by ELEANOR WHITEHEAD
Forty percent all young people in sub-Saharan Africa are unable to read a single sentence, according to the findings of a new report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
World leaders had aimed to achieve universal primary schooling by 2015 as part of a set of targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but the report makes clear that it will be more than 70 years before that ambition becomes a reality.
Unesco’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report, launched in Addis Ababa today, states that 10 percent of international spending on primary education is being lost because children in school are not learning. Africa fares worse than other regions. 31 sub-Saharan countries waste at least half of all primary education spending because of poor schooling. In Burundi that figure reaches 70 percent.
Quality and equity of learning lie at the centre of the debate around what targets should replace the access-focused MDGs on education.
“What’s the point in an education if children emerge after years in school without the skills they need? The huge numbers of illiterate children and young people mean it is crucial that equality in access and learning be placed at the heart of future education goals,” says Pauline Rose, the report’s director. “New goals after 2015 must make sure every child is not only in school, but learning what they need to learn.”
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