By the year 2015 all 191 United Nations member states have pledged to deliver universal primary education.

Net enrolment ratios for primary and secondary schools in the partner countries in 1998 [The number of students enrolled in a level of education of official school age for that level, as a percentage of the population of official school age for that level]

	United Kingdom	Nicaragua	Senegal	South Africa	France	Germany
Net primary enrolment ratio (%)	100	72*	59	100	100	87
Net secondary enrolment ratio (%)	79	22*	12*	62	94	88

*Figures for 1985-1987
Source: United Nation's Human Development Report

Non Attendance / Truancy

In the case of Nicaragua, Senegal and South Africa, children may not attend school for a whole host of reasons largely related to poverty. In Nicaragua for example, of the 60% of students that attend rural schools, most simply study through to fourth grade and then return to work full time in the fields or on their family's property.


In the United Kingdom, France and Germany, truancy is a problem; in the UK more than a fifth of secondary school pupils were absent at some point on average for fifteen "half days" and, although this is only a tiny percentage, the education department makes the point that about 50,000 children are not in school on any given day.
» BBC

A report published by the University of Cologne in 2004 suggests that 7.9% of all students in Germany can be defined as truants.
» Uni Koeln

Public education expenditure as a percentage of total government expenditure 1995-1997

	United Kingdom	Nicaragua	Senegal	South Africa	France	Germany
Public education expenditure (% of total government expenditure)	5.3	3.9	33.1	7.6	10.9	4.8

Source: United Nation's Human Development Reports

Male and female education enrolment ratios (primary, secondary and tertiary) in 2000

[The number of students enrolled in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, regardless of age, as a percentage of the population of official school age for the three levels]

	United Kingdom	Nicaragua	Senegal	South Africa	France	Germany
Male gross enrolement ratio (%)	112	65	31	96	96	93
Female gross enrolement ratio (%)	100	61	40	89	93	95

Source: United Nations Human Development Reports 2002

Literacy (aged 15 years and over)

	United Kingdom	Nicaragua	Senegal	South Africa	France	Germany	USA
Total population (%)	99	68.2	39.1	85	99	99	97
Male (%)	99	67.1	51.1	86	99	99	97
Female (%)	99	70.5	28.9	85	99	99	97

Source: The Central Intelligence Agency (2002) The World Fact Book

Girls' enrolment as a percentage of boys' enrolment: selected years for all developing regions in 1997

Source: UNESCO in Oxfam International (2000) The Oxfam Education Report (pp.93)

The cost of education

Country	The cost of education
Nicaragua	There is a constitutional provision guaranteeing free primary education. However, it is customary for primary schools to collect a "voluntary" fee of five córdobas per month per student. (Nicaragua Reform Evaluation Team (1996) Nicaragua's School Autonomy Reform: A First Look) Financial support from the department of education covers approximately 80-95% of the costs for primary school students. Secondary schools are encouraged to collect a fee of ten córdobas per month (equivalent to US$1.22) from each student. Certain students (the children of teachers, poor students and students with outstanding academic records) can be exempted from the fees. ( Nicaragua Reform Evaluation Team (1996) Nicaragua's School Autonomy Reform: A First Look) Financial support from the department of education covers approximately 65% of the costs for students in secondary grades.
Senegal	Families in Senegal have to pay a subsidy of around 1500 F CFA (around £2) per child per year to send their child to school.   If the family can't pay, the children are not allowed to go to school, except sometimes the government allows them to pay later in the school year or the children may go to the coranic school which is less expensive; registration is 500F (50p) CFA per child per year + 25 F CFA (2p) once a week.
South Africa	In South Africa there are independent schools with no state subsidy and public schools which vary in the amount of state funding they receive. 'Sector 21' schools are usually well resourced by demanding high school fees. 'Sector 18' schools rely largely on state subsidy but this is insufficient, some are without clean running water, electricity and toilet facilities. These schools hardly rely on school fees because of the inability of the parents to pay school fees due to poverty.
United Kingdom	In the UK primary and secondary education is free, although there are private schools which charge high fees for attendance.
France	France has a system of free primary and secondary education. However around 21% of children of secondary school age attend a private school, and 15% of primary school children. (UNESCO, 2000).
Germany	Germany offers free primary and secondary education. Only a relatively small percentage (2.2% of primary school and 7% of secondary school aged children) attend a fee paying school. (UNESCO, 2000).