The Millennium Development Goals are interdependent, but achieving two of them ─ universal primary education (MDG 2) and gender equality and the empowerment of women (MDG 3) ─ is vital to meeting all the others. Through the MDGs, the world community set a deadline of 2015 for universal primary education and for the elimination of gender disparities at all levels of education.
Educating children gives the next generation the tools to fight poverty and prevent disease, including malaria and AIDS. UNICEF advocates high-quality, child-friendly basic education for all, with an emphasis on gender equality and eliminating disparities of all kinds. Educating girls, in particular, has a ‘multiplier effect’. Educated girls are more likely to marry later and have fewer children, who in turn will be more likely to survive and to be better nourished and educated. Educated women are more productive at home and better paid in the workplace, and more able to participate in social, economic and political decision-making.
Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All - Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-school Children
Around 63 million adolescents between the ages of 12 to 15 years are denied their right to an education according to a new joint report from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and UNICEF. The report and related data tool were sponsored by the Global Partnership for Education.
Latest findings on out-of-school children
Mark Waltham, UNICEF's Senior Education Adviser and Hiroyuki Hattori, Statistics Specialist – Education, present results from the latest report produced by UNICEF and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
For a full picture of children’s school participation, UNICEF uses two sources of data: enrolment data, which are based on administrative records, and attendance data from household surveys. In half of all countries, data on primary and secondary education come from more than one source. All data on primary and secondary education used by UNICEF are based on official International Standard Classifications of Education (ISCED) and may deviate somewhat from those used by country-specific school systems.
DEFINITION OF INDICATORS
Gender parity index – The ratio of female-to-male values of a given indicator. A GPI of 1 indicates parity between the sexes.
Literacy rate – Total number of literate persons in a given age group, expressed as a percentage of the total population in that age group. The adult literacy rate measures literacy among persons aged 15 years and older, and the youth literacy rate measures literacy among persons aged 15 to 24 years.
Out-of-school population – Total number of primary or lower secondary-school-age children who are not enrolled in primary (ISCED 1) or secondary (ISCED 2 and 3) education.
Pre-primary school gross enrolment ratio – Number of children enrolled in pre-primary school, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official pre-primary school age.
Primary school gross enrolment ratio – Number of children enrolled in primary school, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official primary school age.
Primary school net attendance ratio – Number of children attending primary or secondary school who are of official primary school age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official primary school age. Because of the inclusion of primary-school-age children attending secondary school, this indicator can also be referred to as a primary adjusted net attendance ratio.
Primary school net enrolment ratio – Number of children enrolled in primary or secondary school who are of official primary school age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official primary school age. Because of the inclusion of primary-school-age children enrolled in secondary school, this indicator can also be referred to as a primary adjusted net enrolment ratio.
Secondary school net attendance ratio – Number of children attending secondary or tertiary school who are of official secondary school age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official secondary school age. Because of the inclusion of secondary-school-age children attending tertiary school, this indicator can also be referred to as a secondary adjusted net attendance ratio.
Secondary school net enrolment ratio – Number of children enrolled in secondary school who are of official secondary school age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official secondary school age. Secondary net enrolment ratio does not include secondary-school-age children enrolled in tertiary education, owing to challenges in age reporting and recording at that level.
Survival rate to last primary grade – Percentage of children entering the first grade of primary school who eventually reach the last grade of primary school.
REFERENCES
- UNESCO, Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2013/14: Teaching and Learning - Achieving Quality for All, UNESCO, Paris, 2014.
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics, global databases, 2014.
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Digest 2012, Opportunities Lost: The impact of grade repetition and early school leaving, UIS, Montreal, 2012.
- UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2015: Reimagine the Future - Innovation for Every Child, UNICEF, New York, 2014.