LACK OF EDUCATION
What is the Size of this Problem?
A 2013/2014 UNESCO report states that 250 million children are not learning basic literacy and numeracy skills. Currently, about 774 million adults (15 years and older) cannot read or write and about 2/3 of them are women. Approximately 2/3 of the world’s illiterate adults are women, a percentage that has stayed relatively constant over the past 20 years. This figure illustrates the continual gender inequality that has persisted over the past 20 years and the need to emphasize education for women.
Impact of Problem
Children who do not develop reading skills during grade school are put on a lifetime trajectory of limited educational progress which coincides with limited economic opportunities. Moreover, the educational achievement of a country’s population is directly correlated with its economic growth rate. Therefore, low literacy rates perpetuates the poverty cycle.
Literacy is a fundamental right for women which is not being given to about 500 million women. Women’s literacy is a valuable component of women’s empowerment. Increasing women’s literacy empowers women and also positively effects their children as the children of a literate mother are more likely to complete their education.
India is a country with a dire need for increased access to basic education as well as increased literacy for it's female population. In India, 25% of school age children have dropped out of school, only 2% of schools in India offer complete school education (grade 1 through grade 12), and out of every 100 children, only 32 finish their school education at an appropriate age. Indian women are often treated as second class citizens compared to their male counterparts as they are educated less, have lower literacy rates, and are often subjected to arranged marriages as 42% of married women in India were married as children. Accordingly, the need for education for India’s children living in poverty is large and the need for education for Indian female children living in poverty is even greater.
To tackle this problem head-on, REFORM THROUGH EDUCATION manages many campaigns. We educate youth on human rights in 20 countries, partner with some of the best educators in the world and have also sponsored an all girls school in Anupshahar, a village in northern rural India, where we currently have 1500 girls enrolled. Without this school, most of the girls would not only not have attended school but would be married at the average age of 11, living illiterate and impoverished lives.
This school needs to open it's doors to thousands more girls, we need your help.