Achieving Universal Primary Education By 2015

Annotation This book seeks to provide answers to the following questions: Where do we stand today in relation to the target of universal primary completion? Is universal primary completion achievable by 2015? What would he required to achieve it? The book includes a CD-ROM containing a "hands-on" version of the simulation model developed by the authors and all of the background data used.

One Hundred And Eighty-Nine Countries Have Committed Themselves To The Millennium Development Goals (Mdgs) Aimed At Eradicating Extreme Poverty And Improving The Welfare Of People By The Year 2015. Few Global Goals Have Been As Consistently And Deeply Supported As The Second Mdg, Which States That By 2015, Children Everywhere, Boys And Girls Alike, Will Be Able To Complete A Full Course Of Primary Schooling. Achievement Of This Goal Is Crucial, As Education Is One Of The Most Powerful Instruments Known For Reducing Poverty And Inequality And For Laying The Foundation For Sustained Economic Growth, Effective Institutions, And Sound Governance. Achieving Universal Primary Education By 2015: A Chance For Every Child Assesses Whether Universal Primary Education Can Be Achieved By 2015. The Book Focuses On The Largest Low-Income Countries That Are Furthest From The Goal And Home To About 75 Percent Of The Children Out Of School Globally. By Analyzing Education Policies And Financing Patterns In Relatively High-Performing Countries, The Study Identifies A New Policy And Financing Framework For Faster Global Progress In Primary Education. The Authors Use A Simulation Model To Show How Adoption Of This Framework Could Accelerate Progress In Low-Income Countries Currently At Risk Of Not Reaching The Education Mdg. (Published In Collaboration With World Bank )

The Department for International Development (DFID) is the British government department responsible for promoting development and the reduction of poverty in sites in developing and transition countries around the world. This paper focuses on the education dimension of poverty reduction, and specifically the attainment of the International Development Targets for education, which are to: achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015; and demonstrate progress toward gender equality and the empowerment of women by eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005. Section 1 underlines the importance of education as a basic human right, a right which promotes other rights and responsibility that contribute to economic and social development. Section 2 defines the scale and geography of the challenge, noting that it is in sub-Saharan Africa that the size and complexity of the challenge is greatest. Section 3 posits the argument that the experiences of the past decade--positive and negative--point to a set of important lessons which should inform the work of governments and the wider international community, lessons that include the central role of government and the need for policies inclusive of all children. Section 4 identifies priorities and strategies for action, arguing that for targets to be achieved there must be sustained commitment by national governments to sound, long-term policies that recognize the strategic contribution of primary education to development. Section 5 outlines a broad, threefold strategy for DFID: (1) contributing to the development and coordination of international commitment, policies, and programs designed to achieve UPE and Education for All; (2) strong, well-targeted country programs that will provide strategic assistance to governments and societies committed to achieving UPE and gender equality; and (3) knowledge and research strategies and outcomes that will contribute to the ability of the international community to learn lessons, share experience, and monitor progress. Section 6 underscores the importance of developing capacity to monitor progress toward the targets, and for DFID to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of its contribution to achieving UPE and gender equality. (HTH)

The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, are the world's targets for dramatically reducing extreme poverty in its many dimensions by 2015 income poverty, hunger, disease, exclusion, lack of infrastructure and shelter while promoting gender equality, education, health and environmental sustainability. These bold goals can be met in all parts of the world if nations follow through on their commitments to work together to meet them. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals offers the prospect of a more secure, just, and prosperous world for all. The UN Millennium Project was commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop a practical plan of action to meet the Millennium Development Goals. As an independent advisory body directed by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, the UN Millennium Project submitted its recommendations to the UN Secretary General in January 2005. The core of the UN Millennium Project's work has been carried out by 10 thematic Task Forces comprising more than 250 experts from around the world, including scientists, development practitioners, parliamentarians, policymakers, and representatives from civil society, UN agencies, the World Bank, the IMF, and the private sector. This report lays out the recommendations of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality. In the education sector, the Task Force recommends that countries nowoff track expand access, overcome demand-side barriers, and implement institutional changes to make the education system more responsive and accountable. As part of a compact with low-income countries working toward the goal of 100% primary school completion by 2015, donors and the international community must fulfill commitments already made under the Fast Track Initiative, and commit to still greater levels of support.

Explores the various economic, political and social pressures which may affect the progress of educational provision, as well as the different national educational policies and strategies themselves, as they play out in five very different Commonwealth African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia.

Despite the enormous challenge of attaining the Education for All and UN Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015, Pakistan has taken up the challenge, as have many other developing countries of the Commonwealth. In this handbook for education policymakers and practitioners, Pakistani educator Fareeha Zahar has identified and compiled good and promising practices which are working towards the achievement of universal primary education in her country. Policymakers internationally will find that the approaches adopted in Pakistan have much to tell them about how to address similar problems in their own countries.