A sharp decline in aid to basic education to developing countries threatens to reverse progress towards the international goal of universal primary schooling. This is the stark conclusion drawn by UNESCO’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report Team.
According to the latest figures from the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) for 2007, total aid commitments to basic education declined from US $5.5 billion in 2006 to US $4.3 billion in 2007, representing a decrease of nearly 22%.UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report 2009 warned that the world will fall short of goals agreed by the international community at Dakar in 2000. There are currently 75 million children out of school; many millions more drop out before completing primary education. Projections indicate that the target of universal primary education by 2015 will be missed by at least 30 million children.