In News:

The Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report 2025, published by UNESCO, reveals an alarming surge in the global out-of-school population, now estimated at 272 million—an increase of over 21 million from previous estimates. This setback highlights that by 2025, countries will collectively fall short of their national education targets by 75 million children.

About the GEM Report

• An annual UNESCO publication, originally launched as the Education for All Global Monitoring Report in 2002 and renamed in 2016.
• Provides an evidence-based global assessment of education progress, challenges, and trends.
• Aims to guide policy decisions and strengthen efforts toward achieving SDG 4 (Quality Education).

Key Findings

• The out-of-school population includes:
  • 78 million primary school-age children (11%)
  • 64 million lower secondary adolescents (15%)
  • 130 million upper secondary youth (31%)
• The rise of 21 million in out-of-school children since the last estimate is attributed to:
  1. New enrolment and attendance data (+8 million): Includes factors like the 2021 ban on girls' education in Afghanistan, which alone accounts for 1.4 million girls.
  2. Updated UN population projections (+13 million): The 2024 World Population Prospects estimate a 49 million increase in the global school-age population (6–17 years) by 2025.
• The report warns that conflict zones severely hamper data collection, likely underestimating the true number of out-of-school children.

Challenges with Data and Methodology

• The GEM model draws from administrative data, surveys, and census records to estimate schooling trends.
• However, during emergencies and crises, such models may fail to capture sudden drops in attendance, leading to an underreporting of affected populations.
• Conflict-ridden regions face poor data reliability, impacting planning and resource allocation.

Off-Track from Global Targets

• By 2025, countries will be off-track by:
  • 4 percentage points for primary and lower secondary levels
  • 6 percentage points for upper secondary level
• Even if national targets are met, the world will still have 107 million children out of school by 2030. The GEM report projects a reduction of 165 million if all targets are achieved—but current trajectories suggest this is unlikely.