Achieve Universal Primary Education (MDG 2)

Overview

Basic education has a direct and proven impact on poverty reduction and sustainable development. Globally, primary school enrolment and completion rates are showing significant improvement:

• Primary school enrolment has increased by 25 million children between 1999 and 2005
• More girls are attending school than ever before
• Gender parity in primary schools has been achieved in two thirds of all countries

Despite this progress, important challenges remain. While enrolment in primary education has continued to rise, reaching 89 percent in the developing world, up from 83 percent in 2000, global numbers of out-of-school children are dropping too slowly and too unevenly for the target to be reached by 2015. There are also huge disparities between regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, even if the enrolment increased by 18 percentage points―from 58 percent to 76 percent―between 1999 and 2008, it is estimated that 45 percent of children remained out-of-school.

Persistent gaps and challenges that need to be addressed include girls' exclusion, reaching the most marginalized, and ensuring quality education in fragile states, which account for almost half of all out-of-school children. The gender gap in the out-of-school population has also narrowed: the share of girls in this group decreased from 57 percent to 53 percent globally between 1999 and 2008. Again, progress is uneven: 28 countries still have a gender parity index of less than 0.97. Of these countries, 18 are in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Canada's Contribution

CIDA, through its Children and Youth Strategy and its work on access to quality education, supports initiatives that:

• Improve access to basic education, especially for girls
• Improve the quality of education and promote learning achievement with special focus on teachers and teacher training, relevant curriculum, and teaching/learning materials
  
• Increase access to learning opportunities for youth in and out of school

In 2008-2009, CIDA allocated approximately 10 percent of its overall budget to basic education. Canada has also pledged to contribute $150 million to basic education in Africa by 2010-2011 and is on track to fulfill this commitment.

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Contributions from the Canadian International Development Agency and its Partners

Increased enrolment: In Mozambique, CIDA supported the distribution of more 90 million textbooks, student workbooks, and teacher manuals since 2004. The new resources incorporated a learner-based approach and integrated HIV/AIDS and environmental issues, as well as issues related to inequality between women and men, reaching more than 3.5 million primary school students and teachers every year.

Better school access for girls: In Afghanistan, CIDA works with the BRAC Education Programme to build 2,500 community-based schools. This is providing basic education to approximately 125,000 children, almost 85 percent of whom are girls.

Education for all: CIDA disbursed approximately $338 million to basic education in 2008-2009 and committed $60 million over five years to the Education for All Fast Track Initiative. This initiative is helping developing countries establish and implement sound national education plans. It has also proven to be an effective mechanism for mobilizing resources for basic education, increasing access to primary school, improving education quality, and improving donor harmonization and effectiveness and has become the principal global education partnership of donors and developing countries.

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