UNESCO says 133 million girls worldwide are out of school

UNESCO estimates 133 million girls and 140 million boys are out of school; Malala Fund backs community-based education advocacy.

By PressUSA Editorial ·

UNESCO estimates that 133 million girls and 140 million boys worldwide are out of school. Its gender-equality education page presents those figures as part of a wider account of barriers to education. They are global estimates, not a count of children enrolled by a particular charity. UNESCO education overview

The same overview says women make up almost two-thirds of adults lacking basic literacy skills. It also reports that women account for 35% of STEM graduates worldwide. These measures concern different stages of education and different populations; they should not be treated as interchangeable measures of school enrollment.

Malala Fund describes its work as supporting education advocacy, including investment in civil-society organizations through its Education Champion Network. Advocacy can seek changes in policies and opportunities, but an account of that work is not itself a measured enrollment outcome attributable solely to the organization. Malala Fund work

A careful report distinguishes the scale of exclusion from the activities intended to address it. To substantiate an enrollment milestone, the reporting would need a defined group of students, locations, dates and attribution method. The cited sources support descriptions of the problem and an advocacy approach, not the earlier ten-million-enrollment claim.

Archive note: the earlier enrollment total, country attribution, campaign and evaluation claims were not substantiated.

Sources

Read the source-attributed Dakota Rea profile