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School children, International German school, Indonesia. Copyright: bpa, Köhler

Education for all

Background: Education - A Human Right

Education is a human right and provides the foundation on which individual and collective cultural identity can develop. Education is essential for sustainable human development and for enabling people to live together in peace. Every child has the right to a school education and every adult has the right to meet his or her basic learning needs. The promotion of education is one of the priority areas of German development cooperation.

Formal primary education: Education for All

"Education for All" is the ambitious goal that the international community has set itself. Under the Dakar Framework for Action and the Millennium Declaration, it committed itself to giving all children access to formal primary education by the year 2015. However, around 75 million primary school-aged children worldwide – more than half of them girls – currently do not attend school. Germany's commitment in many different areas in its partner countries is geared towards giving more children access to primary education so that the goal of "Education for All" can be achieved.

Vocational training: New Opportunities and Perspectives

Within the context of German development cooperation, vocational training is regarded as one stage in the life-long learning process. In general terms, it teaches and maintains the skills people need to find work and to remain in work, it secures a livelihood and serves as the basis for participation in society. Career guidance, careers advice and placement services help to make the transition between vocational training and work as smooth as possible. German development cooperation aims to link what is available in the field of vocational training with active labour market policy tools and the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Higher education: Training tomorrow's specialists and managers

Education, science and research are essential for a country's social and economic development. Universities and colleges train the specialists and managers who will initiate development and change processes in their countries. Research delivers the relevant know-how; innovations from research and development create new job opportunities. That is why the promotion of higher education is one of the priority areas of German development cooperation in the education sector.