Too many children face challenges to access education

Learn about the many challenges children and young people around the world face when trying to access a quality education. GPE works with partners everywhere to strengthen education systems, improve learning, and break down barriers to access, so that millions of these children don't miss out on the opportunity to #ShapeTheFuture. Here are our most important results.

August 25, 2017 by GPE Secretariat

1 minute read

Fleeing conflict, missing school

In Nigeria, 15 year old Mohammed has been out of school since Boko Haram soldiers destroyed his village. Forced to flee with his family they now live in a settlement for displaced people. Mohammed begs and sells bundles of grass for meager earnings. No one knows when it will be safe to return.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

When disaster strikes

“I was reading my Nepali textbook at home when the earthquake happened… I didn’t know what was happening”. After the 2015 earthquake destroyed 20 of the 28 classrooms at her school in Nepal and damaged the rest, Samriddhi and her peers had to study in temporary learning centers.

Credit: GPE/Aya Kibesaki

Illness can end education

Hawa, 15, lost her mother to Ebola and now lives with her aunt and uncle, who are shunned by other villagers because they are Ebola survivors. With no money and food, continuing education is impossible. Hawa hasn’t been back in school since the Ebola crisis hit Liberia.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Forced to lend a helping hand

“If I went to school there wouldn’t be anybody to take care of our animals”, says Issac, 13, Sudan, who had to drop out of school to help out on his family’s farm since he was the only child left at home.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Leaving home to continue learning

Due to long distances, Mimbouaba, 14, and Marie, 16, have to live with a guardian away from their families to attend secondary school in Niger. Girls are most vulnerable when they live outside the home, one reason parents are reluctant for daughters to continue schooling.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Too hungry and tired to learn

Fifth grader Dzame rests at her desk during break time at Mwangala Primary School, Kenya, where the vast majority of children are from poor families and 70% must walk 7-10 km to school. Children arrive late and hungry as most only get food at night.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Language barriers to learning

These Fulani girls cannot read more than a few words in the textbook, because Niger’s primary school curriculum is in French, not their mother tongue. It is painful and frustrating for both students and teachers.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

When storms destroy your classroom

"It is not easy to have classes going on in a classroom in this condition, but we have no alternative,” says Makalondi Secondary School’s Director, Ali Seybou in Niger. "This damage happened during a storm in 2009, and we just don’t have the resources to fix it."

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

School stops when a baby is born

Denise, 17, Liberia, has been out of school since she fell pregnant 2 years ago. Denise says she misses school and would like to return one day but has no one to help her take care of her baby, and her father stopped paying her school fees when she got pregnant.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Nomadic interruptions

Schools in Niger face challenges retaining students from nomadic families. A child can start school and within a month or two their parents might need to move with the animals to another place, even in the middle of the school year.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Uneducated mothers mean uneducated daughters

Research shows that the more educated a mother is, the more likely she is to send her own children to school. But many girls may never have that chance if their mother didn't.

Credit: Canada in Afghanistan/Ahmad Tariq Azimi

For girls, no toilets means no school

Bilky comes from a stable household in Nigeria but has fallen behind in class. Because her school does not have separate toilets for girl, Bilky misses school when she is menstruating. Bilky still plans to finish school and wants to become a nurse.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Teachers and students speak different languages

Students in primary school teacher Hisorieva Mohira’s class speak Uzbek, but she only knows a few words. The curriculum is taught in the Tajik language and it's the teacher's responsibility to make sure all children are learning. Sometimes she needs a translator.

Credit: GPE/Carine Durand

When Mother Nature makes it hard to learn

In Sudan, teachers at the Nurul Islam Girls’ school are often forced to teach classes outdoors under the blazing sun because storms have blown down their classrooms made of local affordable materials. When school buildings fall into ruin it is difficult for children to learn.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Gender bias is just how it is

Every day, girls must bring water to school. “I realize that I should balance this job between boys and girls but if I dare call on a boy to fetch water, it will be like I am some sort of crazy person. That’s just how it is,” says a school director in Niger.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Overcrowded classrooms impact learning

This single classroom in Kenya has 108 students: 62 are in class one and 46 in class two. Because of the noise, teachers have to take turns so the students can hear them properly. This means children have to stay at school longer to finish the lessons.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Stopping education in order to survive

When his father lost his job they could no longer afford to send Yemah, 14, to school in Liberia. Today, Yemah has a job hauling sand, which feeds his family. Yemah hopes to go back to school one day - “I want to be a teacher so I can help children learn.”

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Violence against girls

School related gender-based violence affects up to 246 million children per year. Girls all over the world have to deal with threats of physical, verbal or sexual violence at school. It’s a result of cultural and gender norms of certain countries, as well as gender stereotypes and unequal power dynamics.

Credit: GPE/Carine Durand

No water, dry school

"Water is one of our biggest challenges,” says Rama Nyanje, Head Teacher at Mwangala Primary School in Mombasa County, Kenya. “Here, we rely on rain. When it rains we have water — for the toilets, for hand-washing, for drinking. When it is dry, the school is also dry."

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Discrimination against disabilities

“Some parents prefer to send them out to beg. Others hide them at home so others won’t know they have a child with a disability. Others don’t believe their children could actually live a better life," says Fatou Aw Sidibé, from Niger's Ministry of Education. "Ignorance is a big factor."

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Bad infrastructure, difficult learning environment

At Nigeria’s Miga Central Primary School there are not enough toilets and classrooms do not have doors. At a result, at night, some children (and animals) will defecate on the classroom floors. In the morning the children have to clean the classrooms, delaying learning.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Parents don't value education

“I never went to school,” says Selamatu, 30, mother and housewife. “They believed that if a girl goes to school she will become corrupted. She won't want to do all of the usual things girls and women are supposed to do in our culture.”

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

No eyeglasses means no learning

In Cambodia, a 2010 survey showed that in rural areas, children with visual impairments did not have eyeglasses. When children can't see the writing on the blackboard or can't read their textbooks, they struggle to learn.

Credit: GPE/Aya Kibesaki

Early marriage means no school

Meram, 15, went to school for several years in South Darfur, Sudan, but when she was old enough to help with the family farm she was pulled out. Her family can’t afford school fees or laborers. They also hope she will be married soon, if someone comes up with the dowry.

Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

Lack of resources for early learning

Without adequate funding, preschools in places like Nicaragua can be unconducive learning environments. Students don't have classroom space, educational materials, or appropriate facilities. Teachers must improvise and ask students to bring small stones or seeds from home to be used as learning tools to count or play.

Credit: GPE/Carolina Valenzuela

Focus areas: SDG 4

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