The progressive provision of secondary education

Secondary school

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 55 per cent of children of the appropriate age attend secondary school.

                                 Secondary school attendance is too low in many developing countries
                      Only 12 developing countries and territories have secondary school participation ratios of 90 per cent or more
                                            Secondary school net enrolment rate or net attendance rate (2003–2008)
 

In Africa, that number drops to less than 30 per cent. In this region, substantially more secondary-school-age children attend primary school than attend secondary school; only about 1 out of 3 children of secondary school age actually attends secondary school. Throughout the world, 1 out of 6 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.

                Only 55 per cent of children of secondary school age attend secondary school
                                                                                    In  Africa, less than 30 per cent attend
                                         Secondary school net enrolment rate or net attendance rate by region (2003–2008)

Source: UNICEF global databases, 2009, and UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Centre, March 2009.