Progress and Remaining Challenges in Reaching Equitable Education for All

• In Event: Equity in education for the post-2015 development agenda; looking back and moving forward, recent progresses and future challenges.

Abstract

This synthesis of findings from monitoring of educational equity highlights change in equitable progress towards the six goals set in the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action, as well as the two education-related Millenium Development Goals. In terms of Early Childhood Care and Education there is a more inclusive availability of pre-school for all children, although severe inequalities remain. Primary schooling has not been universalized, but has come closer to that goal. However, there remain population of hard-to-reach children, and the very poorest families have benefited least from primary expansion. As primary schooling became more universal, the transition to lower and upper secondary school became more determinant of life chances. Inequality persists in this transition, and the gaps between richer and poorer families remain in most cases just as wide as in the past. In terms of adult literacy, considerable progress has been made in reaching gender parity, although in many countries there are still gender inequalities. Regarding education quality, there is evidence of narrowing urban-rural gaps in some countries. The availability and equitable distribution of trained teachers is an increasing problem, however. This presentation concludes by mentioning new dimensions of educational equality that will be necessary to consider in the post-2015 norm-setting related to Sustainable Development Goals.

Author

• Aaron Benavot, Education for All Global Monitoring Report