Thematic paper on Millennium Development Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

The paper aims to shed light on the achievement progress of MDG2 universal primary enrollment on a global level while highlighting critical gaps in policy designing and implementation and also providing recommendations for future course of action. Statistical analysis reveals that although primary school aged children not in school decreased by 33 million, 29 countries reported net enrollment rate of less than 80%. The study recognizes that effective coordination of stakeholders, prioritization of educational aims, greater availability of secondary schooling, increased public expenditure, development of a conductive and learning environment, decentralization of decision making along with focus on enhancing the quality of education has resulted in remarkable progress in many countries. The success of the strategies can be further enhanced by focusing on eradication of poverty primarily through education, developing sector-wide policies, emphasizing the importance of good governance and greater accountability and developing administrative capacity to meet the stated targets. 

The study highlights the barriers faced by several countries in achieving MDG 2 including inadequate resources, lack of comprehensive capacity to design, implement and monitor programs and complex bureaucratic systems. The key findings provide several recommendations including the need to increase political commitment and adopting a holistic approach that establishes a broader framework for planning and budgeting. Financial sources must be increased through domestic and foreign expenditure and emphasis must be placed on designing various incentives according to the educational environment with particular focus on providing social security and other programs to poor in order to increase their enrollment and retention rates.