Primary education Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==International interpretations== {{further| List of primary education systems by country}} ===Millennium Development Goals=== {{Main|Millennium Development Goals}} [[File:Millennium_Development_Goals,_UN_Headquarters,_New_York_City,_New_York_-_20080501.jpg|thumb|A poster at the [[United Nations Headquarters]] in [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States, showing the Millennium Development Goals]] The [[United Nations]] [[Millennium Development Goals|Millennium Development Goal 2]] (2002) was to achieve [[universal primary education]] by 2015. By that time, they aimed to ensure that all children everywhere, regardless of race or gender, could complete primary schooling.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml|title=United Nations Millennium Development Goals|website=UN|access-date=2017-05-23}}</ref> Because the United Nations specifically focused on [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] and [[South Asia]], as they are both home to the vast majority of children out of school, they hypothesized that they might not have been able to reach their goal by 2015. According to the September 2010 fact sheet, this was because there were still about 69 million school-age children who were not in school with almost half of the demographic in sub-Saharan Africa and more than a quarter in Southern Asia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_2_EN.pdf|title=GOAL 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education|website=UN|access-date=2017-05-23}}</ref> In order to achieve the goal by 2015, the United Nations estimated that all children at the official entry age for primary school would have had to have been attending classes by 2009. This would depend upon the duration of the primary level and how well the schools retain students until the end of the cycle. Not only was it important for children to be enrolled in education, but countries would have to ensure that there were a sufficient number of teachers and classrooms to meet the demand. As of 2010, the number of new teachers needed in sub-Saharan Africa alone, equaled the extant teaching force in the region.<ref name="autogenerated182">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202010%20En%20r15%20-low%20res%2020100615%20-.pdf#page=18|title=GOAL 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education|website=UN|format=PDF|access-date=2017-05-23}}</ref> The gender gap for [[Education for All#World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, 2000)|children not in education]] narrowed. Between 1999 and 2008, the number of girls not in education worldwide had decreased from 57 percent to 53 percent. However, in some regions, the percentage had increased.<ref name="autogenerated182" /> According to the United Nations, many things in the regions have already been accomplished. Although enrollment in the sub-Saharan area of Africa continues to be the lowest region worldwide, by 2010, "it still increased by 18 percentage points—from 58 percent to 76 percent—between 1999 and 2008." There was also progress in Southern Asia and North Africa, where both areas saw an increase in enrollment. For example, in Southern Asia, this had increased by 11 percent and in North Africa by 8 percent- over the last decade.<ref name="autogenerated182" /> Major advances had been made even in the poorest countries, like the abolition of primary school fees in [[Burundi]] where there was an increase in primary-school enrollment, which reached 99 percent as of 2008. Also, [[Tanzania]] experienced a similar outcome. The country doubled its enrollment ratio over the same period. Moreover, other regions in Latin America such as [[Guatemala]] and [[Nicaragua]], and [[Zambia]] in Southern Africa "broke through the 90 percent towards greater access to primary education."<ref name="autogenerated182" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page