For more information: Angela Bekkers, email: abekkers@educationfasttrack.org, tel: +1 202 458 8831

Washington D.C. 28 April 2011 - 22 million more children enrolled in school in 43 FTI-endorsed developing countries between 2000 and 2008, according to the newly released Annual Report 2010 of the Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA FTI).

The EFA FTI is an international partnership of developing and donor countries, dedicated to ensuring quality basic education for all children. Primary school children in FTI countries, of which 25 are in Sub-Saharan Africa, totaled 81 million in 2008. This improvement was particularly significant in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Niger, where primary school enrollment more than doubled. The number of out-of-school children in FTI partner countries fell during the same period from 23.5 million to 14 million, a 40 percent decrease.

FTI partner countries are making major progress in having children complete their primary education. The proportion of children who finish the last grade of primary school increased from 58 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2008. Fifteen FTI partner countries have achieved, or are close to achieving, the Millennium Development Goal of a primary school completion rate of 95 percent by 2015. “I am proud of the accomplishments of FTI partner countries. While important challenges remain, and we are looking forward to even greater progress, partner countries are investing significant domestic resources in the education sector. They have demonstrated over and over again that education remains a top priority, even under the current economic circumstances”, says Robert Prouty, Head of the EFA FTI Secretariat.

There is good progress as well in the percentage of girls who complete a full cycle of primary education; 68% completed the last grade in 2008, compared with only 52% in 2000. In 29 FTI-endorsed countries, the number of girls enrolled in school more than doubled between 2000 and 2008. Improvements in closing the gender gap were most notable in Bhutan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guinea, Nepal, Rwanda, and Senegal.

Unfortunately, too many girls do not continue on to secondary education which seriously hampers their ability to become economically independent citizens and raising healthy families in sustainable households. “In parts of Africa and South Asia, greater support is needed for girls, particularly in their early teenage years to get them and keep them in school”, according to Robert Prouty. “EFA FTI will increase its policy and financial support to partner countries to ensure that girls complete their basic education and encourage them to transition to secondary school. This will build the basis for reducing poverty at individual and community levels.”

Learning remains the next frontier for FTI partner countries. EFA FTI will focus on ensuring that all children learn to read in early primary years. The FTI agenda over the next years will include systemic measurement of learning levels. Data measurement needs to be followed up by guidelines on how to tackle issues that influence the quality of education, such as absenteeism, quality of teaching, ‘enablers’ for improved learning such as school feeding programs, targeted scholarships, book design, and language of instruction.