Missing in action

Education For All (EFA) was proclaimed as a global issue in 1946 and was reaffirmed as one of the six Millennium Goals of the United Nations in 2000. Those who had no education and also those with poor education foundations suffer multiple problems in later life. Where there is deterioration in one aspect of life there tends to be deterioration in all: work opportunities, health, civic contribution: the so-called convergence of disadvantage. Education is the essential tool for breaking this cycle of misfortune, but this requires greatly increasing the scope of what was seen as necessary.