Education for All: Fast track or slow trickle

Finance and Development Ministers meet in Washington later this week at a time when the international community seems more divided than ever. The Spring Meetings provide an opportunity to bring the world together behind an unstoppable drive to educate all the world's children. Currently 115 million children are out of school. Last year the international community agreed a Fast Track initiatve to tackle this crisis. The response from many developing countries has been impressive. It is now time for rich countries to deliver and stop the Fast Track from becoming a slow trickle

Every Child in School: A challenge to finance and development ministers

125 million children are out of school, and there are nearly one billion illiterate adults. In a rapidly globalising world, the costs of excluding so many from the economic and political opportunities associated with education are rising sharply, and threaten growing instability. At the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, the world's Finance and Development Ministers will consider an action plan for achieving education for all. This action plan represents the best chance in a generation to get all the world's children into school. Ministers should turn the promise of new aid made last month in Monterrey into action to tackle the global education crisis

Achieving Universal Primary Education

The world is facing a silent education crisis. The victims receive no television coverage, and their voices go largely unheard. But the consequences of this crisis are immense in terms of wasted opportunities for economic growth and social justice. The education deficit is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa, where problems caused by lack of funding are compounded by conflicts, population growth, HIV-AIDS, and gender discrimination. In Zambia, more teachers died of AIDS than passed through teacher training last year. The World Education Forum in Dakar in April 2000 provides an opportunity to launch a concrete programme to deliver the internationally agreed target of achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015

Education: The Global Gender Gap

Girls' education is a fundamental right, as well as a catalyst for economic growth and human development. Despite this, girls comprise two-thirds of the 125 million children across the world who are not in school. The World Education Forum in Dakar in April 2000 provides an opportunity to launch a concrete programme to deliver the internationally agreed target of achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015, and to close the gender gap in education. The British Government should provide the international leadership required to tackle the global education crisis, and to close the gender gap. This kind of leadership has been extremely effective on debt relief. The Prime Minister should take the lead in launching a global initiative aimed at mobilising $8 billion per annum in support of national education reform strategies with robust monitoring of progress towards Universal Primary Education, and the elimination of the gender gap in education

Education Charges: A tax on human development

New research illustrates how education charges trap children in a cycle of illiteracy and poverty. Governments and international organizations must act immediately on their commitments to deliver free basic education for all

Using process data to understand outcomes in sexual health promotion: an example from a review of school-based programmes to prevent sexually transmitted infections

This article discusses how process indicators can complement outcomes as part of a comprehensive explanatory evaluation framework, using the example of skills-based behavioural interventions to prevent sexually transmitted infections and promote sexual health among young people in schools. A systematic review was conducted, yielding 12 eligible outcome evaluations, 9 of which included a process evaluation. There were few statistically significant effects in terms of changes in sexual behaviour outcomes, but statistically significant effects were more common for knowledge and self-efficacy. Synthesis of the findings of the process evaluations identified a range of factors that might explain outcomes, and these were organized into two overarching categories: the implementation of interventions, and student engagement and intervention acceptability. Factors which supported implementation and engagement and acceptability included good quality teacher training, involvement and motivation of key school stakeholders and relevance and appeal to young people. Factors which had a negative impact included teachers’ failure to comprehend the theoretical basis for behaviour change, school logistical problems and omission of topics that young people considered important. It is recommended that process indicators such as these be assessed in future evaluations of school-based sexual health behavioural interventions, as part of a logic model