Unesco says 77 million kids worldwide are out of school

HANOI, Vietnam – Some 77 million children worldwide are not getting their primary education due to poverty, and about nine million of them are living in East Asia, an official of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) disclosed yesterday.

The Philippines along with Myanmar and Vietnam are among the 28 developing countries in the world with over 500,000 out-of-school children, said Dr. Ko-Chih Tung, UNESCO Institute for Statistics Regional Advisor for Asia-Pacific, during a media workshop on education held in this city.

"While the number of out-of-school children fell in other regions, it has risen in East Asia from 6.4 million in 1999 to 9.2 million. We know from data that most out-of-school children come from the rural areas, belong to poorer households and have mothers who have no education," Tung said.

"Unless serious attention is made to ensure all children have access to education of good quality, it is clear that the crisis of out-of-school children will continue to magnify," he warned. "Some 738 million children – 11 percent of the total world population – are in the 0-5 age group and their number is expected to reach 776 million by 2020."

In his keynote presentation called "Why Education for All, perspectives and relationships," Tung, who also heads the AIMS (Assessment, Information Systems, Monitoring and Statistics) Unit, said that each year, UNESCO releases a report of progress toward the six goals of Education for All (EFA) endorsed by countries at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000.

The workshop called "South-East Asia Media Training on Education for All" is being held at Hotel Nikko in this city until tomorrow. The STAR is among three news agencies from the Philippines that have joined other media practitioners from East Asian countries in the event.

Tung said education must be ensured for all ages – from the young to the oldest learner.

He pointed out that 124 million children are enrolled in pre-primary education globally with developed countries having a 77 percent gross enrollment rate (GER).

In East Asia, the average number of children enrolled in pre-primary education is 40 percent. – Sandy Araneta