EDUUCATION FOR ALL (EFA)
1. Introduction
Education For All is a global movement led by UNESCO, aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth
and adults by 2015. UNESCO has been
mandated to lead the movement and coordinate the international efforts to reach
Education for All. Governments, development agencies, civil society,
non-government organizations and the media are but some of the partners working
toward reaching these goals.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_For_All)
The EFA goals also contribute to the global pursuit of the
eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), especially MDG 2 on universal primary education and
MDG 3 on gender equality in education, by 2015. The Fast Track Initiative was set up to implement the EFA movement, aiming at
"accelerating progress towards quality universal primary education".
UNESCO also produces the annual Education for All Global
Monitoring Report. The Education for All Global
Monitoring Report is the prime instrument to assess global progress towards
achieving the six 'Dakar' EFA goals to which over 160 countries committed
themselves in 2000. It tracks progress, identifies effective policy reforms and
best practice in all areas relating to EFA, draws attention to emerging
challenges and seeks to promote international cooperation in favour of education.
The publication is targeted at decision-makers
at the national and international level, and more broadly, at all those engaged
in promoting the right to quality education – teachers, civil society groups,
NGOs, researchers and the international community. Whilst the report has an
annual agenda for reporting progress on each of the six EFA goals, each edition
also adopts a particular theme, chosen because of its central importance to the
EFA process.
2.
CONTENT
Education for All (EFA) is an international
initiative first launched in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990 to bring the benefits
of education to “every citizen in every society.”
In April 2000 more than
1,100 participants from 164 countries gathered in Dakar, Senegal, for the World
Education Forum. The participants, ranging from teachers to prime ministers,
academics to policymakers, non-governmental bodies to the heads of major
international organizations, adopted the 2000-word Dakar Framework for Action,
Education for All.
The 'UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), based in Montreal, plays the leading role in
providing extensive data for the report on students, teachers, school
performance, adult literacy and education expenditure.
The Institute collects data from over 200 countries and
territories, but serious limitations in data coverage make it difficult to
monitor certain aspects of Education for All, from public financing to
education. To improve and accelerate data collection, UIS is helping
governments to strengthen their own systems and analysis capacities. The report
also draws on data from national household surveys, specially commissioned
studies and other sources.
The report publishes quality-assured data, compiled so that
statistics are comparable for the majority of countries, using the
International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). Not all countries
use the same classification systems, however, which can lead to discrepancies
between national data and those published internationally.
Differences can also stem from national population
estimates. To calculate several indicators, UIS uses estimates from the United
Nations Population Division, which can differ from those published by
individual countries. More generally, the quality assurance process entails a
time lag between the collection (and often the publication) of data by national
governments and their release by UIS for use in this and other reports. Where
possible, the report identifies discrepancies and data gaps.
In order to realize this aim, a broad coalition
of national governments, civil society groups, and development agencies such
as UNESCO and
the World Bank committed to achieving six specific education goals, there are :
- Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
- Ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, those in difficult circumstances, and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free, and compulsory primary education of good quality.
- Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs.
- Achieve a 50 % improvement in adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
- Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
- Improve all aspects of the quality of education and ensure the excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.
Achieving the Education
for All goals is critical for attaining all 8 MDGs—in part due to the direct
impact of education on child and reproductive health, as well as the fact that
EFA has created a body of experience in multi-partner collaboration toward the
2015 targets. Simultaneously, achieving the other MDGs, such as improved
health, access to clean drinking water, decreased poverty, and environmental
sustainability, are critical to achieving the education MDGs.
Although there has been steady progress towards achieving many EFA goals, challenges remain. Today, there are about 77 million children of school age, including 44 million girls, who are still not in school due to financial, social, or physical challenges, including high fertility rates, HIV/AIDS, and conflict.
Although there has been steady progress towards achieving many EFA goals, challenges remain. Today, there are about 77 million children of school age, including 44 million girls, who are still not in school due to financial, social, or physical challenges, including high fertility rates, HIV/AIDS, and conflict.
Access to schooling in
developing countries has improved since 1990—some 47 out of 163 countries have
achieved universal primary education (MDG 2) and an additional 20 countries are
estimated to be “on track” to achieve this goal by 2015. However, huge
challenges remain in 44 countries, 23 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa. These
countries are unlikely to achieve universal primary education by 2015 unless
domestic and international efforts are accelerated substantially.
