World Conference on Education for All Meeting Basic Learning Needs
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Meeting Basic Learning Needs - extracted text
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WORLD DECLARATION
ON EDUCATION FOR ALL
AND-----------------------------------------
FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
TO MEET
RASIC LEARNING NEEDS
World Conference
on Education for All
5-9 March 1990
Jomtien, Thailand
Original: English
WCEFA
New York, April 1990
WORLD DECLARATION
ON EDUCATION FOR ALL
and
FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
TO MEET
BASIC LEARNING NEEDS
Adopted by the
World Conference on Education for All
Meeting Basic Learning Needs
Jomtien, Thailand
5-9 March 1990
Published by
the Inter-Agency Commission
(UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, WORLD BANK)
for the
World Conference on Education for All
UNICEF House
Three United Nations Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10017
U.S.A.
First printing: April 1990
This publication may be freely quoted and reproduced.
0 S 29E
Preface
This volume contains the texts of the two documents adopted by the
World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand, 5-9 March
1990), convened jointly by the executive heads of the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiza
tion (UNESCO) and the World Bank. The Conference was co-sponsored by
an additional 18 governments and organizations, and was hosted by the
Royal Government of Thailand.
The World Declaration on Education for All and the Framework for
Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs are products of a wide and systematic
process of consultation conducted from October 1989 through January
1990 under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Commission established to
organize the World Conference. Earlier drafts of the documents were
discussed at nine regional and three international consultations that brought
together a wide range of experts and representatives from various govern
ment ministries, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations,
multilateral and bilateral development agencies, and research institutes.
The elected rapporteurs of the regional consultations met as a working
group to advise the Inter-Agency Commission regarding the revision of the
two texts for submission to the World Conference.
Some 1,500 participants met injomtien. Delegates from 155 govern
ments, including policy-makers and specialists in education and other major
sectors, together with officials and specialists representing some 20 inter
governmental bodies and 150 nongovernmental organizations, discussed
major aspects of Education for All in 48 roundtables and a plenary
commission. A drafting committee elected by the Conference examined
the revised texts together with draft amendments submitted by delegates.
The texts of the documents as amended by the drafting committee were
adopted by acclamation at the closing plenary session of the Conference on
9 March 1990.
These documents thus represent a worldwide consensus on an
expanded vision of basic education and a renewed commitment to ensure
that the basic learning needs of all children, youth and adults are met
effectively in all countries. I wish to urge readers who could not participate
in the World Conference to join this consensus and act, through their
respective spheres of responsibility, to make the goals of the World
Declaration and the Framework for Action a reality.
Wadi D. Haddad
• Executive Secretary
Inter-Ag^y.. Commission
World Conference'on Education for All
World Declaration on Education for All
Meeting Basic Learning Needs
PREAMBLE
More than 40 years ago, the nations of the world, speaking
through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, asserted that
“everyone has a right to education”.
Despite notable efforts by
countries around the globe to ensure the right to education for all,
the following realities persist:
•
More than 100 million children, including at least
60 million girls, have no access to primary schooling;
•
More than 960 million adults, two-thirds of whom are
women, are illiterate, and functional illiteracy is a signifi
cant problem in all countries, industrialized and
developing;
•
More than one-third of the world’s adults have no access to
the printed knowledge, new skills and technologies that
could improve the quality of their lives and help them
shape, and adapt to, social and cultural change; and
•
More than 100 million children and countless adults fail to
complete basic education programmes; millions more sat
isfy the attendance requirements but do not acquire
essential knowledge and skills;
At the same time, the world faces daunting problems, notably:
mounting debt burdens, the threat of economic stagnation and
decline, rapid population growth, widening economic disparities
among and within nations, war, occupation, civil strife, violent crime,
the preventable deaths of millions of children and widespread envi
ronmental degradation. These problems constrain efforts to meet
basic learning needs, while the lack of basic education among a
significant proportion of the population prevents societies from
addressing such problems with strength and purpose.
These problems have led to major setbacks in basic education in
the 1980s in many of the least developed countries. In some other
countries, economic growth has been available to finance education
expansion, but even so, many millions remain in poverty and
unschooled or illiterate. In certain industrialized countries, too, cut
backs in government expenditure over the 1980s have led to the
deterioration of education.
