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Unequal Access to Education in the Developing World In Honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day By Jason Eappen, US

Throughout history, education has been a necessity that allowed people to make significant advancements in life. Whether that be escaping intergenerational poverty or being able to move up the social-economic ladder, education has been the tool that has helped millions to billions of people all over the world. However, while millions of students everyday have access to a stable education/schooling system, many around the world don’t have access to education or are deprived of education. According to World Data, “Of the world’s 787 million children of primary school age 8% do not go to school. That’s 58.4 million children.” Out of the 58.4 million students, 19% of them are from Sub-Saharan Africa. These numbers are appalling. Many in our world today turn a blind eye to these matters, yet the world needs to focus on providing education to as many children. Women who do not have access to education are often reliant on their abusive husband to provide them food and housing. Comparatively, if women are educated then the women have the ability to leave and find their own job. Technology is another barrier for many students to receive education. During the pandemic, many countries have shut down causing schools to revert to online learning. However, many underdeveloped areas have been deprived of broadband and technology access. This has caused a pheltora of students to go years without education. These causes of unequal access to education have resulted in millions of students having to stay in the cycle of poverty for a multitude of generations.

Millions of women all over the world have been deprived of access to education due to governments preventing them or being unable to get access. According to UNESCO data, “if all females in developing countries completed primary education, child mortality would drop by a sixth, saving nearly one million lives annually.” The negative consequences of lack of education are apparent throughout a woman ’s livelihood and intergenerational. Young girls will become the future mothers of any society in any part of the world. For example, a child bride is more likely to face a multitude of psychological and health issues, and this results in the women ’s children to have a higher likelihood of being exposed to illiteracy and malnutrition. If every girl is able to gain access to an education, it becomes probable that they make education a priority for her children. This concept is known as the ripple effect which opens the floodgate of positive change in the community and country. Providing education is just a stepping stone for millions of women all over the world. Education is a crucial skill to the development of both the women’ s future aspirations and hard/soft skills; an educated woman has higher probability to have access to credit and manage her finances significantly better. A woman’ s leadership skills, decision-making skills, and other soft skills are directly correlated