New challenges in education

Daunting challenges are facing the Education for All movement in the future.

Daunting challenges are facing the Education for All movement in the future: how to reach out with education to HIV/AIDS victims in regions such as Africa where the pandemic is reaping havoc in terms of teacher loss, orphaned pupils and teacher and pupil absenteeism; how to extend education to the increasing number of refugees and displaced people; how to help teachers acquire a new understanding of their roles and how to harness the new technologies to benefit the poor.

And probably the most daunting challenge of all – in a world with 700 million people living in 42 highly indebted countries – how to help education overcome poverty and give millions of children a chance to realize their full potential. What is needed most is additional resources. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his Millennium Report, notes that providing primary education for the 130 million children in developing countries who do not now enjoy it would add an estimated $7 billion a year to educational costs over a 10-year period. What are needed are not just schools. "Schools must be accessible, have qualified teachers and offer such amenities as textbooks and supplies for the poor." The Secretary-General has set very specific goals: to demonstrably narrow the gender gap in primary and secondary education by 2005; to ensure that by 2015, all children everywhere -- boys and girls alike -- will be able to complete primary schooling.