The European Year for Development: Education

Briefing 12-02-2015

Access to quality education is essential for development: estimates suggest global poverty could drop by 12 % if all children in low income countries could read. The European Parliament has called for gender equality in education and for providing vulnerable groups special attention. The percentage of aid devoted to education has remained constant. While amounts increased between 2002 and 2010, they have begun to decline since. Global net enrolment for primary education grew from 83 % to 90 % between 2000 and 2012. But progress is uneven: 58 million children are out of school, often because of poverty, location, gender or conflict. Half the children who do not attend school live in regions affected by conflict. The EU institutions spent EUR 4.2 billion on education in 2007-2013. The EP recognises the need to: • guarantee education for women and girls, • pay attention to emergency situations, and • build 'knowledge-based' societies that encourage citizens to participate.