Education

OOSCI branded workshop templates to be used by OOSCI national teams to develop presentations and process workshops. Four process workshop templates (Launch, Data and profiles, Barrier identification, and Policies and strategies) include a proposed workshop structure and content, which follow the agendas outlined in in the Operational Manual Annex…

OOSCI branded social media assets to be used by OOSCI national teams to publicize OOSCI-related events and disseminate national studies and related products. Available for download in image or PowerPoint format. Image files: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | X (formerly Twitter)

This tool is designed to produce a comprehensive overview of data sources available in the context of an out-of-school children study, assess the reliability of each, and identify important differences between them that may lead to different estimates of the number of out-of-school children and children at risk of dropout.

About the initiative, Children who miss out on school are among the most vulnerable and hard to reach in the world. They come from the poorest households and often have to work to help support their families. Some face discrimination as ethnic minorities. Others live with disabilities. Often they are girls. Half of the children who do not attend school live in…, Explore the OOSCI Operational Manual, Research and reports, UNICEF, UNESCO and ILO logos Children at the playground of their school in Niamey, the capital of Niger, Updated OOSCI Operational Manual, The fully updated cornerstone publication of the Global Out-of-School Children Initiative provides a how-to guide for conducting an OOSCI study and improving educational access and inclusion for all children Download the manual

The Global Out-of-School Children Initiative (OOSCI) Operational Manual is both a how-to guide for teams conducting an OOSCI study, and a resource guide for the broader education community concerned with equity and inclusion. For teams conducting an OOSCI study, it presents an innovative and systematic approach to determine the best policies and strategies to reduce exclusion in education. It provides guidance on the analysis of multiple data sources to calculate the number and profiles of children, adolescents and youth out of school and at risk of dropping out. The Manual also provides methodology to identify the supply, demand, quality and governance barriers these children face in accessing and completing their education. For the broader education community, the Manual can be used as a toolkit, with a wide range of valuable analysis approaches, practical tools and resources relating to: education data, specific profiles of out-of-school children, barriers to education, as well as policies and responses. The Manual provides valuable guidance for policy-makers, researchers or other education stakeholders who are developing documents, policies or advocacy related to out-of-school children and children at risk of dropping out. The Operational Manual was revised in 2023 to reflect recent advances in statistical methodology and policy analysis, as well as to address global agreements and issues (ex. SDG4, COVID). The 2023 Manual also reflects the findings of the 2018 Formative Evaluation, partner stakeholder consultations and a review of previous OOSCI studies.

Global publications, Latest regional reports, Latest country studies, Data, Didn’t find what you are looking for?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had potentially very serious consequences for many children whose education and development have been badly affected by repeated and/or protracted school closures. At its peak, nationwide school closures impacted more than 1.5 billion learners, or over 90 per cent of the world’s student population, from pre-primary to higher education. Schools for more than 168 million children globally have been completely closed for most of the last academic year, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The actual number is much greater if we include countries like India, for which exact numbers are not available due to partial sub-national re-opening of schools at different times of the year– but where 276 million children and youth were out of school for much of 2020. School closures have posed extraordinary challenges in terms of continuity of learning for many children, particularly those from marginalized groups. While COVID-19 has suddenly pushed huge extra numbers of children ‘out of school’, we must remember that the concept of out of- school children is not new. For millions of children, schooling has always been a dream they will never realize, solely because of who they are, where they are, where they were born, and the social and economic circumstances they find themselves in. This brief highlights how the response of education during the pandemic has revealed the possibilities, both digital and non-digital, to reduce the number of out-of-school children, including those who were already excluded before the COVID-19 crisis.

As schools closed around the world due to COVID-19, many governments acted quickly to try and ensure that students continued learning through a number of distance learning modalities. As the crisis developed, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed large inequalities in access to technology and has led to a global widening of gaps between those with opportunities to learn, in particular those who can access online lessons and resources, and those with few or even no opportunities to learn during school closures. This guidance provides key considerations and recommendations for government policy makers and education staff of national and international organizations involved in the education response during school closures, ensuring continuity of learning for all children and youth. It examines the opportunities and challenges of different distance learning modalities, with a focus on low- and no-tech modalities and approaches (such as the use of basic mobile phones) to reach the most disadvantaged and marginalized children.

We have produced a number of resources with detailed information outlining the educational situation both regionally and in a country specific context. Please browse through the country profiles and factsheets for relevant data and use the videos and infographics to share the stories and data., Videos, Barriers and Policy Solutions | #OutOfSchool #ChildrenofSyria are not giving up on learning #NoLostGeneration, 1 story at a time: Saja lost her leg but not her ambition #NoLostGeneration, 1 story at a time: Ahmed and his instrument of hope #NoLostGeneration, 1 story at a time: Voices from an Egyptian preschool Voices of a #NoLostGeneration from 6…, Infographics, Infographic with 3 children and a map highlighting sub-Saharan Africa and text in English to illustrate that 24 million children will never set foot in a classroom. English | French | Spanish Infographic with a schoolgirl with a backpack and text in English – 124 million children and adolescents are out of school. English | French | Spanish…

This fact sheet presents the latest UIS data on education available as of September 2019. Despite the extensive work being done to implement Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), which promises to provide universal primary and secondary education, evidence suggests that there has been little reduction in the global numbers of out-of-school children, adolescents and youth. In the decade that followed 2000 the numbers of out-of-school children declined at a steady rate, however, between 2010 and 2018 the number has stagnated and since 2015 has fallen by little more than 1 million per year. Some 59 million children of primary school age, 62 million adolescents and 138 million youth of upper secondary school age are currently still out of school resulting in a total figure of 259 million as of September 2018. https://www.allinschool.org/media/2866/file   Regional out-of-school figures Many countries have made great strides in reducing the number of children who do not attend school. They have achieved these successes by investing in interventions such as abolishing school fees, introducing relevant curricula, and providing scholarships to financially struggling families. Some national governments increased spending on education and invested in new classrooms, teacher recruitment and text books. In all age groups, sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest number of out-of-school children, it is also the region with the highest rate of exclusion for children who are denied the right to education. Youth of upper secondary school age have considerably higher numbers of out-of-school children than other ages groups across all regions. Gender disparities persist at the regional level Fifty-four per cent of the 376 million out-of-school children, adolescents and youth in 2000 were female, this figure has fallen to 50 per cent in 2018 but these global averages do not indicate the differences that can be found at national and regional levels. With the exception of Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and North America where boys are more likely to be out of school, all other regions puts girls at a disadvantage at primary school-age. The largest disparity within this age group as well as that of the lower secondary-age group can be seen in Central Asia. Latin America and the Caribbean are the closest to achieving gender parity within these two age groups. In the Upper secondary age group Eastern and South-Eastern Asia have the highest rate of disadvantaged males. https://www.allinschool.org/media/2871/file  

This report is volume 2 in UNICEF's series on education participation and dropout prevention. This report explains the contexts in which an Early Warning System (EWS) is a good option to prevent dropout. It also presents a five-step approach to develop an EWS and questions that should be addressed to maximise its impact.

Primary, lower secondary and upper secondary out-of-school rates are key thematic indicators of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” Precise estimates for these indicators are essential so as to ensure that initiatives seeking to increase enrolment are directed at the correct target groups, and in order to guarantee that investments in the education sector are effective and efficient.