Washington: The World Bank has lauded India for the "remarkable progress" it made in alleviating poverty as well as educating children through the Universal Elementary Education programme.

In a progress report under the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) and poverty alleviation on the Millennium Development Goals, it said the incidence of poverty declined from 45 per cent in the 1980s to 36 per cent in the 1990s and to 26 per cent in the early 2000s.

"Between 1992/93 and 1998/99, net enrolment of six to 10 year-olds increased from 68 to 82 per cent. Much of this expansion was attributable to improved access, especially for girls and rural children. The number of out-of-school six-to-14-year-olds declined from 39 million in 1999 to 25 million in 2003," the Bank said.

The Government of India, it said, is deeply committed to universalising access to elementary education of satisfactory quality by 2010.

To provide a comprehensive policy and budgetary framework for achieving these goals, the Government has launched the "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan", the National Programme for Universal Elementary Education. It also introduced a Constitutional Amendment to make elementary education a fundamental right of every child.

The goal of the programme is consistent with the millennium development goal for education and goes beyond it, covering eight years of elementary education in a tighter timeframe, it said.