Around the world, education is improving. Compared with a decade ago, 42 million more children are in school and millions more are completing both primary and secondary school. Tertiary education numbers are also up.
This is a huge achievement, but these trends conceal the fact that hundreds of millions of children fall outside this rosy picture, denied the right to a quality, basic education.
It still shocks me that every day 58 million children don't go to school at all and 40 percent of them will never enter a classroom. On top of that figure, 250 million children who attend school either don’t make it to fourth-grade or are unable to read or perform basic calculations, even after four years of school.
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About the author
Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard is the former prime minister of Australia and current chair of the Board of Directors at the Global Partnership for Education and distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution. Both organizations are headquartered in Washington, D.C.
