Education for All and Out-of-School Children: A Case Study of Pakistan and Nigeria

• In Event: 16.060 - Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: 16.060-3 - Current Issues in International Educational Policy and Politics

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to review the progress and challenges in accomplishing Education for All (EFA) goals set in the year 2000 at Dakar. Conceptual framework for this paper is ‘human rights based approach’ (Tomasevski, 2003). The paper is an attempt to answer the question of whether global EFA goals have been achieved or not? A case study of two countries with world’s highest number of out-of-school children- Nigeria from Sub-Saharan Africa region and Pakistan from South and West Asia region- reveals that EFA has failed to achieve its goals and wide inequalities exist based on factors such as gender, socio-economic status and geographical location. Failures in EFA are highlighted for future research and action.

Author

• Nooruddin G Shah, University of Maryland - College Park