Quality Education is our main guarantee for sustainable development since it creates innovative solutions for today’s biggest problems like starvation, health, social justice, and social and economic freedom of all people. It enables socioeconomic mobility upward and is a key to escaping poverty. Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. This goal ensures that all girls and boys complete free primary and secondary schooling by 2030. It also aims to provide equal access to affordable technical, and vocational training, eliminate gender and wealth disparities and achieve universal access to quality higher education.

Studies show that, among those 59 million children, 1 in 5 of them had dropped out and recent trends suggest that 2 in 5 out-of-school children will never set foot in a classroom for some or other reasons. The Sustainable Development Goals clearly recognize that this gap must be filled, even as the international community more clearly addresses the challenges of quality and equity in education. Education is the basic tool for removing poverty and inequality from society. Over the past decade, major progress was made towards increasing access to education and school enrollment rates at all levels, particularly for girls. Nevertheless, about 260 million children were still out of school in 2018 — nearly one-fifth of the global population in that age group and more than half of all children and adolescents worldwide are not meeting minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe and never before have so many children been out of school at the same time, disrupting learning and depending on lives, especially the most vulnerable and depreciated class. The global pandemic has far-reaching consequences that may jeopardize hard-won gains made in improving global education. A majority of countries announced the temporary closure of schools, impacting more than 91 percent of students worldwide. By April 2020, close to 1.6 billion children and youth were out of school. And nearly 369 million children who depend on school for meals more than education needed to look to other sources for daily nutrition.

The More Affected Region:

As a result of poverty, starvation, and marginalization, more than 72 million children around the world remain unschooled. Sub-Saharan Africa faces the biggest challenges in providing schools with basic resources. The situation is extreme at the primary and lower secondary levels.  Central and Eastern Asia, as well as the Pacific, are also severely affected by this problem with more than 27 million uneducated children. In Sub -Sahara Africa less than one-half of schools have access to drinking water, electricity, computers, and the Internet. Inequalities will also worsen unless the digital divide – the gap between under-connected and highly digitalized countries – is not addressed.

Essentially this concerns Sub-Saharan Africa where more than half of children receive an education for less than 4 years which is called educational poverty. In certain countries, such as Somalia and Burkina Faso, more than 50% of children receive an education for a period of fewer than 2 years which is called extreme educational poverty, these regions must also solve continuing problems of educational poverty.

The lack of schooling and educational poverty have negative effects on the population and country.  The children leave school without having acquired the basics, which greatly affects the social and economic development of these countries.

Which Group has more Difficulty in access to Education:

Women and girls are one of those groups who have the least access to education. They make up more than 54% of the non-schooled population in the world. About one-third of countries in developing regions have not achieved gender parity in primary education. These disadvantages in education also translate into a lack of access to skills and limited opportunities in the labor market for young women.

This problem is seen most frequently in the Arab States, in central Asia, and in Southern and Western Asia and is principally explained by the cultural and traditional privileged treatment given to males. Girls are destined to work in the family home, whereas boys are entitled to receive an education. The height of disparity!

In sub-Saharan Africa, over 12 million girls are at risk of never receiving an education. In Yemen, more than 80% of girls will never have the opportunity to go to school. Even more alarming, certain countries such as Afghanistan or Somalia make no effort to reduce the gap between girls and boys with regard to education.

Although many developing countries may pat themselves on dramatically reducing inequality between girls and boys in education, a lot of effort is still needed in order to achieve universal primary education.

What can I Do:

This question should always be given a place in our thoughts What can I do? Ask our governments to place education as a priority in both policy and practice. Lobby our governments to make firm commitments to provide free primary school education to all, including vulnerable or marginalized groups, and make sure that plans should be implemented well.

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Stories are the best way to come closer to children and Dr Monica Khanna is doing fabulous work in that sense. It’s always mesmerizing to read the stories she creates. Not only the kids, but even parents enjoy every bit of them.

