Addressing the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, Ms. Bellamy urged delegates and the international community to accelerate efforts to ensure that education plans and programmes receive adequate support. The Forum is the largest meeting on education since the 1990 World Conference on Education for All, held in Jomtien, Thailand, which aimed to achieve education for all by 2000. The Dakar meeting is expected to reset the target of quality basic education for all children to the year 2015 and to end disparities between girls and boys in school by 2005. All forms of gender discrimination in education must be eliminated. This means quality teaching, physically and emotionally healthy environments, and relevant curricula.
Girls make up the largest single group of children out of school.
Girls' education is a proven 'best investment' for human, social, and economic development, she said. Ms. Bellamy said that the Framework of Action being negotiated in Dakar must single out girls' education as a priority. With the experience of the last decade and longer, she said, we know how to do this. As one example, we must ensure that schools are located where girls can reach them safely and that every school has separate and functioning latrines for girls and boys. Young, female teachers are also an important factor in attracting and keeping girls in school.