In 2025, UNESCO’s Guidelines on Multilingual Education reported that more than 250 million children and young people worldwide were not yet in school. This information was shared in 2024 during the G20 on Education held in Fortaleza (Brazil). It shows that not much progress has been made compared to the previous decade. In fact, there has only been a 1% decrease since 2013.

There are several reasons for this lack of progress. One big reason is that schools in low- and middle-income countries don’t have enough money, which stops many children from going to school. On top of this, the climate crises is getting worse. In 2024, UNICEF stated that 242 million children in 85 countries couldn’t go to school because of extreme weather events such as floods, wildfires and droughts.

To address this global education emergency, UNESCO is proposing a range of concrete actions. These include improving data collection systems — the focus of a recent conference in Paris — and promoting the inclusion of students with disabilities, such as through an Italian-funded project worth €3 million across eight countries in West Africa.

Access to education is a fundamental human right, and as UNESCO reminds us, it is also the key to dealing with many of the major challenges of today: poverty, marginalisation, environmental crises and inequality.