Little Chimpu’s adventure through the jungle wherein she discovers the truth about ferocious Sher Dadu, is a beautiful story about finding friends in the most unlikely of people.

This picture book is such a delight to read. The book is beautifully illustrated with a good story line and strong vocabulary. I liked in this book is using the relations like ‘chachu’, ‘mamu’ and others which the kids are missing due to nuclear family... I must say the author has touched the chord of the heart with the sweet language used in the book..It’s a must read book for all the young kids.

A Wormy Tale is a delightful picture story book that offers the curious mind of a child the perfect blend of fun and relatable characters, vibrant illustrations and significant learnings that seep in with simplicity and are finally sealed with the array of activities it offers. This is a book with a wholesome experience, so read on!

This lovely book teaches you to think smart and not get carried away by appearances. Best wishes to Dr Monica Khanna for her amazing creation.

Dr. Monica Khanna has come out with one more offering for you all. Such a wonderful and endearing story! It takes us to that time of our lives when we believed that everything around us is black or white. Childhood is so much fun and so full of innocence. The characters in this story are so believable, with human-like qualities. Kind, gentle, witty, intelligent, sharp, sly and so on... Each young reader will enjoy reading this story because it is so relatable. You can find people with such qualities all around you.

The well-crafted, colourful illustrations of the enthusiastic musicians among insects – grasshoppers, katydids and hawkmoths, the frogs with their crafty expressions and the thoughtful busy bee, make it a lively read. Woven into the story are the fun facts of each insect, making it educative and inspiring too, thus inculcating the love of nature to early readers.

Katie Bagli’s new book promises to bring back the concert we have missed ever since the pandemic hit us. She beautifully weaves science and fiction, urging her young readers to learn about the techniques used by the wetland musicians - the grasshoppers, the katydids and the hawkmoths. Then there are the subtle values and undertones that make for great learning for children the vacation in nature, the loving aunt, the dutiful bee, or even the love for the garden insects.

Katie Bagli’s stories are filled with wild imagination yet grounded in facts.She brings to life the mundane and often overlooked facts with wit and humour, in her stories, as also in ‘The Insect Concert’. Her characters are driven by a moral so subtle that children may hardly realize the important life values they are imbibing just by reading her books. Her stories are lessons in science and art as each panel bursts into vivacious colours and tickles the imagination of the young reader. Truly delightful and a must read for all.

This book ‘Insect Concert’ by Katie Bagli is another gem from her treasure trove of stories about nature. Through a simple yet novel story, she manages to develop an interest in the animal kingdom and also provide a new learning. There are some activities too which children will enjoy. The illustrations add to the storyline and make the book more interesting for the young reader. I wish Katie more power to her pen.

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An instant hit - With colorful illustrations and an engaging narrative, this playful nature book is perfect for curious toddlers. A Wormy Tale..an engaging, simple yet extraordinary new story from Katie Bagli, number one bestseller and fastest growing children’s author in the country

Through this story, A Wormy Tale, the author Katie Bagli highlights earthworms as a part of the ecosystem. Educators can use this story for crossdisciplinary and interdisciplinary thinking within the national curriculum. Katie’s love for nature is evident in all her books.

To be hired in today’s global marketplace, employers demand more than basic ‘hard’ skills. The difference between a frustrated candidate and a sought-after recruit, the long-term worker and a compelling leader, or the stagnant professional and the rising manager can be the ‘soft’ skills each exercises in the workplace. This highly researched book analyses the job environment of today and for the future where ‘soft’ skills become a more critical attribute. The reader gleans valuable guidance on how to acquire and improve these ‘soft’ skills for a more enriching career.

Alpha Zone book – ‘Sunny Side Up’ - shows the variety of food that is present round the world. All of us know the common pizza or burger but there are many delicious dishes out there that many have not experienced. This book encourages us to be curious and to learn, enjoy and experience the art of the culinary skill.

