Programs > Nicaragua > Education Facts

A Study of Education in Nicaragua

• The average Nicaraguan has 4.6 years of schooling and only 2.1 in extremely poor rural areas.
  
  
• 1 out of 10 Nicaraguans cannot read or write.
  
  
• Nearly 500,000 children, aged three to twelve, remain outside the formal education system.

• In Nicaragua, only 29% of children complete primary school.
  
  
• Many parents have to withdraw their children from school because of a lack of jobs and financial difficulties.  Parents find it hard to spend their low income on transportation, uniforms, school supplies and books when they have difficulty affording food. 

Unfortunately, many parents do not value school because they did not get an education as a child.  In this way, they pass on the cycle of poverty to their children.

Poverty often strikes hard at a child's ability to attend school because he is needed at the home.  Parents need the child to work, collect wood to cook, babysit, wash clothes and any number of other home duties.  Many times a child just doesn't have a chance when it comes to education.

• Increasing access to quality, primary education for all Nicaraguan children is vital to helping free them from the devastating cycle of poverty they were born into. 

Donate today to help a child break free from the cycle of poverty through education.