25/11/2005
46 countries not to achieve 2005 school parity MDG target

Gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2005 is the keystone to extending the reform to all levels of education by 2015. This is in line with the MDG 3 on gender equality and the empowerment of women. 46 countries will fall short of their goal of getting as many girls as boys into school by 2005, according to a new UNICEF report.

The target is also a precursor to the goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015 (MDG 2).

Yet nearly 115 million children, the majority of them girls, remain out of primary school, according to UNICEF.

The exclusion of girls from school not only deprives them of any education at all, but also threatens wider development efforts, the report states, because educating girls is a proven element in social and economic development.

“Education is a fundamental part of growing up,” said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman, adding that the education of girls “leads to greater economic productivity, reduced infant and maternal mortality, and a greater likelihood that the next generation of children will go to school.”

The reasons why children are denied an education include poverty, gender discrimination, poor governance and disease, including HIV/AIDS, as well as natural disasters and man-made emergencies, UNICEF said.

125 countries – 91 developing countries and 34 industrialized countries – are on course to reach the school parity target of the MDGs.

“This is an achievable goal, as we know from the fact that so many countries have made strides in closing the gap,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah said in Beijing.