2 World Declaration on Education for All
Yet the world is also at the threshold of a new century, with all its
promise and possibilities. Today, there is genuine progress toward
peaceful detente and greater cooperation among nations. Today, the
essential rights and capacities of women are being realized. Today,
there are many useful scientific and cultural developments. Today,
the sheer quantity of information available in the world — much of it
relevant to survival and basic well-being — is exponentially greater
than that available only a few years ago, and the rate of its growth is
accelerating. This includes information about obtaining more life
enhancing knowledge — or learning how to learn. A synergistic effect
occurs when important information is coupled with another modern
advance — our new capacity to communicate.
These new forces, when combined with the cumulative experi
ence of reform, innovation, research and the remarkable educational
progress of many countries, make the goal of basic education for all —
for the first time in history — an attainable goal.
Therefore, we participants in the World Conference on
Education for All, assembled in Jomtien, Thailand, from 5 to 9
March, 1990:
Recalling that education is a fundamental right for all
people, women and men, of all ages, throughout our world;
Understanding that education can help ensure a safer,
healthier, more prosperous and environmentally sound
world, while simultaneously contributing to social,
economic, and cultural progress, tolerance, and interna
tional cooperation;
Knowing that education is an indispensable key to, though
not a sufficient condition for, personal and social improve
ment;
Recognizing that traditional knowledge and indigenous cul
tural heritage have a value and validity in their own right
and a capacity to both define and promote development;
Acknowledging that, overall, the current provision of educa
tion is seriously deficient and that it must be made more
relevant and qualitatively improved, and made universally
available;
Recognizing that sound basic education is fundamental to
the strengthening of higher levels of education and of
World Declaration on Education for All 3
scientific and technological literacy and capacity and thus
to self-reliant development; and
Recognizing the necessity to give to present and coming gen
erations an expanded vision of, and a renewed commitment
to, basic education to address the scale and complexity of
the challenge;
proclaim the following
World Declaration on Education for All:
Meeting Basic Learning Needs.
EDUCATION FOR ALL:
ARTICLE 1
•
THE PURPOSE
MEETING BASIC LEARNING NEEDS
1.
Every person — child, youth and adult — shall be able to benefit
from educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learn
ing needs. These needs comprise both essential learning tools (such
as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and problem solving) and the
basic learning content (such as knowledge, skills, values, and atti
tudes) required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop
their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in
development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed
decisions, and to continue learning.
The scope of basic learning
needs and how they should be met varies with individual countries
and cultures, and inevitably, changes with the passage of time.
2.
The satisfaction of these needs empowers individuals in any
society and confers upon them a responsibility to respect and build
upon their collective cultural, linguistic and spiritual heritage, to pro
mote the education of others, to further the cause of social justice, to
achieve environmental protection, to be tolerant towards social,
political and religious systems which differ from their own, ensuring
that commonly accepted humanistic values and human rights are
upheld, and to work for international peace and solidarity in an inter
dependent world.
3.
Another and no less fundamental aim of educational develop
ment is the transmission and enrichment of common cultural and
moral values. It is in these values that the individual and society find
their identity and worth.
4.
Basic education is more than an end in itself. It is the founda
tion for lifelong learning and human development on which countries
4 World Declaration on Education for All
may build, systematically, further levels and types of education and
training.
EDUCATION FOR ALL: AN EXPANDED VISION AND
A RENEWED COMMITMENT
ARTICLE 2 •
SHAPING THE VISION
1.
To serve the basic learning needs of all requires more than a
recommitment to basic education as it now exists. What is needed is
an “expanded vision” that surpasses present resource levels, insti
tutional structures, curricula, and conventional delivery systems
while building on the best in current practices. New possibilities
exist today which result from the convergence of the increase in
information and the unprecedented capacity to communicate. We
must seize them with creativity and a determination for increased
effectiveness.
2.
As elaborated in Articles 3-7, the expanded vision encompasses:
•
Universalizing access and promoting equity;
•
Focussing on learning;
•
Broadening the means and scope of basic education;
•
Enhancing the environment for learning;
•
Strengthening partnerships.
3.
The realization of an enormous potential for human progress
and empowerment is contingent upon whether people can be enabled
to acquire the education and the start needed to tap into the ever
expanding pool of relevant knowledge and the new means for sharing
this knowledge.
ARTICLE 3
•
UNIVERSALIZING ACCESS AND PROMOTING
EQUITY
1.
