Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

The Millennium Development Goals and the International Development Agenda  -   TVP Manual - Section 1:Informing and Setting the Vision -

see Manuals General Index

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 Millions of children lack access to school education.
 

The second goal is that all children obtain basic school education. The objective of the MDG 2 is that the right to learn is guaranteed to all children, boys and girls alike, rich and poor, in developed and developing nations alike.     

Right now, this is not so. In Sub-Saharan Africa for instance, only 2 out of 3 children receive primary schooling. And it is especially the girls who get left out. 

The current effort is to support African governments and civil society in following the example of the Asian and South American nations, that are successfully extending universal primary education to most of their children. 

 

Graphs

  

MDG 2 - Targets

Target: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of Primary education Net enrollment ratio in primary education Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5 Literacy rate of 15-24 year olds

 

Hard Facts   In developing regions, 69 million school-age children are not yet in school; 31 million among these are in sub-Saharan Africa; In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 30% of primary school students drop out before reaching a final grade;  Only 67 girls per 100 boys, in Sub-Saharan Africa, are enrolled in tertiary education    Almost three-quarters of children out of school are in sub- Saharan Africa (31 million) or Southern Asia (18 million); In the poorest households, about twice as many girls of secondary school age are out of school as compared to their wealthier peers; The number of children completing primary education has increased from 83% in 2000 to 89% in 2008; School-age children who are not going to school has decreased from 106 million in 2000 to 69 million in 2008

 

According to UNICEF, ensuring primary education for girls has a “multiplier effect.” in that educated girls are likely to marry later, have fewer children, who in turn will be more likely to survive, be better nourished and educated. Educated girls are also more productive at home and better paid in the workplace, and more able to participate in social, economic and political decision-making.

 

 

  Video Stories from the MDG 2

         Episode 2 - MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education