The quality of education systems is failing children in many parts of the world and could prevent many countries from achieving Education for All by the target date of 2015. Overcrowded classes, poorly qualified teachers and ill-equipped schools with scant learning materials remain all too familiar pictures in many countries, says UNESCO. What children learn and how they learn can make or break their school experience and their subsequent opportunities in life.

Among all the development goals set out by the world community, eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education is the first due in 2005. It is an essential step toward achieving education for all children. Globally, an estimated 121 million children do not attend school. Of that number, 65 million are girls.

A lot of energy and resources are targeted to overcome the hurdle of so many girls being out of school, and to get rid of the poor quality of education.

• Ensuring that by 2015 all children -- particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities -- have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
• Achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.

With a mandate to serve the most marginalized groups, UNICEF focuses on girls – the largest group excluded from education. Ultimately, when schools are girl-friendly they are child-friendly.

In countries where the net enrolment rate of girls is less than 85 per cent, UNICEF programmes help governments to formulate policies, procedures and practices that will significantly reduce the number of girls who are not in school. In 2002, UNICEF began to intensify and accelerate its efforts in girls’ education in 25 countries where there are significant challenges to achieving international goals for gender parity in education.

UNICEF’s strategies to support access and reduce the number of girls out of school are adapted to the local situation. Interventions typically include:

• Outreach to locate excluded and at-risk girls and get them into school;
• Policy support and technical assistance to governments and communities to increase access for children who are hardest to reach or suffer most from discrimination;
• Programmes to eliminate cultural, social and economic barriers to the education of girls;
• Support for the development and implementation of specific actions to reduce the gender gap, while increasing overall enrolment and attendance;
• Assistance in preparing for and responding to conflict and other crises so that affected children’s rights to basic education are fulfilled in safe, stable and gender-sensitive environments;
• Promoting quality in education as a means to encourage access.

Quality of education is insufficient in several regions of the world. Factors that influence the quality of education, including financial and material resources for schools, are the number of teachers and their training, core subjects, pedagogy, language, the amount of actual learning time, facilities and leadership.