The total number of out-of-school children to youths across the globe is nearly 264 million where out-of-school population includes children who were in school but have since dropped out, who were never in school but are expected to enter at a later period and also those who were never in school and are not expected to enroll ever. According to the draft of Bangladesh Education Statistics 2016, over 2.87 crore students are currently studying in primary and secondary schools. Last year, the net enrolment rate at primary level stood at 97.96 percent and 73.10 at secondary level. The global number of total out-of-school population has dropped from over 374 million in 2000 to 264 million now, the UNESCO report notes, adding that the out-of-school rate has not budged since 2008 at the primary level, since 2012 at the lower secondary level and since 2013 at the upper secondary level.
Globally nearly 60 million people could escape poverty if all adults had just two more years of schooling and if all adults completed secondary education, 420 million people could be lifted out of poverty. Education as a tool to escape poverty has not been getting priority in policy formulation in the country where poverty-grief and out-of-school population is same.
If the government fails to attain goal of educating all by this decade, the poverty eradication stride will be stagnant as education has direct and indirect impacts on both economic growth and poverty. Education provides skills that boost employment opportunities and income while helping to protect people from socio-economic vulnerabilities.
A more equitable expansion of education is likely to reduce inequality, lifting the poorest from the bottom of the ladder. The government should allocate more budget and resource to education and poverty eradication at now to become middle-income country and to attain sustainable development goals.
