What India has Achieved in the “Education for All” Goals set by the UNESCO
Children in India
India is the second most populated country in the world with a population of 1.21 billion, of which 39% are children! According to statistics released by Childline India Foundation, the population of children in the country stands at 472 million. 29% of whom are in the age group of 0-5 years. Children in the age group of 6-10 constitute 28% of the child population, while the age group 11-15 accounts for 27% and 16-18 make up the remaining 16%. Although there has been an increase of 181 million people in the country between 2001 and 2011, the number of children in the age group of 0-6 has gone down by 5.05 million during the same time period. The average decline in the number of male children is 2.06 million, while the decline in female children is estimated at 2.99 million. Children in the rural areas of the country account for 73% of the total child population, while urban children account for about 27%. Uttar Pradesh accounts for the highest child population in India, at 19.27%, followed by Bihar (10.55%), Maharashtra (8.15%), West Bengal (6.81%) and Madhya Pradesh (6.46%). These 5 states together account for about 52% of the child population in India.
Education
According to statistics mentioned in the UNESCO Global Education Report, India has reduced the number of out-of-school children by 90% between 2000 and 2015. This has helped the country achieve Universal Primary Education. According to the UNESCO report, in 2015, India was the only country in West and South Asia predicted to maintain an equal boys-to-girls ratio in the primary and secondary education systems. According to the “Education for All” goals set by the UNESCO in 2000, only one third of the countries were able to achieve the prescribed targets by 2015. In fact, 47% of the countries achieved pre-primary enrollment and another 8%, including India, were close to their target. Although India achieved the goal of Universal Primary Education during 2000-2015, when it comes to reducing the adult illiteracy rate by 50% during the same time, India was far behind at only 26%.
“India has made exemplary progress in helping children gain access to pre-primary and primary education since the global education goals were set in 2000. India’s example clearly shows that with sufficient political will and resources the world can step up to meet the new education targets by 2030.” said Global Education Monitoring Reporting Director, Aaron Benavot.
Secure Your Child's Future
While the government is taking necessary steps to make sure that everyone gets their fair share of education, the cost of education is going up day by day. With the cost of living also going up, the cost of ensuring the best education for your children can prove to be a financial burden for most middle class families of India. To add to that, if an unfortunate event affects the earning member of the family, things can become even tougher. Child insurance plans can be the perfect solution to making sure that your child gets the right financial support to complete their education even, regardless of what the family might be experiencing, say experts. The best part about child insurance plan is that if anything unfortunate were to happen to the parents, the child will get the full sum assured, while future premiums will be waived off without impacting all the other benefits of the policy.
Child insurance plans also give the parents leverage to save up enough for their child's future needs, without having to pay taxes for these savings, since these payments are exempted from tax under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. This way your child's education and future will be secure, while you will also be helping the country achieve the global education goals at a much better rate that the rest of the world.
