"A new school year is starting in many parts of the world. This news should bring us joy, but it also reminds us that deep inequalities persist in access to education: 244 million of children are still out of school," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a press release on Thursday.
"No one can accept this situation. Education is a right and we must do everything to ensure that this right is respected for every child," Azoulay added.
The new estimates show that sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the most children and youth out of school, with a total of 98 million children.
It is also the only region where this number is increasing: out-of-school rates are falling more slowly than the rate at which the school-age population is growing.
The region with the second highest out-of-school population is Central and Southern Asia, with 85 million.
Gender Gap
The new UNESCO estimates confirm that the difference in the rate of girls and boys out of school has closed worldwide.
The gaps of 2.5 percentage points among primary school age children worldwide and of 3.9 percentage points among upper secondary school age youth in 2000 have been reduced to zero – however, regional disparities persist.
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