Education for All: A Report Card

by Zarrin T. Caldwell, Perspectives Editor 

At the core of the EFA [Education for All] partnership is the belief that education is the key to sustainable development and peace and stability within and among countries, and accordingly that is indispensable for people to participate fully in the societies and globalized economies of the 21st century.
- Kailash Satyarthi, President
Global Campaign for Education

While it may be assumed in many countries that all children can go to school, that was not the case for 14-year-old Vijaya Lakshmi in Andhra Pradesh, India. She and almost 250,000 other young children in this region are employed in the cotton seed industry as bonded laborers—forced to work long hours in difficult conditions to return loans given to their families. Vijaya has been lucky enough to benefit from a World Education program that provides relevant, practical life skills for child girl laborers, but many girls in similar circumstances never go to school at all. Working—to help a family survive—takes priority, even though education has the most potential to help break these long-term cycles of poverty.

Those committed to universal education generally assert that much more is at stake than just getting kids into school. Rather, they claim, education is a major part of the solution for many of the world's development problems. Education and literacy, they note, are prerequisites for economic growth and poverty alleviation; the knowledge and decision-making skills gained in school improve family health and well-being; an educated electorate usually makes better political decisions; education protects children from situations of abusive child labor and trafficking; and education helps to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Despite all these benefits, governments are not pouring resources into improving access to quality education. While some countries are making notable commitments to education, progress is often uneven within countries and others are making little progress at all. About 100 million children of primary-school age in the developing world do not attend school and, in about one third of countries, one out of every three children that begins primary school will not finish it. Getting kids in school is one thing; keeping them there is another.

None of the above is to say that the international community has not come a long way in providing at least a primary school education for many of the world's children. It has. Advancements since the 1950s, for example, have been substantial, with primary school enrollments increasing more than three-fold in the past 50 years. But there is still much to be done. In many cases, for example, the quality of education, which is fundamental to keeping kids in school, has received less attention than expanding access. About one fifth of the world's adult population still cannot read or write. And, in many countries, the reality is that an individual will have greater educational opportunities if they are not poor, female, or residing in a rural area.

Page 1 - Education for All: Introduction
Page 2 - Meeting International Goals
Page 3 - Investing in Tomorrow
Page 4 - It Takes a Village

Perspectives Magazine: Learning the Future