Despite all efforts during the past 15 years and even though access to education expanded considerably between 2000 and 2012. Today, there are still 58 million children of primary school age out-of-school worldwide.

As provided in the report, Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All: Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children produced by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and UNICEF, the region with the highest number of out-of-school children of primary school age live in West and Central Africa (31% of all girls and 23% of all boys). In Eastern and Southern Africa 11 million children of primary school age are out of school.

Out-of-school rates were lowest but still alarming in South Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, East Asia and the Pacific, Western Europe, North America and Australasia. Please see Figure E2 for Percentages of out-of-school children of primary school age and Figure E3 for Selected countries with more than 0.5 million out-of-school children of primary school age.

Primary education is an essential step for a child’s full development. The 58M challenge is a worldwide responsibility, especially because education is the main resource for development, for making dreams come true, for being hopeful and generating a better future.

Providing education to all children of the world will grant communities and nations the knowledge and opinion needed to have a say in important Global issues such as racism, inequality, poverty and illness.

All nations should have an accessible and reliable education system for their people. Education is the main ingredient towards understanding today’s fast paced world and to forming responsible Global Citizens.

Are you ready to take action?

In a committed effort to raise awareness of the millions of people that still don’t have access to education around the world, Educate Magis and Entreculturas, are inviting teachers of all Jesuit and Ignatian schools, as Global Citizens, to take action and join the fight to defend the right to education.

We all are part of a Global Network whose commitment is to be men and women for and with others. This is our opportunity to work together as Global Citizens of this beautiful planet and help the 58M to be heard.

How can you participate?

The Red Chair Project is a social initiative created by two schools in Spain. It started in 2012. Its aim was to raise awareness about the Right to Education. Since then it has been implemented, thanks to Entreculturas’ efforts, in many schools in Spain and some schools in other countries.

Today, each Jesuit and Ignatian school around the world can be part of The Global Red Chair Project. This project aims to continue raising awareness around the world of the 58M reality, and to teach students of their responsibility as Global Citizens to act by doing something that makes a difference in the world.

How to join this initiative?

We have put together a Red Chair Project Resources page. Here you can find creative exercises, games and activities for students of different age groups from 5 to 18 years.  These resources aim to raise awareness and encourage students to take action in the fight for a right to education for all! You can choose any of the resources and adapt them to your own context or create your own. The sky is the limit!

Get together with your colleagues and brainstorm ideas that work for your school and community and if you need more assistance the Educate Magis team is here to help! Just follow this conversation to ask any questions or share your ideas for your local Red Chair Project.