SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 29 January, 2018 - DHL, the world's leading logistics company, recently commissioned a report looking into out of school children in Asia, and the effect this has had on those economies. A Way Back to School shows Asia could be losing nearly US$34 billion per year in GDP due to children dropping out of school. The report supports the company's GoTeach program which delivers a range of educational and vocational opportunities to young people in disadvantaged communities in seven Asia Pacific countries.
According to the report, some of Asia's fastest-growing economies may struggle to reach their full potential due to high rates of out-of-school children, with some countries deprived of up to 2 percent of their GDP as a result. Out-of-school rates in all seven countries here -- Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam -- rose exponentially as children grew older, with at least one in every three children dropping out of school by upper secondary-age.
"While everyone recognises the social importance of keeping children in school, the economic costs of failing to do so may come as a shock to many," said Christof Ehrhart, Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications and Responsibility, Deutsche Post DHL Group. "The Asia Pacific region cannot rely on its rapid economic growth to automatically improve social outcomes like school retention. Although India's economy is growing at around 7.0 per cent per annum,[1] nearly 20 per cent of its children exit school before secondary level, while Indonesia -- where economic growth has helped halve poverty levels since 1999[2] -- still sees 1 in 5 students drop out of school by lower secondary age.
If Asia's public and private sectors do not take concerted action to reduce the rates of out-of-school children, the region's most promising economies may soon face a significant talent shortage that could limit the speed of their future growth and development."
"History has proven that countries can only sustain their economic growth when it translates into greater education and innovation amongst the labor force," said Dr. Pumsaran Tongliemnak, Policy Analyst, Ministry of Education Thailand, who authored the report. "Countries which fail to adequately tackle the issue of out-of-school children will either hit a ceiling to their GDP growth, or experience greater instability due to an increasing divide between out-of-school children and those who stay in school."
-rmc//