Basic education should be provided to all children, youth and
adults. To this end, basic education services of quality should be
expanded, and consistent measures
disparities.
must be
taken
to
reduce
2.
For basic education to be equitable, all children, youth and
adults must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain an
acceptable level of learning.
World Declaration on Education for All 5
3.
The most urgent priority is to ensure access to, and improve
the quality of, education for girls and women, and to remove every
obstacle that hampers their active participation. All gender stereo
typing in education should be eliminated.
4.
An active commitment must be made to removing educational
disparities.
Underserved groups — the poor; street and working
children; rural and remote populations; nomads and migrant work
ers; indigenous peoples; ethnic, racial, and linguistic minorities;
refugees; those displaced by war; and people under occupation —
should not suffer any discrimination in access to learning
opportunities.
5.
The learning needs of the disabled demand special attention.
Steps need to be taken to provide equal access to education to every
category of disabled persons as an integral part of the education
system.
ARTICLE 4
•
FOCUSSING ON LEARNING ACQUISITION
Whether or not expanded educational opportunities will
translate into meaningful development — for an individual or for
society — depends ultimately on whether people actually learn as a
result of those opportunities, i.e., whether they incorporate useful
knowledge, reasoning ability, skills, and values. The focus of basic
education must, therefore, be on actual learning acquisition and
outcome, rather than exclusively upon enrolment, continued
participation in organized programmes and completion of certifica
tion requirements. Active and participatory approaches are
particularly valuable in assuring learning acquisition and allowing
learners to reach their fullest potential. It is, therefore, necessary to
define acceptable levels of learning acquisition for educational pro
grammes and to improve and apply systems of assessing learning
achievement.
ARTICLE 5
•
BROADENING THE MEANS AND SCOPE OF
BASIC EDUCATION
The diversity, complexity, and changing nature of basic learn
ing needs of children, youth and adults necessitates broadening and
constantly redefining the scope of basic education to include the
following components:
•
Learning begins at birth.
and initial education.
This calls for early childhood care
These can be provided through
6 World Declaration on Education for All
arrangements involving families, communities, or institu
tional programmes, as appropriate.
•
The main delivery system for the basic education of children out
side the family is primary schooling. Primary education must
be universal, ensure that the basic learning needs of all chil
dren are satisfied, and take into account the culture, needs,
and opportunities of the community.
Supplementary
alternative programmes can help meet the basic learning
needs of children with limited or no access to formal school
ing, provided that they share the same standards of learn
ing applied to schools, and are adequately supported.
•
The basic learning needs of youth and adults are diverse and
should be met through a variety of delivery systems. Literacy
programmes are indispensable because literacy is a
necessary skill in itself and the foundation of other life
skills. Literacy in the mother-tongue strengthens cultural
identity and heritage. Other needs can be served by: skills
training, apprenticeships, and formal and non-formal
education programmes in health, nutrition, population,
agricultural techniques, the environment, science, technol
ogy, family life, including fertility awareness, and other
societal issues.
•
All available instruments and channels of information, commu
nications, and social action could be used to help convey essential
knowledge and inform and educate people on social issues. In
addition to the traditional means, libraries, television, radio
and other media can be mobilized to realize their potential
towards meeting basic education needs of all.
These components should constitute an integrated system — comple
mentary, mutually reinforcing, and of comparable standards, and
they should contribute to creating and developing possibilities for
lifelong learning.
ARTICLE 6
•
ENHANCING THE ENVIRONMENT
FOR LEARNING
Learning does not take place in isolation. Societies, therefore,
must ensure that all learners receive the nutrition, health care, and
general physical and emotional support they need in order to par
ticipate actively in and benefit from their education. Knowledge
and skills that will enhance the learning environment of children
World Declaration on Education for All 7
should be integrated into community learning programmes for adults.
The education of children and their parents or other caretakers is
mutually supportive and this interaction should be used to create, for
all, a learning environment of vibrancy and warmth.
ARTICLE 7 •
STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIPS
National, regional, and local educational authorities have a
unique obligation to provide basic education for all, but they cannot
be expected to supply every human, financial or organizational
requirement for this task. New and revitalized partnerships at all
levels will be necessary: partnerships among all sub-sectors and forms
of education, recognizing the special role of teachers and that of
administrators and other educational personnel; partnerships
between education and other government departments, including
planning, finance, labour, communications, and other social sectors;
partnerships between government and non-governmental organiza
tions, the private sector, local communities, religious groups, and
families.
