MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Enrolment in primary education in developing regions reached 89 per cent in 2008, up from 83 per cent in 2000.The current pace of progress is insufficient to meet the target by 2015.

 About 69 million school-age children are not in school. Almost half of them (31 million) are in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than a quarter (18 million) are in Southern Asia.

Despite great strides in many countries, the target is unlikely to be met. Enrolment in primary education has continued to rise, reaching 89 per cent in the developing world in 2008. Between 1999 and 2008, enrolment increased by 18 percentage points in sub-Saharan Africa, and by 11 and 8 percentage points in Southern Asia and Northern Africa, respectively.

But the pace of progress is insufficient to ensure that, by 2015, all girls and boys complete a full course of primary schooling. To achieve the goal by the target date, all children at official entry age for primary schooling would have had to be attending classes by 2009. Instead, in half of the sub-Saharan African countries with available data, at least one in four children of enrolment age was not attending
school in 2008. About 69 million school-age children were not going to school in 2008, down from 106 million children in 1999 .Almost three-quarters of children out of school are in sub- Saharan Africa (31 million) or Southern Asia (18 million).

Drop-out rates in sub-Saharan Africa remain high. Achieving universal primary education requires more than full enrolment. It also means ensuring that children continue to attend classes. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 30 per cent of primary school students drop out before reaching a final grade ."( source: United Nations)