Although world leaders pledged in 2000 that there will be universal access to primary education by 2015, various obstacles encountered since then have pushed the date back. Key obstacles to universal access: the financial crisis, a lack of fair access, especially for girls, and cost. Firstly, because of the financial crisis, donor countries have drastically reduced the education funding given to developing and undeveloped countries. Secondly, there is still the notion of cultural differences and the longstanding discrimination against girls as a reason to not send them to school. Thirdly, in a meeting organised by the UN in April, eight countries - Bangladesh, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen - came together and a representative from the DR Congo said that about 60 per cent of those missing out on school did so because of the cost of school fees.

Still, statistics have been encouraging. In 2000, there were 108 million children out of school, and latest statistics indicate that this figure is now 57 million.

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