New York, New York -- (United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) ) -- January 2010 -- The 2010 Global Monitoring Report (GMR) shows marked improvement in its treatment of women’s and girls’ education. Some earlier concerns of UNGEI remain to be addressed fully, such as the tendency to focus on single issues rather than complex relationships in the struggle to achieve Education for All (EFA).
Six main messages are put forward in the GMR, including the importance of early childhood care and education and the issue of quality in education. The new emphasis on youth and adult skills education and gender parity and equity is to be welcomed.
A broader framework informed by a focus on social exclusion would have improved the Report by allowing it to explore more thoroughly the system-like properties of the components that result in marginalization. The analysis would also benefit from a more nuanced view of inclusion and exclusion. By treating inclusion and exclusion as a simple duality and assuming that exclusion is always necessarily negative, the GMR risks oversimplifying the issue.
The sections of the GMR that analyse progress towards the EFA goals are generally helpful, although the data selected for analysis do not reflect the yearly thematic changes. Overall, the GMR shows that the numbers of children out of school have fallen significantly in most countries, while enrolments have largely risen. Gender gaps have also narrowed, although the percentage of girls out of school has increased in some countries. Adult literacy rates have improved, especially among females. The GMR notes that, despite progress, much needs to be done. Malnutrition receives much attention as a causal factor in low enrolments and poor rates of progress within
schools. The Report also points to a lack of innovative programmes to reach children who are out of school, and it identifies teacher supply as a major challenge.
Last Modified: January 03, 2012
