Progress in getting all children to school stalls but some countries show the way forward
UNESCO Policy Paper 14 / Fact Sheet 28
Jointly released by the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
June 2014
[Excerpt from press release and report; Editor’s text bolding]

…As debate continues over the goals and targets of the post-2015 development agenda, new data show that the world will not fulfil one of the most basic commitments: to get every child in school by 2015. According to UIS data, nearly 58 million children of primary school age (typically between 6 and 11 years of age) were not enrolled in school in 2012 (see Figure 1). Many of them will probably never enter a classroom.

The momentum to reach out-of-school children has slowed considerably in recent years, with the global primary out-of-school rate stuck at 9% since 2007… The standstill at the global level is the result of opposing trends: a significant decline in the number of out-of-school children in certain countries due to important policy initiatives, and a rising school-age population in sub-Saharan Africa.

In view of the most recent UIS data, it is certain that the world will not reach the (MDG) goal of UPE (universal Primary Education) by 2015.