SOUTH Africa has been named the worst country in the world in which to raise school-going children aged between five and 14.

A shocking 77 South African children die out of every 100 000 – the highest in the world.

This was revealed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) in a two-day conference on education organised by the Global Development Network in Lima, Peru, last week, which Weekend Post’s sister newspaper, the Daily Dispatch, attended.

In her presentation, Unicef’s education emergency officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ruth Custode, said violence was jeopardising the right to education for millions of children around the world.

Custode said South Africa had a high number of homicide incidents where schoolchildren were victims. She revealed that:

The 76.94 out of 100 000 schoolchildren who died in South Africa was far higher than in Congo and Somalia, which are at 12 and eight deaths per 100 000 respectively;

More South African schoolchildren died than anywhere else in the world, with 76.94 deaths per 100 000, compared with the UK which was at 8.92 and the US at 12.97. These figures included infanticide; and

South Africa was ranked second-highest for small arms possession, higher than the US and UK.

On violent crimes, South Africa was at the top.

She said it was important to build strong, well-educated communities.

“The private sector can play a critical role in achieving strong schools and communities by engaging with local authorities, organisations and society to raise awareness and identify good practices to prevent violence and ensure the right to education in their communities,” she said.

Violence was badly affecting education. “You will see that there are a lot of dropouts at school because of threats and fear.”

Many children faced restrictions in getting to school. Some had to take dangerous routes or were forcefully recruited into criminal activities.

She said strong school and community initiatives had to bring together schools, the authorities, youth, communities and the private sectors. “School and community-based intervention with local authority-based intervention are very important.”