Economic and political conditions often make getting an education impossible for children around the world - and especially for girls. Families may require their sons and daughters to work so that they have enough money to survive or even sell their children for labor, sex, or adoption because money is too tight. In other cases, obligatory school fees may prove prohibitive. Discrimination, attacks on secular schools, displacement as a result of war or persecution, and other conditions are often to blame.

In short, despite the fact that a basic education has been recognized as every child's right ... far too many children are not only left behind but left veritably in the dark.