Students at a Fe y Alegría school in Kikwit, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: Fe y Alegría
On International Literacy Day, September 8, Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) reaffirms its commitment to helping poor and marginalized children and illiterate adults access their right to education.
CJI supports Jesuit-run formal and informal education projects that include schools serving poor and marginalized communities, learning centres, adult literacy classes, distance learning, skills workshops and vocational training.
One such project, by Fe y Alegría, is helping 1,500 boys and 1,763 girls from impoverished communities in Kikwit and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), attend school. The project also provides literacy programs and training for dropouts, as well as workshops for teachers, principals and parents. Fe y Alegría provides educational opportunities to marginalized populations in 19 countries. Fe y Alegría continues the Jesuit tradition of education.
The DRC introduced free primary education in 2019, enabling 4.5 million children to go to school. But big challenges remain – schools are overcrowded and there is a shortage of qualified teachers. Students who enroll in primary school don’t complete it because their families can’t afford the school fees. By 2023, one in five children of primary school age were out of school; more than 4 million children between the ages of 9 and 14 remain out of school.
Education is a human right, but many children, especially girls, continue to be denied this right because of poverty, displacement due to war and conflict, cultural issues, and other factors.
According to UNESCO, an estimated 250 million children between the ages of six and 18 were out of school in 2023. The new data shows that the number of out-of-school children has increased by 6 million since 2021, largely due to the mass exclusion of girls and young women from education in Afghanistan and “the continued stagnation of educational progress around the world,” according to UNESCO. About 128 million or 48% of those out of school are girls and young women. Close to 30% of all out-of-school children worldwide come from sub-Saharan Africa.
Learn more about CJI-supported projects that help promote the right to education, including how you can support them: Click this now