The recognition of the vital role of both families and
teachers is particularly important. In this context, the terms and con
ditions of service of teachers and their status, which constitute a
determining factor in the implementation of education for all, must
be urgently improved in all countries in line with the joint ILO/
UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers
(1966).
Genuine partnerships contribute to the planning, imple
menting, managing and evaluating of basic education programmes.
When we speak of “an expanded vision and a renewed commitment”,
partnerships are at the heart of it.
EDUCATION FOR ALL:
ARTICLE 8 •
THE REQUIREMENTS
DEVELOPING A SUPPORTING POLICY CONTEXT
1.
Supportive policies in the social, cultural, and economic
sectors are required in order to realize the full provision and
utitlization of basic education for individual and societal
improvement. The provision of basic education for all depends on
political commitment and political will backed by appropriate fiscal
measures and reinforced by educational policy reforms and
institutional strengthening.
Suitable economic, trade, labour, em
ployment and health policies will enhance learners’ incentives and
contributions to societal development.
8 World Declaration on Education for All
2.
Societies should also insure a strong intellectual and scientific
environment for basic education.
This implies improving higher
education and developing scientific research. Close contact with con
temporary technological and scientific knowledge should be possible
at every level of education.
ARTICLE 9 •
MOBILIZING RESOURCES
1.
If the basic learning needs of all are to be met through a much
broader scope of action than in the past, it will be essential to
mobilize existing and new financial and human resources, public,
private and voluntary. All of society has a contribution to make,
recognizing that time, energy and funding directed to basic education
are perhaps the most profound investment in people and in the future
of a country which can be made.
2.
Enlarged public-sector support means drawing on the resources
of all the government agencies responsible for human development,
through increased absolute and proportional allocations to basic edu
cation services with the clear recognition of competing claims on
national resources of which education is an important one, but not
the only one. Serious attention to improving the efficiency of existing
educational resources and programmes will not only produce more, it
can also be expected to attract new resources. The urgent task of
meeting basic learning needs may require a reallocation between sec
tors, as, for example, a transfer from military to educational expendi
ture. Above all, special protection for basic education will be required
in countries undergoing structural adjustment and facing severe
external debt burdens. Today, more than ever, education must be
seen as a fundamental dimension of any social, cultural, and economic
design.
ARTICLE 10 •
STRENGTHENING
SOLIDARITY
INTERNATIONAL
1.
Meeting basic learning needs constitutes a common and
universal human responsibility. It requires international solidarity
and equitable and fair economic relations in order to redress exist
ing economic disparities. All nations have valuable knowledge and
experiences to share for designing effective educational policies and
programmes.
2.
Substantial and long-term increases in resources for basic educa
tion will be needed. The world community, including intergovern
World Declaration on Education for All
9
mental agencies and institutions, has an urgent responsibility to allevi
ate the constraints that prevent some countries from achieving the
goal of education for all. It will mean the adoption of measures that
augment the national budgets of the poorest countries or serve to
relieve heavy debt burdens.
Creditors and debtors must seek
innovative and equitable formulae to resolve these burdens, since the
capacity of many developing countries to respond effectively to
education and other basic needs will be greatly helped by finding
solutions to the debt problem.
3.
Basic learning needs of adults and children must be addressed
wherever they exist. Least developed and low-income countries have
special needs which require priority in international support for basic
education in the 1990s.
4.
All nations must also work together to resolve conflicts and
strife, to end military occupations, and to settle displaced popula
tions, or to facilitate their return to their countries of origin, and
ensure that their basic learning needs are met. Only a stable and
peaceful environment can create the conditions in which every human
being, child and adult alike, may benefit from the goals of this
Declaration.
We, the participants in the World Conference on
Education for All, reaffirm the right of all people to education.
This is the foundation of our determination, singly and together,
to ensure education for all.
We commit ourselves to act cooperatively through our 'own
spheres of responsibility, taking all necessary steps to achieve the
goals of education for all. Together we call on governments,
concerned organizations and individuals to join in this urgent
undertaking.
