The EFA monitoring report for 2006 assesses the various challenges still faced by the world in fulfilling the commitment to EFA goals. In particular it notes that universal primary education is an urgent target as approximately a 100 million children are still not enrolled in primary schools. 55% of this group comprises of girls.  

The report states “The 2005 gender parity target has been missed. 94 countries have not met the goal, and 86 are at risk of not doing so even by 2015. At the primary-school level, where 16 countries have not reached gender parity, the issue is principally one of girls’ enrollment. At the secondary level, on the other hand, girls predominate in almost half of the countries that have not achieved parity, reflecting high dropout rates among boys.” A major contributor to the dropout rate is the low quality of education reflected in “too few teachers, too few women teachers, and too few trained and qualified teachers” and a corresponding realization that in many countries, “primary teacher numbers would have to increase by 20% a year to reduce pupil/teacher ratios to 40:1 and to achieve UPE by 2015”. (EFA Monitoring Report, 2006).  

Despite emphasis on removing the resource limitations that may hinder achievement of EFA goals; aid for education still remains low and accounts for only 2.6% of the Official Development Assistance.