A GOOD EDUCATION
FOR EVERY CHILD

The chance to learn can change a child’s life

Every child has the right to an education – whatever their background, gender or ethnicity. UNICEF wants to see a world where all children enjoy this right.

Yet every day, more than 61 million children don’t attend their primary schools. Without the opportunity to learn, children can’t develop to their full potential. They’re more likely to be trapped in cycles of poverty, poor health and forced labour – often in dangerous environments.

UNICEF supports innovative programmes that give the most vulnerable children the chance to learn. We work with governments, communities and parents to enable every child to access a quality education.

Every year we help millions of children get an education – for example by providing textbooks and classroom kits, or by setting up child-friendly spaces where children can keep learning, even during a conflict or natural disaster.

During the coronavirus pandemic, you’re there for children…

While schools are closed amidst the current coronavirus outbreak in communities across Cambodia, UNICEF is helping to ensure all children are able to continue learning.

Teachers like Ms Reap, who have been teaching children using the multilingual program for several years, have had to adapt to distance teaching for the first time. Ms Reap said, “It has been a massive challenge to reach all students, even when I spend three evenings each week to visit them.”

Together, we have been able to help support teachers like Ms Reap. With teaching programmes broadcast through radio, children in even the most remote areas are still able to continue their education.

One of Ms Reap’s students, is very happy that she could learn in her native Tumpoun language whilst at home with support from her teacher. “I love the songs in the radio programmes the most, because they use rhyme in our language to teach us about the national Khmer language,” she explained.

Breaking down barriers to education

Cousins Nabila and Gisma started attending classes at a UNICEF-supported learning centre in Khartoum, Sudan in 2016. For both girls it was their first experience of going to school. “Most of the students have never received education before, and they have a huge desire to learn,” says Egbal, a volunteer teacher at the centre.

The centre is one of over 2,500 across Sudan, designed for children who’ve never attended school, who’ve dropped out of school or who are so far behind they can’t return to mainstream education without first catching up on missed years of learning.

In Sudan and all over the world, we work with governments and communities to remove the barriers which stop children attending school, and to make sure all schools are child-centred, inclusive, safe and healthy places – in other words, child-friendly!