Over the last 12 months, a total of nearly one million young people have now spoken out on the learning crisis and how they think governments should be responding, through UNICEF’s global U-Report poll.
The second ever U-Report poll on learning, which ran from April to July 2023, gathered the views, concerns, and ideas of more than 450,000 young people.
It builds on the findings of the first U-Report poll on learning, with more than 440,000 participants, which was released in September 2022.
For the second year in a row, young people have again sounded the alarm on the learning crisis, which is the failure of education systems to ensure students learn the basics of reading and mathematics, on which all future learning is built. Latest estimates show that nearly two-thirds of ten-year-olds globally cannot read and understand a simple story.
Quality education is essential to help every child reach their full potential and shape a better future for themselves and their communities.
Children and youth play a pivotal role in demanding action from political and other leaders, to prevent the learning crisis from becoming a generational catastrophe.
This is what they said.
U-Reporters do not think their governments are doing enough to address the learning crisis.
This was highest in Latin America and the Caribbean where up to 45 per cent of respondents believe that their government is not doing enough, followed by 40 per cent of in the Middle East and North Africa, and 39 per cent in West and Central Africa. The response was also highest for non-binary U-Reporters, with over 50 per cent feeling like their governments are failing.