Official indicators corresponding to MDG 2 first consider the enrolment rate in primary education.

The situation in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of primary education is favorable as in recent decades the region has experienced a significant increase in the enrolment rate. As seen in Chart 1, the region on average raised the enrolment rate from approximately 86% in 1991 to almost 94% in 2006, even balancing the corresponding ratio for men and women in the present decade.

Also, as data from UNESCO shows, 4.5 million people between the ages of 15 and 19 years have not completed primary school. The information also claims that the greatest challenges in this area are more prominent in some countries of Central America (UNESCO, 2007/1).

The third official indicator refers to the literacy rate of 15 to 24 year-olds. At present, this rate is greater than 95% in most of the countries in the region and has been increasing since 1990 to date (see Chart 5).

This last indicator along with the enrolment rate and student completion of primary school is considered essential to achieve greater levels of equality in the countries in the region. Both these indicators respond to educational deficiencies which limit the populations’ future possibilities of attaining employment, income, and quality of life, thus generating deep inequities and inequalities in society.

Nevertheless, due to the level of development and particularities of the countries of the region, there is no consensus on whether official MDG indicators are the most appropriate or that they sufficiently can measure this Goal. ECLAC proposed a number of supplementary indicators that could better describe the situation of the countries of the region in this context.

While the situation of education varies from country to country, it is know that some countries exhibit a high coverage for primary education. Such coverage does not ensure per se improvement of life conditions or overcoming of poverty.

Thus, the proposal from ECLAC considers, for instance, literacy of adult population. A line of discussion takes into account how important to identify those individuals who do not benefit from the progress made in the education that is covered and who lack the basic tools in terms of reading, writing, and mathematic skills, skills which are necessary to have an appropriate performance in the current world. Also, the importance of leveling cognitive and non-cognitive skills from pre-school age is stressed as important as to achieve equal opportunities in the future. In this regard, the need of having information available about education coverage for children in pre-school age is acknowledged.

Chart 6 illustrates, with some exceptions, that Latin American and the Caribbean countries have been able to raise the enrolment rate for pre-primary education during the present decade. However many of the countries still show very low rates in terms of coverage. Another area of education identified by ECLAC as priority in monitoring MDGs is the enrolment rate for secondary education.

As the need of completion of primary education is stated, also important is preventing school drop-outs during the subsequent stages of education. This is a rather a common situation in the countries in the region as the rate of students returning to school during this stage has been confirmed as very low and only increases in tertiary education.