Education Promises
The world's leaders have repeatedly promised to provide Education for All.
Education is a Human Right
Education is a basic human right that was declared in
- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
- the International Covenant on Civil, Economic and Social Rights
- the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child.
The Education for All Goals
In 2000, Canada joined the world's leaders and international organizations at the UNESCO World Education Forum in Dakar where they committed to providing the resources and policy changes to meet 6 Education for All (EFA) Goals by 2015:
- Expand early childhood care and learning,
- Provide free and compulsory primary education for everyone;
- Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults,
- Increase adult literacy rates by 50% (especially for women),
- Achieve gender parity in primary and secondary schools by 2005 and gender equality in education by 2015, and
- Improve all aspects of the quality of education.
The Millennium Development Goals
In ratifying the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in 2000 the world’s leaders also promised to:
- Ensure that all boys and girls complete primary schooling by 2015
- Eliminate gender disparities in primary education by 2005 and at all levels by 2015.
The G8 has Recommitted to Providing EFA
In subsequent meetings of the G8 industrialized countries since 2000 (e.g. at Kananaskis, Gleneagles), world leaders have re-affirmed their commitments to meeting these EFA and MDG targets.