Poverty and Education: A Two-Edged Sword

For many impoverished children around the world, poverty and education are inextricably linked. Education offers an avenue out of poverty, but poverty often presents obstinate barriers to obtaining an education. Below we unpack many of the effects of poverty on education:

It’s estimated 260 million children do not attend school.1 Many, if not all, of the reasons for this truancy stem from poverty. In 39 out of 99 countries, more than half of the poorest children have not completed primary school.2

Parents’ lack of education is a dominant predictor of whether one generation will pass cyclical poverty on to the next.3

There are 781 million illiterate adults, with illiteracy most prevalent in developing regions such as South Asia and Africa.4 If a parent can’t read, he or she can’t read warning labels or help children with their schoolwork. Uneducated themselves, parents may neglect to prioritize their children’s education. They may not recognize its importance, or they may simply be unable to afford it.

Education: Poverty may compel parents to keep children out of school for financial reasons.

Impoverished families frequently must choose between sending their children to school and providing basic necessities such as food. When families live below the poverty line, earning $1.90 a day or less, they struggle just to survive. Any extra expenses, however minimal and however they may improve their lives, are likely out of reach. Out of necessity, these families often focus on immediate needs, like food and shelter, rather than long-term goals such as breaking out of cyclical poverty through education.

Some impoverished children are kept from school because their parents are unable to afford the school supplies necessary to succeed. While others are kept from school because they have to go to work to help contribute to the family’s income. For many impoverished families, it’s the only way to obtain sufficient food and other necessities.5


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