Give a Kid a Backpack Foundation

Description

One particular target of our efforts is to deliver backpacks to poor rural school age children living in poverty in underveloped countries. Even though these children theoretically have access to public schools, they can't always go. They are required to pay a registration and supply their own uniforms and school supplies in order to be allowed to attend these schools. Many children can't afford this and as a result, never receive an education.

As schools are forced to charge fees, fewer people are able to send their children and education is mainly available only to the better-off.

• 115 million children around the world aren't in school. Poor kids often can't go to school because they need to work to help their families survive.
• Two-thirds of the kids who don't go to school are girls.
• More than 70% of the out-of-school children are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
• Of those who go to school, one-third drop out before they learn to read, write and count.
• Over 15% of children in developing countries don't complete a course of primary education. In Sub-Saharan Africa, less than 60% of children complete a course of primary education.
• Nearly 1 billion adults in the world are illiterate. Women account for 2/3 of all illiterate adults.
• Enrolment in tertiary education (enrolling in a university) in poor countries was less than 10% in 1997, compared to 57% in rich countries.
• Rich countries some spend $4,000 on a student each year, while developing countries spend $40.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, at least 40 million children are out of school--22 million of them girls.
• In South Asia, 36 million of children are out of school--22 million of them girls.
• In East Asia and the Pacific, there are 12 million children out of school--6 million of them girls.
• In the Arab States, there are 7.4 million children out of school--4.5 million of them girls.
• In Latin America, there are 2.5 million children out of school--1.2 million of them girls.

Benefits of Education

• Educated mothers are 50% more likely to immunize their children than mothers with no schooling. (Net Aid)
• It is well known that the acquisition of literacy and numeracy, especially by women, has an impact upon fertility. (EFA Global Monitoring Report)
• More recently, it has become clear that the cognitive skills required to make informed choices about HIV/AIDS risk and behavior are strongly related to levels of education and literacy. (EFA Global Monitoring Report)