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More than 10 million children in the Arab world don’t attend school, according to a report on the status of women and children produced by Unicef and the Arab League. Although many Arab countries have established a basis for a child's right to education, they still fall short of the UN's goal of universal primary education, especially for girls. The report said many of the Arab League's 22 member states enrolled only a small percentage of school age children between 1997 and 2000 at the primary level. The figures for secondary school enrolment showed barely 50 percent of eligible children signed up in the 2000-2001 academic year in some countries. The report also noted that preschool education did not appear to be a priority even in richer states like Saudi Arabia and Oman, which along with Djibouti had intakes of only 6 percent. Figures in other countries hovered at around 16 percent. |