MADRID, 07/09 (IPS) – More than two-thirds of 10-year-olds cannot read and understand a simple text. This shocking discovery should be enough to wake up to the terrible fate of an entire generation. But there is much more.
In fact, 244 million children are still out of school, while educational centers are victims of armed attacks.
And millions more are falling prey to recruitment, enslavement, exploitation of vital organs, forced displacement, drowning at sea during migratory journeys, homelessness, sexual violence. sex, abuse, and too long a time.
Here are more shocking facts like that 800 million girls forced to become mothersand that More than 200 million girls have fallen prey to a dangerous, disgusting practice, practiced in the name of social and religious traditions..
There are also More than 160 million are victims of forced labortwice the total population of a large European country -Germany-.
Half of them – or 80 million – are only 5 to 11 years old, and their numbers are growing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Without mitigation measures, their numbers could rise to nearly 170 million by 2022.
Children around the world also face serious health problems as a result of “shocking, insidious, exploitative, aggressive, misleading and pervasive” marketing tactics used by businesses. milk formula business used for the sole purpose of increasing, even more, profits, such as disclosure by the World Health Organization (WHO).
School is closed
Furthermore, school closures and disruptions caused by the pandemic can lead to academic declines and dropouts. As a result of the pandemic, nearly 24 million learners may never return to formal education, of which 11 million are predicted to be girls and women.
Grave violations affect boys and girls differently. While 85% of children recruited and employed are boys, 83% of sexual violence is perpetrated by girls, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adds (UNESCO) for all of the above.
According to figures released by UNESCO on September 1, 2022, inequality in access to education is keeping some 244 million children out of school.
Most where?
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the largest number of out-of-school children with 98 million children, and it is also the only region where this number is increasing.
The Central and South Asian region has the second highest proportion of unschooled population, with 85 million people.
Beside sold in refugee campsto 50% of refugee girls attend secondary school may not return, when their classrooms reopen after COVID-19, while 222 million girls inaccessible by distance learning during the pandemic.
The data has been provided by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN’s global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, also focuses on staggering gender-based violations.
Girls
Girls affected by the horrors of war and displacement in places like Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen They also face greater risks such as gender-based violence, child marriage and unwanted pregnancy.
The prohibition of the education of high school girls in Afghanistan especially intolerable. In the last year, more girls are estimated twice as likely to drop out of schooland nearly twice as likely to go to bed hungry than boys, adds Education can’t wait.
Education in an emergency
According to recent ECW’s Annual results reportConflict, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters and the dual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have spurred increased education in emergencies with funding claims reaching $2.9 billion US in 2021, compared to US$1.4 billion in 2020.
“While 2021 saw a record high endowment of US$645 million in the education sector – the overall funding gap increased 17%, from 60% in 2020 to 77% in 2021. .”
Being attacked
The Global Alliance to Protect Education from Attack built a global research attacks on schools, universities, students and their staff, in 2020 and 2021.
Research warns that education is under attack around the world. From Afghanistan to Colombia, Mali to Thailand, “students and teachers are killed, raped and kidnapped, while schools and universities are bombed, burned down and used for military purposes.”
Follow Education is under attack 2022:
- In 2020 and 2021, there were more than 5,000 reported attacks on education and uses of the military on schools and universities, harming more than 9,000 students and educators in at least at least 85 countries. On average, six attacks on education or incidents of military use occur each day.
- Six attacks on education or incidents of military use happen every day.
- Explosive weapons were used in about one-fifth of all reported attacks on education during the reporting period.
- The highest rates of attacks on educational institutions are in Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Myanmar and Palestine.
The United Nations has focused on the tragedy faced by the world’s children on the occasion of both International Literacy Day on September 8 and International Day to Protect Education from Attackon September 9, among a number of other international dates.
Despite all of the above, the world’s richest countries continue to spend more than two trillion US dollars on weapons that kill tens of thousands of innocent children.
Just see this: Spending on nuclear weapons – US$105 billion a year; 300 million US dollars a day, 12 million US dollars an hour. A fraction of this money is enough to empower hundreds of millions of children with basic human rights to education, right?
© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
