Raise a hand for education

With MDG2, the world committed to achieving universal primary education (UPE) by 2015. Since the commitment in 2000, there has been great progress. Thanks to savings from debt relief, development assistance for education and prioritization by African governments, 50.8 million children in sub-Saharan Africa went to school for the first time between 1999 and 2010. Despite a growing school-age population in sub-Saharan Africa, enrollment rates have risen and many countries have an equal number of boys and girls in primary education - ensuring an equal opportunity to learn for all children. But while many developing countries have made substantial progress in enrolling children in school, there still much to do to ensure all children get a quality education.

The Global Partnership for Education coordinates bilateral and multilateral support for education, using their multilateral fund to support developing countries' national education plans. The Global Partnership will host its first replenishment November 7-8, 2011 in Copenhagen, where donor governments will make pledges for the next three years. Fully funded, the Global Partnership will enroll 25 million children in primary school, put 50 million new textbooks in classrooms and train 600,000 new teachers in partner countries over the next three years. These are goals shared by donors and recipient countries alike. The success of this pledging conference will help determine how closely the world gets to achieving the Millennium Development Goal on education.