Education

Every child has a right to learn.

Yet 75 million children, of whom 41 million are girls, do not go to primary school.

Education

The challenge

Though there are 18 million primary aged children out of school in South and West Asia, Africa still has the most children out of school: 35 million.

To reach the goal of sending every child to primary school, Africa needs an extra 1.6 million teachers. It must recruit 4 million between now and 2015.

Education is both a right and a route out of poverty. People who have been to school are more likely to find work, look after their health and demand that governments act in their interests.

What DFID is doing

DFID is committed to achieving the Education for All (EFA) and the education Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets. There has been good recent progress globally in ensuring the right of every child to a good quality primary education. But more needs to be done if we are to enrol, by 2015, the 75 million primary-aged children currently out of school.

In April 2006, the UK Government committed to spend £8.5 billion over 10 years in support of education in developing countries. Our long-term commitment is helping poor countries in Africa and Asia to prepare ambitious and credible long-term plans to achieve the education goals by 2015.

DFID is working with developing countries, international organisations, civil society and other donors in tackling obstacles preventing children from going to school, such as tuition fees, the lack of teachers, over-crowded classrooms and inadequate facilities and teaching materials.

While universal primary education remains our priority, there is also a growing need to invest in secondary and higher education and vocational skills training. Young people graduating from secondary schools and colleges today will become the teachers, health workers and business people of tomorrow.

Secondary education is one of the most important ways of improving the status and health of young women - read our case study about how DFID support is opening secondary schools in Tanzania.

Research on education

DFID manages three major education research programmes. They focus on the key priorities for achieving the MDGs as well as long-term economic growth: quality of education, access to education and results.