Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALSIntroductionIntroductionThe Dakar Framework for Action, adopted by164 governments in 2000, is one of the mostcomprehensive, wide-ranging and ambitious ofall commitments undertaken by the internationalcommunity. It pledges to expand learningopportunities for every youth, adult and child –and to achieve specific targets in key areas by 2015.With just five years to go to the target date, thischapter of the Report monitors progress towardsthe Education for All goals set under the DakarFramework. Effective monitoring is vital toachieving international development targets. Apartfrom keeping the goals themselves in the spotlight,it can highlight examples of success, provide earlywarning of failure, inform policy and supportadvocacy. At an international level, measuringprogress towards shared goals gives insight intothe strengths and weaknesses of nationalstrategies. It demonstrates what can be achievedin practice and shows that all countries, whatevertheir level of development, can make progressunder strong political leadership. Above all,monitoring provides a tool to hold governmentsaccountable for the degree to which they act onthe commitments they undertake at internationalsummit meetings.This chapter starts by highlighting the importanceof early childhood care and education in creatingthe foundations for lifelong learning. It thenmonitors progress towards universal primaryeducation, an area which raises serious concerns.While the number of children not attending schoolcontinues to fall, the most recent school enrolmentdata suggest that the goal of universal primaryeducation by 2015 will be missed. Moreover,household survey evidence suggests that morechildren may be out of school than the officialdata indicate. Progress in school participationcontinues to outstrip progress in learningachievement, pointing to a widening gap betweenquantitative and qualitative indicators of progress.The chapter further shows that advances in adultliteracy fall far short of the goals. Meanwhile,technical and vocational education programmeshave – at best – a mixed record in respondingto the learning needs of youth and young adults.Financing is critical to accelerating progresstowards the Education for All goals. Current globalestimates of the financing required to meet the2015 targets are outdated and methodologicallyflawed, primarily because they do not take intoaccount the cost of reaching disadvantaged groups.This Report provides an updated analysis of thefinancing needed to reach key targets, adjusted forthe incremental cost of extending opportunities todisadvantaged groups. The analysis shows thatfinancing gaps have been underestimated and thatdeveloping country governments and aid donors willhave to act with urgency to close these gaps.Monitoring is about more than technicalmeasurement of progress. This chapter highlightsthe strong connections between progress towardsspecific goals and underlying problems ofinequality and social marginalization, whichChapter 3 examines further. While national datahelp illuminate broad trends, they can obscureunderlying disparities. Gender disparities arenarrowing in many areas, but young girls andwomen continue to face disadvantages at severallevels, from early childhood, through primary andsecondary school, and into adulthood. Widerinequalities linked to poverty, language, ethnicity,region and other factors also restrict opportunityon a global scale.Global monitoring exercises inevitably revealcomplex and varied patterns. Two broad messagesemerge from the detail of national and regionalprogress reports on the Education for All goals.The first is good news: there is unequivocalevidence that the world is moving in the rightdirection, with many of the poorest countriesregistering impressive advances on many fronts.Their record demonstrates what is achievable– and shows that many of the 2015 goals are stillwithin reach. The second message is cautionary,with a ‘bad news’ element: on current trends,progress towards the Dakar goals is far too slowto meet the 2015 targets. An underlying problemis the failure of many governments to put higherpriority on policies that extend opportunitiesto the most marginalized sections of society.Failure to change this picture will result inthe international community falling far shortof the promise made at Dakar in 2000.Progress towardsthe Dakar goalsis far too slowto meet the 2015targets41