Education for All - Global Monitoring Report 2010: Reaching the marginalized -  UNESCO, 2010

Education systems in many of the world's poorest countries are now experiencing the aftershock of the global economic downturn. The 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, released on 19 January, argues that the crisis could create a lost generation of children whose life chances will have been irreparably damaged by a failure to protect their right to education. The Report examines who these children are and why they are being left behind, and shows that the cost of providing Education for All is much higher than previously estimated. The report looks at concrete solutions for making sure that no children are excluded from schooling.

Children at risk of marginalization in education are found in all societies. At first glance, the lives of these children may appear poles apart. The daily experiences of slum dwellers in Kenya, ethnic minority children in Viet Nam and a Roma child in Hungary are very different. What they have in common are missed opportunities to develop their potential, realize their hopes and build a better future through education. A decade has passed since world leaders adopted the Education for All goals. While progress has been made, millions of children are still missing out on their right to education. Reaching the marginalized identifies some of the root causes of disadvantage, both within education and beyond, and provides examples of targeted policies and practices that successfully combat exclusion. Set against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, the Report calls for a renewed financing commitment by aid donors and recipient governments alike to meet the Education for All goals by 2015.

Table of Contents

# Chapters

1. Education at risk: the impact of the financial crisis
2. Progress towards the EFA goals
3. Reaching the marginalized
4. The aid compact: falling short of commitments
5. Rising to the EFA challenge

# Annex

* The Education for All Development Index
* Selected international human rights treaties relevant to the EFA goals
* Educational effect of selected social protection programmes
* Statistical tables - Introduction | Statistical tables
* Aid tables
* Glossary
* Bibliography
* Abbreviations
* Index
* Corrigendum

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2009 World Conference on Higher Education: The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research For Societal Change and Development (UNESCO, Paris, 5 – 8 July 2009) - Final Communique (8 July 2009)

PREAMBLE: We, the participants of the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education, held from 5 to 8 July 2009 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, recognising the abiding relevance of the outcomes and Declaration of the 1998 World Conference on Higher Education and taking into account the outcomes and recommendations of the six regional conferences (Cartagena de Indias, Macau, Dakar, New Delhi, Bucharest and Cairo) as well as the debates and outcomes of this world conference, ‘The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research for Societal Change and Development’, adopt the present communiqué. As a public good and a strategic imperative for all levels of education and as the basis for research, innovation and creativity, higher education must be a matter of responsibility and economic support of all governments. As emphasised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit’ (Article 26, paragraph 1). The current economic downturn may widen the gap in access and quality between developed and developing countries as well as within countries, presenting additional challenges to countries where access is already restricted. At no time in history has it been more important to invest in higher education as a major force in building an inclusive and diverse knowledge society and to advance research, innovation and creativity. The past decade provides evidence that higher education and research contribute to the eradication of poverty, to sustainable development and to progress towards reaching the internationally agreed upon development goals, which include the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA). The global education agenda should reflect these realities.

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