CARE and our partners help to ensure children, especially girls, can learn, succeed, and reach their full potential.
Education opens doors to better health, income, and opportunity. Yet millions of girls face barriers that prevent them from completing their education or attending school at all. In 2025, more than 120 million girls worldwide were not in school.
Many girls are pulled out of school to work, care for siblings, or marry early. Others face long travel distances, unsafe routes, school fees their families cannot afford, or classrooms that lack trained teachers and basic supplies.
Girls are also more likely than boys to drop out during adolescence, particularly during crises. Around the world, 4 in 10 teenage girls will not complete secondary school. Once a girl leaves school, her chances of returning are low, and the consequences can last for generations.
Investing in girls’ education strengthens families and communities. Girls who stay in school are more likely to earn higher incomes, live healthier lives, delay marriage, and support those around them.
That is why CARE prioritizes education that is safe, inclusive, and equal for all children and adolescents, especially girls.
How CARE supports girls’ education and skills
CARE works with communities, teachers, families, and governments to help girls enter school, stay in school, and succeed. Our programs focus on removing barriers while strengthening education systems, so learning can continue even during crises.
Our work focuses on:
Improving access to quality learning
CARE and our partners support teacher training, school materials, inclusive classrooms, and safe learning environments so girls can learn and thrive.
Providing second-chance and accelerated learning opportunities
For girls who have missed years of schooling due to conflict, displacement, or poverty, we offer accelerated programs that help them catch up and re-enter formal education.
Building life and leadership skills
CARE and our partners support girls to develop skills such as communication, problem-solving, and financial literacy. These skills strengthen confidence, well-being, and future work opportunities.
Working with families and communities
We engage parents, caregivers, and community leaders to reduce social and economic pressures that keep girls out of school.
Strengthening education systems
CARE partners with governments and local education authorities to improve planning, budgeting, teacher support, and policies that protect and prioritize girls’ education.
Girls’ education in practice
Strengthening Opportunities for Adolescent Resilience (SOAR) is CARE’s accelerated education program for children and young people who have missed schooling due to poverty, conflict, or displacement.
SOAR helps learners build basic literacy, numeracy, and life skills while strengthening confidence, leadership, and decision-making. This enables them to return to school, find work, start small businesses, and shape their own futures.
CARE aims to expand SOAR’s reach from 180,000 to 300,000 young people by 2030 through continued partnerships with Ministries of Education across multiple countries.
Learn more below.
