Education is a great driver of social, economic and political progress. As people learn to read, count and reason critically, their prospects for health, income mobility, and holistic prosperity expand exponentially. But advances in education have not benefited everyone equally—and primary school enrollment rates tell only part of the regrettable story. Millions of children who start primary school are unable to finish and an even greater number miss out on secondary school.

Today, some 69 million adolescents—in low-income countries—are receiving no post-primary education. Globally, some 123 million youth between the age of 15 to 24 lack basic reading and writing skills, a majority of which (61%) are young women. In addition, as reported by the United Nations, roughly 57 million children of primary school age were out of school. Even as countries with the toughest challenges report to have made large strides, progress on primary school enrollment has slowed. The number of out-of- school children of primary age fell by only 3 million. As such, this trend continues to multiply on a downward slope.