''Back to School?'' report - The worst places to be a school child in 2010’

The Global Campaign for Education launched ‘'Back to School? The worst places to be a school child in 2010’’, a report backed by Plan, Education International, Oxfam, Save the Children and VSO. Somalia and Haiti have topped the list of the world’s worst places to be a school child. Despite significant progress made since 2000, there are still 69 million children out of school today around the world and too often the quality of education is very poor leading to early drop-out and illiteracy, according to the report.

GCE and partners are calling on leaders to make funding for education a priority in order to meet the target of universal access to basic schooling by 2015. It argues that poor countries should spend 20% of their national budget on education, abolishing school fees and be supported to hire an additional 1.9 million teachers so that every child can have access to education. In addition, rich countries must agree a ‘step up plan’ to reach the $16 billion per year needed to achieve Education For All.

 

Eliminating violence in schools is essential

Plan contributed to the report by providing comment and information on the Learn Without Fear campaign. The experiences of the campaign over the last two years have shown how eliminating violence in schools is essential if the world wants to achieve MDG2 (Universal Primary education) and 3 (Gender Equality).

Violence is one of the key factors which prevents children from attending school and forces them to drop out. Recent research from Mali showed that 95% of parents believe sexual violence against girls is a barrier to their education. Preventing abuse and raising awareness about violence in schools can have a positive impact on enrolment levels, says the report.

Plan supports the GCE's call for a “global reinvigoration of efforts to set the world back on track for achieving Education for All by 2015” and will continue to promote the Learn Without Fear campaign to back up it up.