For children in developing countries, education is highly valued. Education provides children opportunities to escape poverty, gain a voice in the community, and experience a better quality of life. But worldwide, 115 million primary school-age children are unable to attend school.
Many poor parents cannot pay school fees or buy supplies. Communities often lack suitable school buildings and qualified teachers. And families may need their children’s help in the fields or family business just to survive. Without an education, a child has little hope of breaking free from poverty and reaching his or her full potential.
Fast Facts
- One -third of all children do not complete five years of schooling — the minimum needed for basic literacy skills.
- Two-thirds of the world’s 875 million illiterate adults are women.
- Education reduces poverty: studies show that each year of schooling increases a person’s earnings by a worldwide average of about 10 percent.
World Vision’s Response
World Vision’s goal is to ensure that all children receive access to basic education that will help them become fulfilled, productive members of their communities.
By sponsoring a child, you can help bring the gift of education to your sponsored child and other children in their community.
Read stories below about what education means to sponsored children around the world.
In the evening, after attending to her chores, 11-year-old Tarikayehu sits down by the light of an oil lamp to study and do her school assignments. Despite the challenges of being a student in rural Ethiopia, Tarikayehu places great value on her education. " Education is a very important thing in my life. I can help myself and be able to reach out for others, especially my parents, only when I am educated... It is education that makes me a full person," she says.
"I want life to smile at me; therefore my goal is to learn more everyday." Katherine, 12 years old, Honduras.
Mathabo doing homework next to her mother who is chronically ill. Despite of the burden of caring for her ill mother, Mathabo, a 13 year-old sponsored child in Southern Africa, believes that education is the key to her future. She has strong belief that through education, she will be able to speak English and have a good opportunity of securing a decent job.
The journey to school is long and dangerous in rural Albania. Every morning and afternoon, Elvira and her siblings have to cross the river via a very dangerous wooden bridge with no railing. The bridge is often destroyed by the water currents in the winter and the children have to cross the river on foot. During the winter, the road is prone to flooding and landslides are not uncommon. However, Elvira and her siblings faithfully attend school even on those days. "I don't want to fall behind in my studies," says Elvira, "I like going to school because I have the opportunity to learn new things and gain knowledge about the outside world. Education means a better future for me."
In India, Godavari and her siblings were orphaned after both their parents died of AIDS related illness. They moved to live with their elderly grandparents, who struggled to keep up with the children's educational needs. A buffalo provided by World Vision helps the family earn an additional income from the sold milk. The buffalo means that Godavari can continue attending school.
16 year-old Margaret is a Zambian girl whose ambition is to achieve her goals regardless of what comes her way; she believes that one day, her dreams shall come to a reality. “My parents and some people in the community have been discouraging me, by asking me to stop school because it is a trend here that when a girl child gets to grade nine, they are married off because even if they made it to grade 10, there would be no money to send them to high schools which are expensive and far away,” Margaret says sadly. “I have been wondering what to do after writing my grade nine this year,” she says, “I love education because it is key for one’s success whether in business, farming or any other.”
The construction of the Nalusanga High School by World Vision has rekindled Margaret’s lost hope. “It is a prayer answered; God is great. By construction this high school, World Vision doesn’t know how I feel because it greatly touches my heart; I thought my education would end in grade nine and get married. I have seen many brilliant school girls stop school after qualifying for grade 10, because their parents cannot afford to pay transport and school fees because they are too high. This time we’ll not need to travel because the new high school is within a walk-able distance." Margaret wants to become a nurse because she feels that many people are dying because there is not enough medical staff in hospitals and clinics in Zambia.
