Basic Education

There is a global learning crisis. More than half of the world’s school-aged children - 617 million - are not learning. Moreover, around 1 in 4 children and youth live in countries affected by crisis where their learning is interrupted. Save the Children’s goal is that all children attend good quality inclusive basic education and demonstrate relevant learning outcomes. To achieve this we work with schools, families and communities to ensure that children learn to read and write within the first three years of primary education in safe and happy learning spaces. This means having enough spaces for children to learn, and that those spaces are physically safe, support children’s well-being, promote active learning, and engage parents and communities. Additionally, we work with donors, governments, and other stakeholders to ensure policy and practice explicitly address barriers to learning, and factors driving exclusion from and within basic education. Save the Children defines basic education as the compulsory years of education in a particular country. In addition to this, Save the Children focuses on alternative, accelerated and remedial education, which may not be defined as ‘compulsory’ but which is critical in providing learning opportunities to the most deprived and marginalised children.