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| Universal Primary Education |
| How educating excluded children can help break the
cycle of poverty |
| Posted April 28, 2004 |
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Photo: Courtesy United
Nations | • More than
100 million children around the world do not have access to primary school
education. Out-of-school children in developing countries are especially
vulnerable to poverty, hunger, violence, exploitation and disease, contributing
to future generations of people with limited life chances and almost certain
poverty. Achieving universal primary education — and its close correlation,
gender equality in education — is so important that Goal 2 of
the Millennium Development Goals is dedicated to it. Yet, without
government and donor policies that advocate inclusive primary education, the
basic human right to education may not be achieved by 2015.
• This Cross-Topic Special on Universal Primary Education
focuses on social and cultural exclusion as an obstacle to achieving MDG 2. It
comes at the close of Education for All Week that focused this year on including all
children in primary education, particularly those excluded because of gender,
conflict, homelessness, disability, or ethnicity. Topic pages in this Special
address what governments and donors are doing to promote inclusive education,
innovations worldwide in Education for All initiatives, and social and cultural
issues that are impacting attaining global universal primary education.
 Icon indicates MDG related
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| Ecuador Country Gateway |
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How Ecuador's E.Ducate program works to promote reforms in public
education for poor children. More  | |
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| Aid Effectiveness |
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Bringing the school to the children in West and Central
Africa. More | |
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| Culture and Development |
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Policies and practices regarding minority education are bound up
in political, cultural, social, and economic complexities. More | |
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| Gender and Development |
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Out of 115 million school-age children worldwide not in
school in 2000, 56 percent were girls. More | |
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| Governance |
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Indonesia case study: How education reform can be implemented
under public sector decentralization More | |
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| Poverty |
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How can a society eliminate child labor that
perpetuates income poverty? More | |
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| Urban Development |
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A growing population of urban street children in the
developing world is at risk of missing out on primary school education. More | |
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| Youth for Development |
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During periods of armed conflict, education is often
viewed as a luxury, not a human right. Current thinking reverses this position.
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| Population and Reproductive
Health |
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The Life Skills Approach: Educating youth about health-related
issues More | |
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| Non-Governmental
Organizations |
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The African Network Campaign on Education for All builds capacity
of African civil society to advocate for free quality education for all. More | |
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| MDG Capacity Building |
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The African Virtual University cultivates what children of the
world need most to achieve universal primary education: teachers. More | |
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| E-learning |
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ICTs can help close the learning divide for children
marginalized from the education process due to gender, geographic circumstance,
poverty, and other factors. More | |
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| ICT for Development |
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Information and communication technologies are being used to
enhance the quality of both formal and non-formal education for children. More | |
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| Iraq: Relief and
Recovery |
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Iraq's Ministry of Education unveils a framework for national
educational reform based on Iraqi-led dialogue. More | |
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| Sheldon Shaeffer |
Read an interview with Sheldon Shaeffer,
Director of UNESCO's Asia and Pacific Education Bureau, who discusses
the social factors behind school exclusion.
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Thousands of children worldwide took part in April in the World's Biggest Ever Lobby.
Children from Democratic Republic of Congo create a village Missing Out Map as part of the lobby.
Courtesy: Global Campaign for Education.
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