UNICEF: More illiteracy in young people facing instability
Nearly 30 per cent of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in countries affected by conflict and disaster are illiterate, triple the global rate, the U.N. children’s agency said Wednesday.
UNICEF said in a new study that among these 59 million young people, girls are at the biggest disadvantage when it comes to getting an education.
It said four impoverished African countries with a long history of instability had the highest rates of young people unable to read or write — Niger with 76 per cent, Chad with 69 per cent, South Sudan with 68 per cent and Central African Republic with 64 per cent.
“These numbers are a stark reminder of the tragic impact that crises have on children’s education, their futures, and the stability and growth of their economies and societies,” said UNICEF’s new executive director, Henrietta Fore. “An uneducated child who grows into an illiterate youth in a country ripped apart by conflict or destroyed by disasters may not have much of a chance.”