Research shows that investments in education bring important benefits for the individual and the family, as well as improved returns for the larger community. As the level of education increases, so does the chance to hold a steady job, have a healthy life and support a family. The results can be measured. Better education, especially among adolescent girls, results in lower infant mortality, fewer unwanted pregnancies and the reduction of violence. It can safeguard youth against HIV and other diseases, which leads many to call education the
“social vaccine.”

The right to education is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and every subsequent major international human rights agreement. Despite such widespread recognition of the right to education, huge gaps remain in the provision of basic education. Around the globe, 72 million children¹ are out of school. Overcrowded classrooms, poorly trained teachers and inadequate supplies conspire against learning. Those who attend school often finish their education lacking basic skills. 57% (41 million) of the youth not in school are girls, who face greater and unique obstacles to obtaining education (such as unwillingness to invest in daughters’ education, violence in and on the way to school, and lack of time due to household expectations around chores and other labor).

Education is a development priority as recognized in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

UN Millennium Development Goal 2
• Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

UN Millennium Development Goal 3
• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.

1. 1. UNESCO Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2008