I was 10, shrinking under the covers at my parents’ heated argument in the kitchen. My father had come home drunk again. I suddenly felt that I was the only one I could rely on. And slowly I realized I had one way out: school. My parents were dropouts. But I would excel. I would make something of myself.

Now, as a parent, I’ve seen all five of our children graduate and go on to college. Our youngest, Grace, will be a freshman this fall.

In Zimbabwe, Ayanda, 12, dreamed of being a schoolteacher. But his mother, Rilato, a widow caring for four children and four grandchildren, didn’t have the money to send any of them to school. Neighbors donated enough to send one child. Rilato chose 9-year-old Sibongokuhle. “Because of the drought, I must make difficult decisions,” Rilato said.

Parents shouldn’t have to make these decisions. Children shouldn’t have to bear these burdens. In sub-Saharan Africa, just 71 percent of children of primary-school age are in school. Only 25 percent go on to secondary school.

The poorer the household, the less likely they are to be in school. And that creates a vicious cycle dooming another generation to poverty.

Back-to-school season in the U.S. means aisles of school supplies and fall clothes. But in the developing world, it means parents and children devastated that school is out of their reach.

I am grateful that education was my escape from a difficult childhood. As you prepare your own children to head back to school, take time to pray with them for Ayanda and the millions of children around the world who cannot go to school. Lift up a prayer that doors will open for these boys and girls to get an education. And every day as your children head off to school, breathe a prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of education.