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The EU supports Member States in running their national education system.

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Each year, as part of this work, the European Commission publishes the Education and Training Monitor.

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The 2018 monitor demonstrates how close the EU is to reaching and even surpassing some of its targets.

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For example, the share of young people who left school without a diploma dropped to 10.6% in 2017,

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while the percentage of those who completed tertiary education rose to 39.9%.

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Differences persist between and within member states, so there is still a lot to do.

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This goes in particular for basic skills, where we are actually moving further away from our targets.

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We must keep working hard to ensure that young people learn to read, write and calculate,

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a precondition for them becoming active, responsible citizens.

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The Monitor also looks at how much member states invest in education.

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The good news?

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In 2016, public spending on education rose by 0.5% in real terms compared to the previous year.

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But in many member states, this growth is only recovering the ground loss during the economic downturn.

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Thirteen member states actually spend less on education than they did before the crisis.

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This is worrying.

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Putting funds into education is an investment in the future of our societies and economies.

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This year's edition of the Monitor focuses on citizenship education.

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Citizenship education is vital to ensure that young people learn about how our democracies and institutions work

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and why we are building a strong, open European Union based on our shared values.

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As we are approaching the 2019 European Parliament elections,

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it's encouraging that all of our education systems are working hard to nurture the citizens of tomorrow.

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Over the coming years, we can expect further progress since Member States have agreed to further promote our shared values, inclusive education and the European dimension of teaching.

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This is just a snapshot of what you can find in the Education and Training Monitor.

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As we build a European education area with Member States, it will help us to keep opening up opportunities for all,

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Modernizing education systems and enabling young people to develop a European identity.

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Find out more about the Education and Training Monitor and our other activities in education here.