Basic Education

Description

Basic Education programs provide children in marginalized communities with safe and equitable access to quality education so they can develop the skills needed to join the global workforce and lead successful lives. These programs build pathways to independence for children, youth, and entire communities.

What does it buy?

Funds support programs that increase access to education, advance learning outcomes, improve early grade reading, and provide young people with relevant skills to gain employment.

Why is it important?

• In F.Y. 2019, Basic Education programs reached over 34.7 million learners in 53 countries, including more than 14.5 million children and youth living in countries affected by conflict or crisis.
• A dollar invested in an additional year of schooling, particularly for girls, generates earnings and health benefits of $10 in low-income countries and nearly $4 in lower-middle-income countries.
• Gender gaps in school enrollment and educational attainment persist at the secondary level in many countries. For adolescent girls, secondary education is essential for future opportunities to gain employment, and each additional year of education for girls is estimated to yield a 10% increase in future wages.
• Nine out of 10 children with disabilities are out of school, and 80% of all children with disabilities live in developing countries. They are often excluded from education and society due to physical, ideological, systemic, or communication barriers.
• The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) supported 22 million children in school in F.Y. 2019.
• Education Cannot Wait (ECW) provided access to education for more than 2.6 million conflict-affected children and youth in 2019, 48% of whom were girls. More than 1.8 million children received learning materials, and 29,272 teachers were trained—44% of whom were women.

Why should Americans care?

• Education is the bedrock of long-term economic growth, political stability, poverty reduction, and democracy.
• Increases in women’s education are responsible for more than half the reduction in under-five child mortality.
• Early childhood education helps build children’s brain architecture, the foundation upon which all later learning, behavior, and health depend.

COVID-19 Impacts

• Prior to COVID-19, 258 million children and youth were already out of school; more than 600 million learners were not achieving proficiency levels in reading and mathematics.
  • U.N. officials warn that an additional 24 million children could now drop out of school due to the pandemic, reversing a global trend that has seen a decrease of nearly 118 million out-of-school school children and youth since 2000.
• Global learning loss poses a generational threat for children deprived of access to school and distance learning during COVID-19. Research indicates that a three-month school closure could cost children over a year’s worth of learning. If left unaddressed, many children will never catch up.
• As schools reopen from pandemic-related closures, U.S. assistance should support efforts to reenroll out-of-school children and youth, especially those from marginalized communities. Many education systems will also need assistance designing and instituting remedial education programs to address school closure-related learning loss.

What more could be done?

• Additional investments could grow the scale and impact of education programs focused on children living through humanitarian emergencies.
  • More than 80 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide. For children living in countries affected by conflict and crisis, education is a lifesaving humanitarian intervention.
• Nearly 80% of children in low-income countries do not have access to early childhood education despite the high return on investment of pre-primary education. Additional resources could expand early childhood education programming, implement the Global Child Thrive Act (P.L. 116-283), and prepare children to succeed throughout their lifetime.
• More resources could help children with disabilities to enroll in school, make schools and learning materials more accessible for persons with disabilities, train teachers in special needs education, and promote inclusive education on national and international levels.
• As the 2019-2023 U.S. Government Strategy on International Basic Education moves forward, additional funding will help track progress, identify gaps in education service delivery, and expand programs for vulnerable populations, including displaced persons, out-of-school children, and those with disabilities.