Education
Millions of school-age children will never see the inside of a classroom. Millions more find themselves in overcrowded classrooms with untrained and underpaid teachers and no books or equipment.
Around 77 million children do not go to school. Millions more drop out of primary school before they get a basic education.
We make sure children growing up in the toughest circumstances get a decent education - in particular, children facing conflict, poverty and discrimination.
Education in emergencies
Around 40 million children growing up in countries affected by conflict do not go to school. That means that more than half the world's children miss out on the benefits of an education. We are campaigning to Rewrite the Future for children in conflict-affected countries.
We are calling for education to become a key part of all emergency responses (along with shelter, food, healthcare, etc). We support local organisations to set up schools and pre-school centres in refugee camps. And we help build the education systems of the future. Our toolkit gives guidance on starting and managing an emergency education programme.
Education that includes all children
Some groups of children are more at risk of missing out on school than others, for example, children from minority ethnic groups. Nguyen Thi Bich from Save the Children's Vietnam programme tells us that language barriers are a big issue for children from minority ethnic groups. There are 53 ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, totalling more that ten million people.
Disabled children are also in danger of missing out on education. We have pioneered inclusive approaches to education (PDF 50KB) that helped change world opinion. In many countries, disabled children attended school for the first time as a result of our programmes.
A route out of poverty
Children from the poorest families are most likely to miss out on school. They may have to work to help support their families.
Yunnan, one of China's poorest provinces, is home to many minority ethnic communities. Our education programme in Yunnan has been very successful in improving local schools and is being replicated in other districts and provinces in China.
An education worth having
Too often, schools emphasise learning by rote and memorising facts rather than enhancing a child's ability to learn. We have produced a practical guide to evaluating the quality of children's education called Quality Counts (PDF 48KB).
Children we work with often say that the experience of being beaten - and their fear of it happening again - sours their experience of school and puts them off going. We have successfully campaigned against corporal punishment in schools in a number of countries.
Find out more about our education work in countries around the world.
