At the midpoint between the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals and the 2015 target date for their achievement, sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to achieve any of the Goals, a UN progress report has found.

Developed to address the issue of world poverty, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aim to halve poverty and hunger, promote equal opportunity and improve health and access to education.

While progress has been made in several areas, sub-Saharan Africa still has much to be done to reduce extreme poverty, warns World Vision UK.

The completion of Millennium Development Goal Two, to achieve universal primary education, is fundamental to the success of other poverty-reduction strategies, the charity said. The UN report has found that Sub-Saharan Africa is making progress towards universal primary school enrolment but there is still a long way to go. In particular, girls and children from poorer or rural families are least likely to attend school.

Disabled children still miss out disproportionately on receiving any kind of education. It is estimated that around 26 million of the 77 million currently out of school are disabled children.

"Disabled children are becoming the key excluded group," said Philippa Lei, Senior Child Rights Policy Adviser at World Vision UK. "Disabled children make up a third of all those out of school. In Africa, fewer than 10 per cent of disabled children receive an education, and global estimates suggest only 2 per cent are in school," she continued.

Eyuel Tizazu, 8, is a student at an elementary school offering education to disabled children in rural Ethiopia. He joined the World Vision-supported school following sudden deafness caused by meningitis around three years ago.

The school has given Eyuel the chance to continue studying. Without it, Eyuel would have stayed at home, his mother said.

"In a country with a great number of physically impaired people who are deprived of basic education opportunity due to inadequate educational facilities especially in rural areas, efforts should be made to help them join school," said Eleni Mergia, Ephrata Area Development Programme manager, Ethiopia. "To this end, World Vision is now doing its level best in a bid to create conducive teaching-learning environments for the disabled students."

World Vision is urging donor governments to make inclusive strategies central to education plans and aid packages. The aim is to get every child to have access to a quality primary education by 2015.






[Source: World Vision]