Toward Universal Primary Education

by Birdsall, Nancy; Levine, Ruth; Ibrahim, Amina

• ISBN13: 9781844072217
• ISBN10: 1844072215
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

* One of 14 publications comprising the official UN strategy on how to reduce extreme poverty and achieve the fundamental world-wide human development goals for the coming decade * Project directed by Jeffrey D. Sachs, named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine, current Director of The Earth Institute, Columbia University, and Special Adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan * The essential reference work for all governments, policymakers, aid and donor agencies, development practitioners, researchers, and students worldwide Better education is fundamental to the prospects for economic and social development and the end of world poverty. Toward Universal Primary Education offers a rigorous set of interventions that countries can choose from to help provide universal access to high-quality education by focusing on hard-to-reach groups of people, educating girls and women to break the cycle of low education, and strengthening educational opportunities for adolescents. The UN Millennium Development Library Toward Universal Primary Education, in conjunction with the flagship publication Investing in Development, is one of 13 thematic publications that comprise the UN Millennium Library. This set of reference handbooks charts world progress and presents strategies for dramatically reducing extreme poverty in its many dimensions--income poverty, hunger, disease, exclusion, lack of infrastructure, and shelter by 2015--while promoting gender equality, education, health, and environmental sustainability. This Library is the official, comprehensive point of reference and action plan for achieving the fundamental development objectives embodied in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the UN and world leaders in 2000.

Table of Contents

Foreword	iii
Task force members	ix
Preface	xii
Acknowledgments	xiv
Abbreviations	xvi
Millennium Development Goals	xviii
Executive summary	1	(16)
Part 1 Setting the stage	17	(26)
The task force's contribution	19	(4)
Task force methods	20	(1)
Audience and organization of the report	20	(1)
The contribution of the task force	21	(2)
Education and society: multiple benefits, unrealized potential	23	(8)
Education is society's main instrument for reproducing itself and can be a key ingredient for social change	23	(2)
Education is an end in itself and has tremendous benefits for individuals and society	25	(2)
The benefits of education are conditioned by the context	27	(4)
The Goals and the history of goal-setting in education	31	(4)
Trends in primary education and gender parity	35	(8)
A host of factors affect enrollment and retention rates	36	(4)
Learning achievement needs to be measured	40	(1)
Conclusions and future prospects	41	(2)
Part 2 Education systems in developing countries: income, institutions, and incentives	43	(40)
Education systems in developing countries	45	(8)
High-performing educational systems can achieve results even with limited resources	46	(2)
Countries with low-performing systems need to address a variety of governance problems	48	(4)
Conclusion	52	(1)
Strategies for creating more and better educational opportunities	53	(25)
Strategy 1: get out-of-school children into school	53	(13)
Strategy 2: create better institutions, increase transparency, and provide better incentives	66	(12)
Financing the education Goals	78	(5)
Part 3. Forging an international compact for education: roles and responsibilities of donors and developing countries	83	(81)
A global compact for basic education	85	(3)
What donors should do	88	(6)
Recommendation 1: support bold political leadership and provide firm financial commitments to make Education for All and the Fast Track Initiative work	88	(3)
Recommendation 2: reform the donor business	91	(1)
Recommendation 3: use a transparent accountability framework for reporting	91	(1)
Recommendation 4: invest in genuine evaluation	92	(2)
A call to action	94	(70)
Appendixes
Appendix 1. Commissioned papers for education report	97	(1)
Appendix 2. Summary of the civil society e-discussion on the education report of the Task Force on Education and Gender Equality	98	(3)
Appendix 3. Success stories in policy interventions toward high quality universal primary education	101	(49)
Appendix 4. Data issues	150	(4)
Appendix 5. Major initiatives that promote the Millennium Development Goals on education and gender equality	154	(7)
Appendix 6. Need for postprimary education	161	(3)
Notes	164	(4)
References	168