The ambitious agenda to achieve Education for All by 2015 was deemed “unfinished business” at the World Education Forum in Incheon, Republic of Korea. Governments there expressed their support for the new path outlined in the proposed fourth goal of the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which calls on countries to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all”.

However, the latest UIS data on out-of-school children and adolescents help put into perspective just how challenging it will be to turn that vision into reality unless new approaches are taken to expand learning opportunities. The data show that Asia and the Pacific is home to 29 per cent of the world’s out-of-school primary-age children and 53 per cent of its out-of-school lower secondary-age adolescents and progress toward lowering the number has stalled in the region.

This fact sheet takes a look at the most recent data from UIS on the rates and number of out-of-school children and adolescents since 2000, first globally and then within this region, examining common characteristics these young people share to provide insights into which groups are more likely to find themselves excluded from national education systems. The focus then turns to a closer examination of the obstacles out-of-school children and adolescents face in this regard and introduces educational programmes that can helped them overcome these challenges.

For more information, please download the PDF version from URL below: 

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002351/235152E.pdf

In May 2015, the education community met again to discuss achievements and shortfalls in the implementation of the EFA goals and education-related MDGs, and to agree on a joint position for the education goal and targets for the post-2015 development agenda, which should be adopted by the United Nation Member States in September 2015.

With the deadline for the EFA goals having passed, this fact sheet assesses the EFA achievements in the Asia and Pacific region by looking at the degree of progress towards the six EFA goals and its major contributions most notably raising the duration of compulsory education, improving student participation in all levels of education and increasing school life expectancy. At the same time, bottlenecks and barriers are observed which hinder expanding the education system and its efficiency and quality. Finally, it sheds light on issues and challenges of monitoring the education post-2015 agenda based on our current experiences are discussed.

For more information, please download the PDF version from URL below: 

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002351/235153E.pdf

Science and technology has always been a foundation of the development in our society throughout history, resulting tremendous growth in researchers in the world. However, there is considerable disparity across Asia and the Pacific region in terms of participation of women in R&D activities. Although there is encouraging improvement, female researchers are still under-represented.

This fact sheet highlights such prevailing gender disparities at regional and sub-regional levels in enrolment and graduation from higher education and professional career choice. It also attempts to take an in-depth look in the system to see factors or barriers that keep women away from the field. Lastly, it will discuss about whether it is true that boys outperform girls in a quantitative way.  

For more information, please download the PDF version from URL below: 

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002351/235155E.pdf