Need to think beyond MDG deadline: Shashi Tharoor

Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor Friday said there is a need to think beyond the 2015 deadline of millennium development goal (MDG) for education for all (EFA) as most of the countries are likely to miss the target.

Inaugurating an international education summit of E9 (Education 9) countries, the minister noted that some countries may face greater challenges than others in meeting the EFA goals by the 2015 target date, and that the quality problem is more acute in the developing world.

"Now that we are only three years away from the 2015 deadline, it is imperative that we scale up our efforts in a final attempt to reach the EFA goals. But we also have to start thinking of the future agenda - the agenda beyond 2015," Tharoor said, inaugurating international education summit of E9 (Education 9).

E9 is a forum of world's most populous countries aiming to achieve the goal of education for all. Its member countries are Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan.

The minister said the agenda for targets beyond 2015 should be based on the analysis of where we are in 2012 and what we expect to achieve by 2015. Tharoor added that there was a need to examine "the critical factors which affect our efforts in reaching the EFA Goals".

The six EFA goals include: expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children; ensuring that children have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality by 2015; ensuring learning needs of all young people and adults are met, achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, achieving gender equality in education by 2015, and improving all aspects of the quality of education.