thrive.
Investing in girls’ education transforms communities, countries and the entire world. Girls who receive an education are less likely to marry young and more likely to lead healthy, productive lives. They earn higher incomes, contribute to more prosperous societies, and build better futures for their families. But education is more than schooling. It’s also about girls feeling safe in classrooms and supported in the subjects they choose to pursue.
Education is a lifeline for children in crisis. It connects them to so much more than learning. In school, kids find a sense of stability and a place to connect with friends and cope with trauma. Schools can protect children from the physical dangers around them, including exploitation and recruitment into armed groups. Sometimes, school becomes the only place where children can reliably get enough food, water and hygiene supplies.
Preschool sets kids up for success. Children enrolled in at least one year of pre-primary education are more likely to develop the critical skills they need to succeed in school and in their communities. Evidence from around the world also shows that pre-primary education helps advance economic development.
Still, nearly half of all children of age are not enrolled in preschool. In low-income countries, roughly 1 in 5 kids are able to attend. Vulnerable children are disproportionately excluded from pre-primary education – even though it can have the greatest impact on them.
To ensure no child is left behind, Governments should adopt policies that commit to universal preschool and prioritize the poorest and hardest-to-reach kids.
Our response
UNICEF works to give every child a fair start in learning. We support pre-primary education in 129 countries around the globe by:
- Building political commitment to quality pre-primary education through evidence generation, advocacy and communication.
- Strengthening policies and advocating for increased public financing for pre-primary education.
- Bolstering national capacity to plan and implement quality pre-primary education at scale.
- Enhancing the quality of pre-primary programmes by supporting the development of quality standards, curricular frameworks, teacher training packages and more.
- Collecting data and generating evidence for innovative approaches that bring quality pre-primary education to vulnerable children.
- Delivering conflict-sensitive early childhood education and psychosocial support to young children and their families in humanitarian situations.
The near universalization of primary schooling is one of the world's great achievements in recent history. In the early 1950s, about 50% of kids were out of school. Today, that figure's dropped to 11%.
Still, the most marginalized children remain cut off from primary education, deprived of their right to develop foundational literacy and numeracy skills. An estimated 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries are unable to understand a simple written text. Children living in emergency and fragile settings also have fewer chances to complete primary school. As do girls, in some parts of the world.
Even for students who are in school, far too many don't learn the critical foundational skills they need to thrive.
Our response
To get every child in school and learning, global efforts must be concentrated on reaching the most marginalized while enhancing the quality of primary education. This requires political commitment and targeted strategies to strengthen education systems with equitable financing and resource distribution.
Together with governments and partners, UNICEF is working to:
- Build political commitment for quality primary education that leads to effective learning outcomes through evidence generation, advocacy and communication.
- Advocate for better, equitable financing and distribution of education resources for primary education.
- Support access to quality formal education, focusing on the most marginalized.
- Strengthen non-formal education and alternative models like catch-up classes, bridging and accelerated education, and skills development.
- Strengthen the capacity of countries to plan and implement quality education at scale, including through evidence-based interventions that contribute to foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes.
- Champion and leverage digital learning modalities as platforms to support access to quality primary education.
Children need education and skills to become lifelong learners, secure productive work and positively engage in their communities.
But by the time they hit adolescence (ages 10–19), too many kids haven't acquired the basic skills – like transferable, digital and job-specific skills – needed to thrive as adults. Some aren't even able to reach minimum proficiency levels in reading and math.
Concerted investment and coordination to strengthen education systems is needed so that all adolescents, especially the most marginalized, can acquire skills that help them fulfil their potential.
Our response
Since skills development takes place at various stages in life, UNICEF programming is anchored in a multiple-pathways approach that helps us meet kids where they are. We work closely with governments and partners so that every 5-year-old is ready to learn, every 10-year-old is ready to succeed in school, and every 18-year-old is prepared for life and work.
In both humanitarian and development contexts, we improve the quality and reach of education and training programmes that develop the skills, knowledge and outlooks adolescents need to participate meaningfully in society. This includes mainstreaming skills development in school curricula, while providing alternative pathways for continued education.
In schools and in communities, UNICEF:
- Supports skills development opportunities through curricular and extracurricular programmes.
- Promotes flexible, alternative and certified learning programmes to prepare adolescents – especially those who have been uprooted by war, violence and poverty – to re-enter school or transition to work.
- Supports community-based opportunities for non-formal skills development and civic engagement.
We also work with governments and communities to help dismantle barriers to learning for the most marginalized – especially girls; migrant, refugee and displaced adolescents; those living in poverty; and kids with disabilities.
What’s more, UNICEF mobilizes financial resources, political support and technical know-how to innovate skills development programmes. In 2018, we spearheaded Generation Unlimited, a global partnership dedicated to connecting all young people to education, training, employment and entrepreneurship.
For children forced from the classroom due to conflict, climate disaster or even discrimination, digital learning tools may be their only chance at an education. UNICEF works to put innovative learning products in the hands of kids who need them most – including children with disabilities, those seeking refuge or asylum, and girls. We also help strengthen education systems that serve the most vulnerable, leveraging AI and adaptive tools to improve the quality and reach of schooling.
UNICEF is a leader in partnerships that secure every child's right to learn. Our key global initiatives include:
A TIME Best Invention of 2021, the Learning Passport enables high-quality, flexible learning for children anywhere, to close the learning poverty gap.
If the largest generation of young people in history is prepared for the transition to work, the potential for global progress is unlimited. We enable young people to become productive and engaged members of society.
The Giga Initiative was launched to connect every school to the internet and every young person to information, opportunity and choice.
Education Cannot Wait is the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. We support and protect holistic learning outcomes so no one is left behind.
EdTech Hub is a global research partnership that empowers people by giving them the evidence they need to make decisions about technology in education.
Global Partnership for Education
GPE is the world’s only partnership and fund focused on providing quality education to children in lower-income countries.
The Global Education Cluster works towards a predictable, equitable and well-coordinated response in communities affected by crisis.
United Nations Girls' Education Initiative
Through evidence building, advocacy and action, the UNGEI partnership works to close the gender gap in education.
In collaboration with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, this initiative provides governments with actionable data to identify barriers that lead to exclusion and develop policies that put more children on track to complete their education.