The numbers are out, the data have been analysed, and the conclusions are clear: despite substantial gains in school enrollment over the past 15 years, the world has missed the goal of universal primary education by 2015. The failure to deliver on what seemed to be such a realistic and achievable goal represents a broken promise to millions of…

This report delves into a rich new body of data and analysis from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children (OOSCI), which confirms that the task of achieving education for all is far from over. The government-backed national studies carried out under the Initiative have marshalled a wide range of data sources for innovative analyses,…

In this article, the authors analyze the effect of poverty, social exclusion, and child labor on out-of-school rates for female children. This empirical study is based on a dynamic panel model for a sample of 216 countries over the period 1970 to 2010. Results based on the generalized method of moments (GMM) of Arellano and Bond (1991) and the…

This digest examines the problem of child labor and education in India and other Southeast Asian countries. It offers novel insights into the extent of child labor and the shortcomings and inertia of educational systems in adapting to the needs of working children. Also, the digest describes a series of promising educational innovations meant to…

Governments have traditionally left the plight of street children and working children, who by some counts number over 100 million, to individuals and nongovernmental organizations, including many religious organizations. As a result, there are a multitude of small, uncoordinated, but highly effective projects throughout the world concentrated in…