Access to education - UN targets missed

Today, UNESCO reported that the UN target for universal access to primary school for all by 2030 would not be met until 2042.  This comes just one year after the Sustainable Development Goals, which included the promise for schools, were launched.  Given that education and access to primary and secondary schools is one of the areas I am looking at in some detail with Caritas, I have scanned this report with particular interest.
 

The UNESCO report suggests there are 61 million children of primary age who do not have access to school. The 2016 Global Monitoring Report shows that without a significant change the global promise for universal primary education by 2030 is unlikely to be reached. It will be 2084 before all pupils have access to the end of secondary school, says the annual report on international education.

The promise that all children should have the right to primary education was first made in 1990, with a commitment that it would be achieved in a decade.  When that was missed, another 15-year target was set in 2000.

The most limited access to schools is in the countries which are the poorest or most troubled by conflict including Niger, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Afghanistan, Mali and Chad.  The report blames "chronic underfinancing for education" for the lack of sufficient progress - and warns that international aid for education is below the levels of 2010.  The lack of education is also far worse among the poorest communities, which are invariably rural ones where only 1% are likely to reach upper secondary school.

Here in West Nile, the numbers of children in primary school falls well short of the country's overall percentage of around 90%.  In the rural communities, the average is around 60% and the percentages vary significantly for girls and boys.  It has been apparent to me from the school visits I have made how few girls there are in the classes.  As one moves through the primary school years the disparity grows and in secondary school typically the ration is 1 to 3 at best and 1 to 7 or 8 at worst.

The report also examined the lack of facilities in schools, with a lack of electricity affecting many schools in sub-Saharan Africa. Here again, this is something I have seen first hand.  Indeed in most of the schools I have visited the lack of electricity is well down the list of facilities missing - next books, teaching aids, desk and chairs, etc. are all far more pressing needs that electricity.

The following link takes you to the report - http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/2016_global_education_monitoring_report_launched_with_urgent/#.V88QtLskrIU