NEW YORK (JIS) - Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Education Minister Maxine Henry Wilson will join a high level team of education ministers, experts and practitioners of early childhood care and education from around the world for the launch of the 2007 Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) at UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization) House, New York City on Thursday, October 26 at 9:30 am.

Hon. Maxine Henry Wilson will join a distinguished panel that includes the Minister of Education from Ghana; Eminent Indian Educator, Inderjit Khurana; Lothar Krappmann of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child; representatives from UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

They will discuss findings in the report as well as its implications for policy-makers and the donor community, after the launching.

The EFAGMR which is prepared annually by an independent team of experts and published by UNESCO, will this year (2007) focus on early childhood care and education. The report also includes its regular assessment of where the world stands on its commitment to providing basic education to all children, youth and adults by 2015.

It reveals a clear acceleration in the drive to EFA with a significant fall in the numbers of children out-of-school and increasing numbers of girls attending school.

The 2007 EFAGMR notes that Latin America and the Caribbean lead the developing world in early childhood education. However, the report also finds that despite its well-documented benefits on all aspects of child development and well-being, this area remains the forgotten link in the education chain in most other developing nations.

The Report further provides a thorough analysis of aid to education, looking at who provides how much and where as well as an annual education index showing which countries are making the most rapid progress and those still lagging behind.

Thursday’s launch ceremony will be presided over by Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO and will be assisted by Nicholas Burnett, the Director of the Report; Peter Smith, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO and Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF.