The Asia-Pacific’s Education Crisis

The Asia-Pacific region has made considerable strides in increasing the accessibility of basic education, but challenges remain. About 16 million primary school-aged children and 34 million lower secondary-aged adolescents are out of school in the region, two-thirds of whom are in South Asia. Ensuring universal access to and completion of a full 12 years of basic education is still an unfilled goal, but Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on inclusive, quality education also spotlights another emergency regarding students who are already in school, including the quality of their education and learning outcomes.

An estimated nine out of 10 children and adolescents (241 million) in low-income countries in the Asia-Pacific, and three out of four children and adolescents in low middle-income countries, are enrolled in school but do not achieve basic literacy and numeracy skills……………