Educating the world's children, youth, and adults helps to break generational cycles of illiteracy and poverty. Institute for the Handicapped and Backward People's offers two types of learning opportunities in its education projects: formal and non-formal. Formal education takes place in a school setting and provides a curriculum-based learning environment for children at all levels of instruction. Non-formal education is community-based and typically includes adult learning programs, life skills development, and other learning experiences that integrate topics such as HIV awareness and health education.

Nearly one-sixth of the world's population over the age of 15 cannot read or write. Though the number of children not attending primary school decreased from 115 million in 2002 to 101 million in 2007, the health and welfare of the children who are still not accessing learning opportunities are at greater risk. Many of these children face barriers to their education, such as conflict and emergencies, living in remote areas, the effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, extreme poverty, and discrimination.

Although these barriers have an impact on all children, girls are disproportionately affected. Of the children who do not attend school, 55 percent are girls, and only 37 percent of the world's primary and secondary schools have achieved gender parity. Schools have also lagged in improving student performance, thereby creating a backlog of children who repeat grades or are promoted through the system regardless of retained knowledge and skills.

Fast facts:

• About two-thirds of the 776 million adults (age 15 and older) worldwide who lack basic literacy skills are women.

• Only 37 percent of secondary schools worldwide have achieved gender parity.

• A total of 75 million primary school-age children, 55 percent of whom are girls, are not enrolled in school.

• Approximately 80 percent of the world's out-of-school children live in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

• In sub-Saharan Africa, 75 percent of secondary school-age children are not enrolled in school.

• Grade repetition rates are highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where the median level of repeaters is 15 percent.

• Governments in sub-Saharan Africa spend 2.4 percent of the world's public education resources, yet have 15 percent of the global school-age population. Source: UNESCO 2009 Education For All Global Monitoring Report

World Vision's response

The education of children, youth, and adults is at the heart of sustainable development. Consequently, Institute for the Handicapped and Backward People invests more in its education projects than any other sector, focusing on increasing access to quality learning opportunities for all children. The three core strategies of Institute for the Handicapped and Backward People's education sector are to:

1. Increase children's access to equitable and quality early childhood education and primary education, with special attention to girls and disabled.

2. Strengthen community involvement in education.

3. Foster an enabling environment through partnerships and advocacy with communities, governments, universities, donors, and non-governmental organizations.

Access to quality education is essential for building knowledge skills, especially for children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. World Vision takes a holistic approach by working within the child's whole environment and collaborating with appropriate organizations to promote effective educational practices for children to attain functional literacy and numeracy and develop essential life skills.