HOW MANY CHILDREN IN US AND THE WORLD ARE NOT GOING TO SCHOOL?

Ton Duif, President of World Education Forum, presented current statistics on children not attending school in a WEF-USA session entitled “What is really happening to children, to schools and in countries around the world?” at the 2016 NAESP Conference in Washington DC. Since the WEF goal is for all children in the world to have access to quality education, attendees hearing these statistics realized that there is a major global challenge. We were surprised to learn that, in 2013, 1.74 million elementary children in the USA were not attending school and that, in California, 265,000 immigrant children ages 13-22 do not attend school and 90% of them are Latinos.

The following is a handout that Ton Duif shared with attendees at the WEF-USA session.

What is Really Happening to Children, to Schools and in Countries around the World?

Presented by:
Ton Duif, President of World Education Forum
NAESP Annual Conference- July 7, 2016
Washington DC

• Iraq Crisis: 3.6 million children now at risk from increasing violence
• Up to 4.8 million people in South Sudan – well over one-third of the population – will be facing severe food shortages over the coming months, and the risk of a hunger catastrophe continues to threaten parts of the country, three UN agencies warned today.
• Based on current trends (Unicef),
  • 69 million children under five will die from mostly preventable causes,
  • 167 million children will live in poverty, and
  • 750 million women will have been married as children by 2030.
• According to UNICEF’s local partners in Syria, 25 children were reportedly killed yesterday in air-strikes on al-Quriyah town, in the eastern countryside of Deir-ez-Zor.
• Growing number of children are dying at sea between Africa and Europe.
• Thousands of refugee children are not attending school because of government policy
• Boko Haram closes 90% of all schools in Nigeria
• 6000 children in the Netherlands are not at school for various reasons
• How criminals forced 300 young children to roll bags (like Olivier Twist) in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain
• The association “Children Count”: Around 280,000 children of school-going age do not attend school in South Africa.
• Nepal: After the earthquake 2 years ago, still 500.000 children do not attend any kind of education. From the rest only 30% graduate of their school.

United States?

• In California for instance 265,000 immigrant children ages 13-22 do not attend school. 90% are Latino’s. (Public Policy Institute of California)
• The number of children out of elementary school in United States was 1,773,923 as of 2013,
  • over the past 38 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 4,324,144 in 1975 and a minimum value of 413,386 in 1990.
  • Definition: Children out of school are the number of primary-school-age children not enrolled in primary or secondary school,Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics. http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/children-out-of-school

Why?

• They are mainly girls
• They live in war zones
• They have disabilities
• Because their countries are poor
• Because of child marriage
• Because of natural disasters
• Because of too few teachers
• Because of child labour
• Because of poor sanitation and sickness

Because no-one cares!!