Africa: Failure of girl's education targets shames the world

On International Women's Day, the Global Campaign for Education released a new report slamming world leaders for their failure to achieve the first and most critical of all the Millennium Development Goals - getting equal numbers of girls as boys into school by 2005. A majority of developing countries are set to miss the target, and new research cited in the report shows that an extra 1 million child deaths will occur this year alone because of failure to close the education gap facing girls.

Unacceptably slow progress on girls' education is perpetuating hunger, poverty and ill health, charged the campaign group. "This is the first of the Millennium goals to be missed," said GCE coordinator Anne Jellema, "and it is being swept under the carpet. The credibility of all the other Millennium goals will be seriously undermined unless the international community agrees fresh action and new resources to guarantee a basic education to every girl."