International Day of Education

In January, World Villages for Children welcomed 1,534 new children into their Sisters of Mary education programmes in Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, and Tanzania in the January 2025 new academic year.

These children come from some of the most deprived communities in the world, with no access to basic needs such as food, safe shelter, clean water, or education. Without electricity most have no access to the internet for learning and cannot acquire digital skills.

• 74% of low-income households are not connected to the internet ¹www.unicef.org/reports/state-of-worlds-children/2024
• In Latin America, 53% of people aged 0-25 years old have no access to internet at home ²United Nations Children’s Fund, Recovering Learning: are children and youth on track in skills development?, UNICEF, 2022. (www.unicef.org/lac/en/digital-skills-development)

The focus this International Day of Education on Friday 24 January is to reflect on “the power of education to equip individuals and communities to navigate, understand and influence technological advancement”³www.unesco.org/en/days/education. Navigating an accelerating technological landscape is only possible if we teach children the skills to use technology well and responsibly.

Digital exclusion threatens to exacerbate existing inequalities for the poorest children. Without the knowledge of, and skills to use new technologies, people living in the poorest countries are locked out of industries and employment that require digital skills.