There are still 800 million illiterate people in the world and the school dropout rate in some countries is still very high, according to Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007, released by UNESCO.

Although some progress has been made in popularizing preliminary education, there is still a long way to go before the United Nations Millennium Development Goal is achieved, which was to achieve universal primary education by 2005.

The report said that the global enrollment rate for primary school is up to 86 percent. There has been a significant overall improvement in many countries. The enrollment rate in southern Saharan regions has increased by 19 percent. However, only two-thirds of the students go on to finish their education. In Latin America and the Caribbean just 83 percent of children attend primary school.

Most of the students dropping out of school come from the rural areas of poor countries. The number of students going on to receive a secondary education has grown in all developing countries, but the rate in southern Saharan regions and western Africa is still low, 30 percent and 51 percent respectively.

The enrollment gap between females and males has been narrowed from 92:100 to 94:100. Only one-third of countries have equal gender enrollment. The illiteracy rate of adults is still very high; there are 780 million illiterate people, two-thirds of whom are women.

The report attached great importance to the education of children in their early years, because this is the best time to develop the brain. However, half of the children around the world do not receive any education before the age of 3. Therefore it is important that governments regulate childhood education from birth, and increase investment in preschool education.

By People's Daily Online