OSLO, 15. December 2008: According to the EFA FTI (Education for Alle, Fast Track Initiative) Annual Report 2008 launched Monday in Oslo, there has been tremendous progress in Sub-Saharan African countries when it comes to schooling, writes Worldbank.org
In FTI countries in Africa there is a 52 percent growth in enrollment (from 29,5 million children in 2000 to 44 million children enrolled in 2006), compared to a 23 percent increase in non-FTI countries.
The report titled “The Road to 2015: Reaching the education goals” notes that a large majority of the 36 FTI countries have met an important target of getting almost all children into the first grade of primary school by 2010 – a vital step towards the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015.
The total number of out-of-school children around the world dropped from 103 million in 1999 to 75 million in 2006 (UNESCO, 2008). Most of the 75 million children out of school today are hard to reach: girls, Aids orphans, children living in remote regions or belonging to ethnic minorities and children with disabilities.
EFA FTI currently supports 36 low-income countries around the world, including 22 in Sub-Saharan Africa. The FTI hopes to endorse the national education plans of approximately 50 countries by 2010.
The Annual Report 2008 can be downloaded from the website:
www.education-fast-track.org
The Education for All (EFA) Fast Track Initiative (FTI) was launched in 2002 as a global partnership between developing countries, donor countries and multilateral organizations including the World Bank, UNICEF and UNESCO to ensure accelerated progress towards the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 .
