adminBRUSSELS. — An estimated 58 million children worldwide are not going to school, meaning that there is “no chance whatsoever” that the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015 will be met, the UN has admitted.
The UN education, scientific and cultural body, which released statistics yesterday at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) pledging conference in Brussels, said not enough progress had been made in improving access to education since 2007.
If current trends continue, it added, about 43 percent of those out of school — 15 million girls and 10 million boys — will probably never set foot in a classroom.
According to Unesco, the situation is particularly dire in sub-Saharan Africa, where a population boom has left more than 30 million children out of school.
Most of them will never embark on an education, while those who do are unlikely to finish their studies. More than a third of children in the region who entered the education system in 2012 will leave before reaching the final year of primary school.
Unesco’s director general, Irina Bokova, said governments needed to reaffirm their commitment to learning.
“Combined with Unesco’s recent news that aid to education has fallen yet again, the lack of progress in reducing out-of-school numbers confirms our fears — there is no chance, whatsoever, that countries will reach the goal of universal primary education by 2015,” she said.
“We cannot meet this news with further inertia. On the contrary, we must sound the alarm and mobilise the political will to ensure that every child’s right to education is respected.” — The Guardian.
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