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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development makes the promise to leave no one behind. While improving educational opportunities for girls globally continues to be of paramount importance to achieve gender equality in and through education, this focus on achieving gender parity and equality must not ignore boys. No less than 132 million boys of primary and secondary school age are out of school.

To leave no child behind, UNESCO developed the first global report of this scope on boys’ disengagement from education, bringing together qualitative and quantitative evidence from over 140 countries. As this report shows, addressing boys’ disengagement from and disadvantage in education is not a zero-sum game. Supporting boys does not mean that girls lose out and vice versa. Addressing boys’ disengagement from and disadvantage in education not only benefits boys’ learning, employment opportunities, income and well-being, but it also benefits girls and the broader society.