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With each teacher taking an average of 6.6 sick days per year, the non-replacement of absent teachers is a source of tension with parents. In the public sector, substitute teachers cover 97% of long-term absences at the secondary level. This rate falls to 38% for shorter absences. However, when it comes to replacing teachers, be it for longer or shorter periods, the private education system is more efficient than the public sector.

The consequences of teacher absenteeism are dramatic for the quality of teaching, and Uganda has taken drastic measures to combat the problem. The report brings together a researcher from UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Report and a doctor in Sociology and Education Policy from the ENS in Abidjan.

In the most remote regions of Pakistan, the education of young children is problematic. Due to a lack of resources, many schools have been abandoned and teachers, inadequately paid by a failing government, are not coming to teach. Thousands, if not millions, of children are deprived of an education and left to fend for themselves.

In a rural district of Uganda, almost half of all teachers were absent on a typical school day. The African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) trained a few student leaders in each school to take attendance of everyone, including teachers. As a result, teacher absenteeism has dropped to ten percent in this district.