United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan last week launched a 10-year initiative on equal access to education, particularly for girls, which he hopes will be endorsed by member states at a summit this September. He was keynote speaker at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, an event organised by the International Consultative Forum on Education For All (EFA).

Carol Bellamy, UNICEF executive director, said: "As we enter the third millennium, more than 110 million children - almost two-thirds of them girls - are excluded from schooling. This is indefensible." The forum reviewed the "EFA 2000 Assessment" undertaken by more than 180 countries over the past two years. (See www.education.unesco.org/efa or www.unicef.org.)