4 November 2015: Progress toward gender parity is one of the biggest education successes since 2000, according to the Gender Report of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR). The report also highlights remaining challenges, particularly widening gender disparity at each level of education, and persistent disadvantages for the poorest girls.

UNESCO launched the report, titled ‘Gender and EFA 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges,’ on the sidelines of the 38th UNESCO General Conference. The launch event featured speeches by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and ministers from Niger and Paraguay. Bokova stressed that success in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will depend on educated, empowered girls and women; education and empowerment “unleashes a ripple effect that changes the world unmistakably for the better.”

Niger’s Minister of Education, Literacy and the Promotion of National Languages, Ali Mariama Elhadj Ibrahim, drew attention to adult literacy: “when parents are illiterate, the household is illiterate.” She said Niger also engages cultural and community leaders in encouraging girls to go to and stay in school.

The number of countries that have achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education has increased from 36 to 62 since 2000, and an additional 52 million girls are in school. Still, nearly 62 million girls lack the basic right to education. [UNESCO Press Release] [Publication: Gender and EFA 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges] [IISD RS Story on EFA Report]