Oxfam Education Report

Written by Kevin Watkins (Senior Policy Adviser, Oxfam), this report describes the scale of the worldwide education crisis, explores its causes, and suggests an agenda for reform. It establishes a new analytical tool, the Education Performance Index (EPI), to assess the rate of progress towards universal primary education, and disaggregates national statistical data to show regional variances in performance. It is written for activists and campaigners, undergraduate students, and practitioners.

From the Publisher:
Today millions of children are denied the education they need to escape poverty. This book sets out the scale of the problem, identifies some of its underlying causes and provides an agenda for reform, including the Global Action Plan for education. This is an analysis of the state of basic education provision across the world, more than 50 years after the Universal Declaration on Human Rights established education as a fundamental right....It ranks countries by their performance in three key areas: enrolment in school; completion of education; and gender equity and demonstrates that low incomes need not be barriers towards universal primary education. The report integrates the stories and experiences of individuals, of small communities and of [non-government organisation] NGO groups to focus on the reality of education provision, and aims to make a contribution to the growing debate about achieving the target of universal primary education by 2015.

Table of Contents:

• Education and human development
• Education for all: promises and progress
• Inequalities in education
• National barriers to basic education
• International co-operation: the record since Jomtien
• Partnerships for change
• An agenda for action
• Appendix 1 The Education Performance Index (EPI)
• Appendix 2 List of background papers