UNESCO: Access To Primary Education Will Take 70 Years

This is according to a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The estimation is in sharp contrast to expectations from the plegdes by world leaders who had pledged to achieve this by 2015.

The report says 57 million children are not in schools and that at the current rate, it will be 2086 before access is reached for poor, rural African girls.

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In some countries, one out of every four young people is unable to read a single sentence.

The study, published today- Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is an annual monitoring report on the millennium pledges for education made by the international community.

The report warns that aid meant for education is not only declining but also not being directed to the countries that need it the most.

It reveals that the single biggest recipient of aid for education is China – which receives aid worth a value 77 times greater than Chad, which needs the funding more.

On a more posivite note however, the report revealed that there has been an almost 50% drop in out-of-school children since 2000.

Of concern, is the figure from the report, based on the latest data from 2011, shows that there are still 57 million children who do not even get the basic education.

Moves are already underway for setting post-2015 targets.

Among the recommendations given is that the next goals must include an awareness of the quality of education and teaching.

"We must also make sure that there is an explicit commitment to equity in new global education goals set after 2015, with indicators tracking the progress of the marginalised so that no-one is left behind," said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

By Diana Kariuki

Source BBC