Boys Face a Significant Risk of Not Completing Their Education, Warns UNESCO Report
UNESCO REF Media Centre | Outside Source
UNESCO’s global report on boys’ disengagement from education finds that while girls face greater barriers to entry, boys are increasingly falling behind in secondary and tertiary education in most regions of the world.
September 2022. A global report by UNESCO, Leave no child behind: global report on boys’ disengagement from education, warns that boys in many parts of the world face a significant risk of not completing their education. While girls continue to face greater barriers to entering school and make up the majority of out-of-school children at primary level, the report finds that boys face mounting challenges at later stages of education.
Global alignmentAlignement mondialThe global commitments this story advances. Open to see how.
- SDG4
SDG 4, Quality Education (primary)
ProvisionTarget 4.1: complete primary and secondary education; Target 4.5: eliminate gender disparities
RelevanceBoys’ completion of secondary and tertiary education
- SDG8
SDG 8, Decent Work
ProvisionTarget 8.7: end child labour in all its forms
RelevanceChild labour drives boys’ dropout
- SDG5
SDG 5, Gender Equality
ProvisionGender equality for all learners
RelevanceAddresses disadvantage wherever it falls
- ILO
ILO Convention 138
ProvisionMinimum age for admission to employment
RelevanceAlign working age with compulsory schooling
The report challenges a narrow reading of gender equality in education. Its message is that equity requires attention to disadvantage wherever it falls: to the girls still denied entry to the classroom, and to the boys who enter it but leave too soon. It draws on data from across the world to show where, and why, boys are falling behind.
Key findings
Principales conclusions
| Indicator | Finding |
|---|---|
| Tertiary enrolment worldwide | 88 men enrolled for every 100 women |
| Upper-secondary enrolment | Fewer boys than girls enrolled in 73 countries; the reverse in 48 |
| Child labour, 2020 | 160 million children, of whom 97 million were boys |
| Reading at age 10 | Boys read less well than girls in 57 countries with data |
| Minimum working age | In 31 per cent of 146 countries, below 15 or not clearly defined |
Young men are under-represented in higher education in every region except sub-Saharan Africa. The report identifies East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Arab States as regions where boys face some of the highest risks of dropping out.
Why boys disengage
Pourquoi les garçons décrochent
The report traces boys’ disengagement to poverty, child labour and other pressures that pull them away from learning. Child labour is a decisive factor: where boys are expected to work, school becomes secondary, grade repetition rises and dropout follows. Warning signs often appear as early as the end of primary school.
Recommendations
Recommandations
- Prevent boys from dropping out, acting on early warning signs at the end of primary school.
- Make learning environments safe and inclusive.
- Invest in better data and evidence on disengagement.
- Build and finance equitable education systems.
- Promote integrated, coordinated approaches that improve education for all learners.
- Align the minimum working age with the end of compulsory education.
Why it matters for Nigeria
Les enjeux pour le Nigéria
For Nigeria, the report’s findings resonate strongly. The country has an estimated 20 million out-of-school children and youth, and according to the National Bureau of Statistics, 24.7 million children aged 5 to 17 were in child labour in 2022. The report’s call to align the minimum working age with compulsory schooling speaks directly to the link between child labour and school dropout that UNESCO REF has highlighted in its own advocacy.
ENDS
Notes to editorsNotes aux rédactions
About this article. This article summarises a report published by UNESCO. The findings are UNESCO’s own.
About UNESCO REF. The Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO (UNESCO REF) works to strengthen human and institutional capacity across Nigeria and Africa through education, research and professional development, in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Media enquiries. UNESCO REF Media Centre, [email protected]