Although
the gender gap in education (MDG 3) is narrowing, girls are still at a
disadvantage when it comes to access and completion of both primary and
secondary school. Despite recent gains in girls’ enrollment at both the primary
and secondary levels—particularly in low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
and South Asia—24 countries are unlikely to achieve gender parity at either the
primary or at secondary level by 2105.
Poor
learning outcomes and low-quality education also remain overriding concerns in
the education sector. For example, in many developing countries, less than 60
percent of primary school pupils who enroll in first grade reach the last grade
of schooling. Additionally, pupil/teacher ratios in many countries exceed 40:1
and many primary teachers lack adequate qualifications.
To make
Education for All is success Australia and Indonesia working together, Australia and
Indonesia today highlighted their shared commitment to education and helping
millions of children to go to school.World leaders and representatives from
leading development agencies joined Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and
Indonesia's Minister for National Development Planning Dr Armida Alisjahbana to
discuss challenges in the education sector at the 'Effective Aid for Education'
event at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South
Korea.
The event showcased the
successful elements of development assistance in the education sector, and
offered an opportunity to learn from experience.. because Australia and
Indonesia have a history of successful engagement in the education sector with
our support extending from building schools and training principals, to
providing university scholarships. Indonesia is working hard to ensure all
Indonesian children receive a basic education, with almost 100 per cent
enrolment of primary school-aged children.
Together Australia and Indonesia
have constructed more than 2,000 schools, which has increased enrolments in
disadvantaged areas. Australia is now working with Indonesia to create places
for 300,000 more students over the next five years. Indonesia is pleased to be
working with development partners to ensure that all children have the
opportunity to learn, The lessons we have learnt in strengthening our education
sector and delivering better outcomes for children can be applied more broadly
across the region and can change not just lives, but whole communities and
economies. Providing education requires a long-term commitment, and a
willingness that we've seen in today's event to constantly look for ways to
achieve results, to be more efficient in how we operate, and to be more accountable for the funds we spend.
So many Organization
support EFA including The World Bank supports the Education for All Fast Track
Initiative (FTI) as the primary vehicle for accelerating progress toward
quality, universal primary education, and other EFA goals. The Bank supports
EFA through specific operations in almost 90 countries worldwide through multidimensional
efforts to:
1. improve primary school access and equity, as well as
educational quality and learning outcomes
5.
potect EFA prospects in fragile states
The Bank has also established a Children and Youth unit to
strengthen support for nonformal education, which helps young people develop
the necessary skills to improve their opportunities and transition to the labor
market.
Policy work is a key component of the Bank’s work to realize EFA.
This work involves analysis of individual countries’ education systems and
enhancing the capacity of ministries of education to develop and implement
policies and programs, as well as to generate reliable data with which to
monitor and evaluate educational performance.
Work with individual countries on EFA goals requires a mutual
accountability between developing countries and donors. On one hand, developing
countries need to develop sound education sector programs through-broad based
consultation, lead the development and implementation of a national education
program, coordinate donor support, and demonstrate results on key performance
indicators. On the other hand, donors need to help mobilize the additional
resources needed to achieve EFA goals, work to make donor education funding
more predictable, align donor work with country development priorities, and
coordinate donor support around one education plan (including the harmonization
of donor procedures as much as possible).
Finally, the World Bank also supports EFA efforts through analytic
work and the sharing of global knowledge and good practice. The Bank’s analytic
work has, for example, helped establish benchmarks for quality, efficiency, and
resource mobilization in the education sector.
3.
CONCLUSION
SO, The Education for All (EFA) movement is a global
commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and
adults. At the
World Education Forum (Dakar,
2000), 164 governments pledged to achieve EFA and identified six
goals to be met by 2015.
Governments, development agencies, civil society and the private sector are
working together to reach the EFA goals. The Dakar
Framework for Actionmandated UNESCO to coordinate these
partners, in cooperation with the four other convenors of the Dakar Forum
(UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank). As the leading agency, UNESCO focuses
its activities on five key areas: policy
dialogue, monitoring, advocacy,mobilisation
of funding, and capacity
development.
In
order to sustain the political commitment to EFA and accelerate progress
towards the 2015 targets, UNESCO has established several coordination mechanisms
managed by UNESCO’s EFA Global Partnerships team. Following a major review of
EFA coordination in 2010-2011, UNESCO reformed the
global EFA coordination architecture.
References
