Achieving the Goals - 2009

Overview

This report, commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat for the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2009, explores progress towards achieving good quality basic education for all.

Section A describes briefly the composition and the diversity of the Commonwealth before providing two short overviews on trends and significant advances in basic education across all of the countries of the Commonwealth and regional trends and patterns for Commonwealth Asia, Commonwealth Sub-Saharan Africa, the Commonwealth Caribbean and the Commonwealth Pacific.

Section B presents data for each Commonwealth country in graphical and diagrammatic form, contrasting wherever possible, the state of basic education in 1999 with the latest available statistics. Particular attention is paid to pre-primary education, Universal Primary Education (UPE), progress towards higher levels of adult literacy, gender parity and equality and some proxy indicators of better quality in basic education.

Author Biography

Carlos Aggio is an economist with international experience working on different fields of human development. His main research interest in education centres on the monitoring of international education goals and targets, their associated financial costs and their implications for overseas development assistance.

Steve Packer is now an independent consultant having worked previously for a number of bilateral and multilateral organisations including DFID, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Education for All Global Monitoring Report. His interests lie primarily in the provision of basic education, education sector policy analysis, aid for education and education in small states.