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UN warn millions of pupils not learning even basic literacy, numeracy

Six out of 10 children and teenagers in the world are failing to reach basic levels of proficiency in learning, warns a hard-hitting report from the United Nations.

Six out of 10 children and teenagers in the world are failing to reach basic levels of proficiency in learning, warns a hard-hitting report from the United Nations.

The UN describes the findings as “staggering” and representing a “learning crisis”.

Much of the focus of international aid in education has been on the lack of access to schools, particularly in poorer countries in sub-Saharan Africa or in conflict zones.

But this new research from the Unesco Institute for Statistics warns of the lack of quality within schools – saying more than 600 million school-age children do not have basic skills in maths and reading.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the research suggests 88% of children and adolescents will enter adulthood without a basic proficiency in reading.

And in central and southern Asia, 81% are not reaching an adequate level in literacy.

The report warns any ambitions for social and economic progress will be stifled without a literate and numerate population.

In North America and Europe, only 14% of young people leave education at such a low level. But, the UN research suggests, only 10% of the world’s school-age children live in these more affluent, developed regions.

“Many of these children are not hidden or isolated from their governments and communities – they are sitting in classrooms,” said Silvia Montoya, director of the Unesco Institute for Statistics.

She said the report was a “wake-up call for far greater investment in the quality of education”.

This problem of “schooling without learning” was also highlighted by the World Bank in a report this week.

It warned that millions of young people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving an inadequate education that would leave them trapped in low-paid and insecure jobs.

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