Last update: Nov. 2007

The progressive provision of secondary education

Relatively few children attend secondary school

Secondary education is essential for individual children to achieve their full potential, and for nations to advance social and economic development. Yet only 60 per cent of children of the appropriate age attend secondary school.

In sub-Saharan Africa, that number drops to only a quarter. In this region, substantially more secondary-school-age children attend primary school than attend secondary school; only one out of four children of secondary school age actually attends secondary school. Throughout the world, one out of six children of secondary school age is still in primary school.  The poorer a child’s household, the less likely the child is to attend secondary school.