New Report: Educating the World’s Children: Patterns of Growth and Inequality

Posted by on January 20, 2006

[posted from Public Education Network newsblast]

EDUCATING THE WORLD’S CHILDREN: PATTERNS OF GROWTH & INEQUALITY

More than 100 million children worldwide, some 60% of them girls, are not in a classroom. In Africa only a third of the children who enter actually complete primary school. According to a new report, primary enrollment and completion growth in the last half of the 20th century has moved steadily upward, although the increase in primary school entry varies substantially from country to country. The report, authored by the Education Policy and Data Center at the Academy for Educational Development (AED), also reveals that the greatest disparities are found between urban and rural areas and between sub-regions within a country, rather than as a result of gender. The report identifies countries that will achieve the goal of universal primary education by or before 2015. It also provides case studies of those that are unlikely to reach that goal by 2015, but should still be considered success stories because they are moving faster than the historic trend. A third group of countries will only approach universal primary access and completion over the next several decades with changed policies and conditions, as well as long-term support.

http://eportal1-ssdc.aed.org/extend/en/external/epdc_reports/EducatingTheWorldsChildren.pdf