The right to education

Abstract

Today, about 1.4 billion people are living in extreme poverty. Some 774 million people, two-thirds of whom are women, are illiterate, unable to read a book or sign their own names (Throughout this book, the education statistics cited come from the UNESCO-UIS database, where no date is given they refer to the latest available statistics in 2013). Millions more in every country, rich and poor, are functionally illiterate. The right to education of over 57 million children is being denied: they are not in school, and most have never been inside a classroom. Each year millions of children leave school early, lacking the knowledge and skills they need to participate effectively in modern society. Millions of innocent adults and children who have not been empowered by education are today the victims of conflict and tyranny, exploitation and violence, malnutrition, preventable diseases, inadequate sanitation and polluted water supplies.