Goal 1 — Early childhood Care and Education

• Child malnutrition is a global epidemic that affects one in three children under the age of 5 and undermines their ability to learn. Slow progress in tackling child malnutrition and ill health – especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia – is undermining progress towards universal primary education.

• Progress indicators for the well-being of children in their pre-school years are a source for concern. The development targets set in the Millennium Development Goals for child mortality and nutrition will be missed by wide margins if current trends continue.

• Major global disparities in provision continue to divide the world’s richest and poorest children. In 2006,
  pre-primary gross enrolment ratios averaged 79% in developed countries and 36% in developing countries,
  falling as low as 14% in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Global disparities are mirrored in wide gaps within countries, especially between the richest and poorest children. In some countries, children from the wealthiest 20% of households are five times more likely to attend pre-school programmes than those from the poorest 20%.

Goal 2 — Universal Primary Education

• The average net enrolment ratios for developing countries have continued to increase since Dakar. Sub-Saharan Africa raised its average net enrolment ratio from 54% to 70% between 1999 and 2006, for an annual increase six times greater than during the decade before Dakar. The increase in South and West Asia was also impressive, rising from 75% to 86%.

• In 2006, some 75 million children, 55% girls, were not in school, almost half in sub-Saharan Africa. On current trends, millions of children will still be out of school in 2015 – the target date for universal primary education. Projections for 134 countries accounting for some two-thirds of out-of-school children in 2006 suggest that some 29 million children will be out of school in 2015 in these countries alone.

• Children from poor households, rural areas, slums and other disadvantaged groups face major obstacles in access to a good quality education. While children from the wealthiest 20% of households have already achieved universal primary school attendance in most countries, those from the poorest 20% have a long way to go.
  
• Trends in primary education are susceptible to public policy. Ethiopia and the United Republic of Tanzania are making remarkable progress in increasing enrolment and reaching the poor, thanks to policies such as the abolition of school fees, the construction of schools in underserved areas and increased teacher recruitment. In Nigeria and Pakistan, poor education governance is holding back progress and keeping millions of children out of school.
  
• In 2006, some 513 million students worldwide – or 58% of the relevant school-age population – were enrolled in secondary school, an increase of nearly 76 million since 1999. Despite progress, access remains limited for most of the world’s young people. In sub-Saharan Africa, 75% of secondary-school-age children are not enrolled in secondary school.

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