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| As of July 1, 2009, the Center for Universal Education has moved to Brookings Institution. For more information, please visit CUE’s new website at: www.brookings.edu/universal-education |
Worldwide, over 72 million children do not attend primary school. Hundreds of millions of additional children will not continue on to secondary school or will be deprived a quality education. However, a free quality education is one of the single most powerful tools to help children around the world break out of poverty, increase their economic opportunities, promote healthy lifestyles and reduce their risk to disease.
The crisis of out-of-school youth is particularly acute among girls and other vulnerable populations, including orphans, refugees, and children with disabilities. Too often, children and their parents face multiple barriers to education, including extreme poverty, school fees, child labor, conflict or the loss of parents due to HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases. For those fortunate enough to attend school, the educational environment is often of poor quality, and few options exist to continue on to secondary school.
Despite these challenges, a number of countries and organizations have made substantial progress in recent years. The elimination of school fees for children in countries such as Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania has increased enrolment by the millions. Policies such as Bolsa Familia (Brazil) and Progresa (Mexico) have linked parental incentives with those of children, making them more likely to attend and stay in school. Developed countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have stepped up to the plate to provide long-term funding for countries with national education plans. Innovative programs have reached girls in extremely poor, remote areas of South Asia who otherwise would not have the opportunity to learn. Model education programs are operating in conflict and post-conflict settings in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia and Sudan – giving hope and stability to children living in otherwise chaotic and unpredictable environments.
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January 2009 Working Paper
In this Center for Universal Education Working Paper, Gene B. Sperling argues that there are important design elements of the existing global education architecture—the Education for All Fast Track Initiative—that reflect a promising model for a coordinated, global effort on education that should be built upon. Yet he also finds that a new Global Education Fund must employ serious reforms and have a major rebranding and relaunching moment by heads of state that mobilizes a greater global commitment to more resources and sound program implementation to make significant steps toward achieving quality universal education for the world’s poorest children.
September 26, 2008
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FT Seasonal Appeal: Report on Zambia
by Caroline Daniel
'What Works in Girls' Education' in Newsweek
Education: It's Not Just About the Boys. Get Girls into School.
The Huffington Post
Gene Sperling
September 8, 2008
As the world celebrates International Literacy Day today, there are few countries being more closely watched than Kenya.