I’ve absolutely no hesitation in saying that even after working for 30+ years in Manufacturing and Education sectors, I was not able to correlate nonverbal communication skills of a person with his personality and credibility. But after getting in touch with Prof (Dr) Shalini Verma and going through her first book, ‘BODY LANGUAGE: YOUR SUCCESS MANTRA, (2005)’ I immediately fell in love with this beautiful subject and understood that body language is an important personality trait of any person. I am delighted to know that Dr Verma is bringing out a multi-title series of that inspiring book after 15 years, which is surely going to be another ‘hit’ and beneficial for the readers, especially the Gen Z youth, who gravely need the maturity to understand and cope with complex personal & professional relationships to move forward in life.

Children’s literature largely trivialises and glosses over such issues such as gender or colour biases. But this book deals with the sensitive issue of our proclivity or preference for fair skin colour. In the context of the Indian subcontinent, such debates and discussions should be encouraged so that children grow up with a healthy self-image and grow up with the right attitudes that skin colour is secondary to inner beauty. Dr Monica’s sensitive handling of this subject deserves to be applauded. Kudos!

This book talks about the fact that beauty has no standards - it’s the way one looks at one own self. I am sure this book will surely attract young readers. I wish all the best for the book.

Kudos to Books33 for coming up with a separate segment of Children Books under its imprint Alpha Zone. Your initiative will definitely make parents and teachers understand the importance of inculcating reading habits in your kids right from their young age. I appreciate Dr Monica Khanna for her bookSunny Side Up’ and love its ‘kahani mein twist’ which made it all the more exciting.

A lovely rhyming style and delightful words make this book effortlessly readable. Dr Khanna addresses a vital issue of our times in this allegorical tale of female crow.

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Kyra’s Return Flight conveys through a delightful story the very important message that there is great joy and power in accepting ourselves as we are,and not falling prey to harmful social prejudices about what is attractive or good. I greatly recommend this wonderful book about loving oneself!

‘Sunny Side Up’ authored by Dr Monica Khanna is a slice of delight with just the right bite.

‘Sunny Side Up’ is a delightfully wicked book! A complete treat for kids of all shapes, sizes and taste; those who fuss around their meals and those who devour their food. A visual treat for the eyes that moistened my curiosity palate, as I turned each page to follow Sunny’s exciting culinary adventures. An astonishing finale, that enhanced some beautiful childhood memories.

Katie Bagli has two interests, nature and children. She has two talents, writing and drawing. As a story teller, she engages children with her colourful puppets and other visual aids, bringing to life the characters in her books.

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My compliments to the author for developing rich and novel content in an area that still lies underexplored. With so little information available on body language in the Indian context, I can imagine how much hard work
would have gone into creating a book like this. This book is beautifully crafted in terms of quality content and relevance in the current context.

Former General Manager from State Bank of India

An Electrical Engineer and a first-generation entrepreneur with PhD in Management

Has been working in the corporate world for the last 10 years

A 17-year-old bright student of 11th standard at Dibrugarh, Assam

A student of IBDP program (at DYPIS) in Mumbai, India

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An M.A. in English Literature from Tezpur University, Assam

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A professional Microbiologist and an avid nature lover

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English Language and Personality Development skills Trainer

Aspires to make career and writing and become a successful writer

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Student of English Honours at Calcutta University, West Bengal

A student of airport handling at YMCA, Delhi.

An engineer by profession and a writer by passion

Author & co-author of multiple books and anthologies

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A Grade-III student of Silver Oaks International School, Hyderabad

She adorns the hat of a multitasker - an educationist, an artist, a poet, a photographer, an author, a homemaker, a wife and above all a MOTHER

3rd grader studying in Silver Oaks International School, Hyderabad

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Sr. ERO (Sr. Employee Relations Officer) at Indian Oil Corporation Limited

Associate Professor at Indira Institute of Business Management

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