Access to education around the world

Data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics recently showed 617 million children and adolescents worldwide aren’t achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics – the equivalent to six out of 10 children aged between six and 15. These problems are not limited to early grades. At all levels of education, large numbers of learners are failing to acquire the skills they need to transition to work and realize opportunities in the information age.

Quality education prepares young people for economic and personal empowerment that positively impacts national economies. Connect To Learn provides a window to the world of information through mobile broadband connectivity and cloud services—for the benefit of students, teachers and communities. These ICT solutions remove traditional barriers of time and space, enabling schools to cross national and international boundaries and improve quality of education even for the most rural communities.

The global initiative Connect To Learn is tackling access to education head-on. Without quality education, young people have diminished opportunities and are more vulnerable to poor health, early and forced marriage and other forms of violence. Girls in particular have a much greater chance of improving their quality of life through education, with a World Bank study recently showing that every year in secondary school correlates with an 18 percent increase in a girl’s future earning power.

Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to address this by ensuring an inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Ericsson’s Connect to Learn program objectives are:

• Improve the quality of education and connect school children globally through ICT
• Increase access to global educational resources with a focus on digital skills
• Distribute quality content efficiently in areas with connectivity challenges
• Remove barriers to teaching by providing a cloud-based, remotely managed solution
• Leverage partnerships to advocate universal primary and secondary school education

The Connect to Learn initiative has reached over 180,000 students located across 25 countries to date.

The founding partners of Connect To Learn are at the center of an expanding coalition of public, private and nonprofit partners, contributors and collaborators who are rallying together in support of a quality, 21st century education for all.