Universal Primary Education

The second goal in the United Nations Millennium Development Goal is to achieve Universal Primary Education, more specifically, to “ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling." Education is vital to meeting all other Millennium Development Goals: "Educating children gives the next generation the tools to fight poverty and prevent disease, including malaria and AIDS." Despite the significance of investing in education, the recent report, Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All: Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children—produced by UNESCO Institute for Statistics and UNICEF found that the world has missed this 2015 target of universal primary education, and there are currently 58 million children, of primary school age, out of school worldwide.

Since 1999, there has been great progress towards achieving universal primary enrollment due in large part to a pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) The number of primary school age out-of-school children dropped by 42% between 2000 and 2012, despite rapid population growth. Greater than half of countries and regions worldwide have a net enrolment rate of more than 95% and either already have or are close to achieving universal primary education. However, despite an increase in enrollment over the past decade, global progress has stalled since 2007, and net enrolment or attendance is less than 80 per cent in about 20 countries. Of the 58 million children out of school:

Roughly half of all out-of-school children come from just a few countries, many of them characterized by conflict, instability, and extreme poverty. West and Central Africa is home to one-third of all primary school age out-of-school children, making it the region with the lowest rates of school participation. Challenges to achieving universal primary education are exacerbated in unstable regions, as they have greater difficulty in accessing financial support.

The barriers which prevent children around the world from obtaining primary level education are diverse and require tailored responses. Children living in conflict-affected areas account for “just 20% of the world’s children of primary school age but 50% of the world’s out-of-school children.” Additionally, inequalities in wealth significantly impact out-of-school rates. In many countries, children from the poorest 20 per cent of the population are less likely to attend school than those who are better off . Despite overall improvements, girls continue to be at a disadvantage as 53%—more than half—of the estimated 58 million primary age out-of-school-children are girls.

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