Assessing progress towards achieving Education for All Goals
Since 2002, the UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR) has monitored progress towards achieving the Education for All goals.
April 09, 2015 by GPE Secretariat
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6 minutes read
Since 1999, 80 million more children and adolescents are now enrolled inschool. Infographic (c) 2015 EFA GMR

Fifteen years ago, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, 164 countries undersigned “six internationally agreed education goals aimed to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.”

Since 2002, the UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR) has monitored progress towards achieving these Education for All Goals, as well as the two education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In this pivotal year, when the member states of the United Nations will adopt a new sustainable development agenda, the EFA GMR Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges assesses the advancements made since 2000 and the challenges that have hindered success. Progress towards the achievement of each goal is evaluated through report cards and the report provides also key insight into how to shape the post-2015 global education agenda.

Read the full report or the summary. Follow the April 9th launch of the EFA Global Monitoring Report in New York, Paris, and Delhi and join the conversation online using @EFAReport and #EduVerdict.

Overall, the EFA GMR recognizes that great strides have been made since 2000, yet we are far from achieving Education for All. Inequality in education remains, and poverty is a persistent barrier to access and learning. The most disadvantaged children are still the ones most often left behind. The sector remains underfinanced, both by local governments and donors. 

In order to ensure renewed progress and success in the next 15 years, EFA GMR points out that new targets must be specific, relevant and measurable as well as focus strongly on equity and the needs of the most marginalized and vulnerable.

For more than a decade, the UNESCO Education for All Global Monitoring Report has played a pivotal role in helping the world to monitor and track progress in achieving the right of every child, girls and boys, to a good quality education. As we head into the final year of the Millennium Development Goals and set the agenda for global education for the years ahead, this report tells us that while progress has been made, our work is far from done. We must - and we can - do better. -Julia Gillard
, Chair, Global Partnership for Education

Key Facts and Figures from the 2015 EFA Global Monitoring Report

Half of all countries achieved universal primary enrollment by 2015, and a further 10% came close.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

One-third of countries have achieved all the measurable Education for All goals.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

The greatest progress is in girls’ education. Almost two-thirds of countries will have reached gender parity in primary education by 2015.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

Since 1999, 80 million more children and adolescents are now enrolled in school, 48 million in primary school.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

In 2012, 184 million children were enrolled in pre-primary education – an increase by nearly two-thirds since 1999.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

There are still 58 million primary-age children not in school, and in low and middle income countries one in six children will not have completed primary school.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

The world’s poorest children are four times more likely to be out of primary school than the richest and, if they are enrolled, five times less likely to complete school.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

The proportion of out of school children living in conflict-affected countries has grown from 30% in 2000 to 36%.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

With regards to learning quality, the number of countries carrying out national learning assessments has doubled since 2000 and student to teacher ratios have declined in over 80% of countries.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

The financing gap for basic education after 2015 is US$22 billion per year, equal to almost one-third of the cost of education in low income countries.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

Many countries have increased spending on education. Between 1999 and 2012, 38 countries increased their spending by 1 percentage point or more of national income.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

Only 17 out of the 73 countries with a literacy rate below 95% in 2000 had halved their illiteracy rate by 2015. The rate of illiteracy dropped slightly, from 18% in 2000 to an estimated 14% in 2015 but there are still about 781 million illiterate adults.

Infographic, 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report credit: UNESCO

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WHAT CHILDREN NEED TO KNOW

We must teach our children to care about themselves and others.
We must teach our children that they are not alone but an important part of the life of this world.
We must teach our children that they have unlimited possibilities.
We must teach our children that they can learn to do what any other person has done and more.
We must teach our children how to relax and find peace within themselves
We know that fear, worry, and violence have no place in a healthy life.
We know that we can not change the past or the present.
We know that the future is dependent only on the choices we make.
A better future depends only on better choices.
It is our duty to teach our children to make better choices so they can have a better future.
Jack E Stowe

In reply to by Jack Stowe

Education open opportunities for brilliant children to development their full potential and contributes to the national growth. Unfortunately, about 879,443 brilliant students are needy children and do not enroll at all in primary education and the number of those who drop out after starting remains high. The higher the education level, the fewer females brilliant ones are finds in the education system even though Ghana’s population has more females than males.
"If brilliant but needy students are assisted, they would be of help not only to their parents but to the community and the nation at large," We believe children are the cornerstone of a stable and peaceful society, so if we are to invest in development, we must first of all invest in children since a single set of global goals on children gets the world moving in that direction.

Children with little or no education background have poor chances of securing a good employment during their adulthood. They in turn, may be unable to adequately feed and care for their own children and send them to school or obtain adequate health care when they are sick. Child poverty is therefore linked to a vicious cycle, where deprivation and lack of opportunity is passed from one generation to another.
Our today’s failure to take the plight of needy but brilliant students into consideration would not only affect the children but also the manpower for national development

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