What is UNICEF’s work in education.

All children have the right to go to school and learn, regardless of who they are, where they live or how much money their family has.

Quality learning requires a safe, friendly environment, qualified and motivated teachers, and instruction in languages students can understand. It also requires that learning outcomes be monitored and feed back into instruction.

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt education systems worldwide, digital learning should become an essential service. This means connecting every child and young person – some 3.5 billion by 2030 – to world-class digital solutions that offer personalized learning to leapfrog to a brighter future.

In 147 countries around the world, UNICEF works to provide learning opportunities that prepare children and adolescents with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive.     

Key areas of our work in education include:

• Access: Gender-equitable access to quality education from early childhood to adolescence, including for children with disabilities, marginalized children and those living in humanitarian and emergency settings.
• Learning and skills: Quality learning outcomes and skills development that come from strong education systems and innovative solutions.
• Emergencies and fragile contexts: Improved learning and protection for children in emergencies and on the move.

The lesson of the learning crisis is clear: Business as usual is not improving learning outcomes. A new, more radical approach that focuses on enhancing learning is long overdue and forms the basis of UNICEF’s global education strategy.   

To build a world in which every child learns, UNICEF will increasingly promote equity and inclusion. This includes making targeted efforts for children who are excluded on the basis of gender, disability, poverty, ethnicity and language, as well as those who are displaced or affected by emergencies. 

Education partnerships

As efforts to realize the Sustainable Development Goals accelerate, UNICEF is expanding education systems to capture the children most at risk. We forge partnerships with key development organizations, like the Global Partnership for Education, the Global Education Cluster and the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, to advance our strategic plan and create a world where every child learns.

In collaboration with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNICEF launched the Out-of-School Children Initiative (OOSCI) in 2012, aiming to make a substantial and sustainable reduction in the number of out-of-school children worldwide by providing partner Governments with actionable data. OOSCI identifies barriers that lead to exclusion and develops proposals for policies and programmes that put more children in school, on track to complete their education. Over 90 countries have joined the initiative since its launch, many of whom rely on OOSCI data to forge education sector plans.