The basic learning needs of all can and must be met. There
can be no more meaningful way to begin the International
Literacy Year, to move forward the goals of the United Nations
Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-92), the World Decade for
Cultural Development (1988-97), the Fourth United Nations
Development Decade (1991-2000), of the Convention on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Forward
Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, and of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. There has never been a
io World Declaration on Education for All
more propitious time to commit ourselves to providing basic
learning opportunities for all the people of the world.
We adopt, therefore, this World Declaration on Education
for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs and agree on the
Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs, to achieve
the goals set forth in this Declaration.
Framework for Action
to Meet Basic Learning Needs
Guidelines for Implementing
the
World Declaration on Education for All
Introduction
Goals and Targets
Principles of Action
1.
Priority Action at National Level
5
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
6
7
7
1.5
1.6
2.
Assessing Needs and Planning Action
Developing a Supportive Policy Environment
Designing Policies to Improve Basic Education
Improving Managerial, Analytical and
Technological Capacities
Mobilizing Information
and Communication Channels
Building Partnerships and Mobilizing Resources
Priority Action at Regional Level
2.1
2.2
3.
1
2
4
Exchanging Information, Experience and Expertise
Undertaking Joint Activities
Priority Action at World Level
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
Cooperation within the International Context
Enhancing National Capacities
Providing Sustained Long-term Support for National
and Regional Actions
Consultations on Policy Issues
Indicative Phasing of Implementation for the 1990s
9
10
10
12
13
14
15
15
16
16
19
20
Framework for Action
1
INTRODUCTION
1.
This Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs derives
from the World Declaration on Education for All, adopted by the
World Conference on Education for All, which brought together
representatives of governments, international and bilateral develop
ment agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Based on the
best collective knowledge and the commitment of these partners, the
Framework is intended as a reference and guide for national govern
ments, international organizations, bilateral aid agencies, non
governmental organizations (NGOs), and all those committed to the
goal of Education for All, in formulating their own plans of action for
implementing the World Declaration. It describes three broad levels
of concerted action: (i) direct action within individual countries,
(ii) co-operation among groups of countries sharing certain character
istics and concerns, and (iii) multilateral and bilateral co-operation in
the world community.
2.
Individual countries and groups of countries, as well as interna
tional, regional and national organizations, may use the Framework to
develop their own specific plans of action and programmes in line
with their particular objectives, mandates and constituencies. This
indeed has been the case in the ten-year experience of the UNESCO
Major Project on Education for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Further examples of such related initiatives are the UNESCO Plan of
Action for the Eradication of Illiteracy by the Year 2000, adopted by
the UNESCO General Conference at its 25th session (1989); the
ISESCO Special Programme (1990-2000); the current review by the
World Bank of its policy for primary education; and USAID’s pro
gramme for Advancing Basic Education and Literacy. Insofar as such
plans of action, policies and programmes are consistent with this
Framework, efforts throughout the world to meet basic learning
needs will converge and facilitate co-operation.
3.
While countries have many common concerns in meeting the
basic learning needs of their populations, these concerns do, of
course, vary in nature and intensity from country to country
depending on the actual status of basic education, as well as the
cultural and socio-economic context. Globally, by the year 2000, if
enrolment rates remain at current levels, there will be more than
160 million children without access to primary schooling simply
because of population growth. In much of sub-Saharan Africa and in
many low income countries elsewhere, the provision of universal pri
mary education for rapidly growing numbers of children remains a
2 Framework for Action
long-term challenge. Despite progress in promoting adult literacy,
most of these same countries still have high illiteracy rates, while the
numbers of functionally illiterate adults continue to grow and consti
tute a major social problem in much of Asia and the Arab States, as
well as in Europe and North America. Many people are denied equal
access on grounds of race, gender, language, disability, ethnic origin,
or political convictions. In addition, high drop-out rates and poor
learning achievement are commonly recognized problems through
out the world. These very general characterizations illustrate the
need for decisive action on a large scale, with clear goals and targets.
GOALS AND TARGETS
4.
The ultimate goal affirmed by the World Declaration on Educa
tion for All is to meet the basic learning needs of all children, youth,
and adults. The long-term effort to attain that goal can be maintained
more effectively if intermediate goals are established and progress
toward these goals is measured.
Appropriate authorities at the
national and subnational levels
may establish such intermediate
goals, taking into account the objectives of the Declaration as well as
overall national development goals and priorities.
5.
Intermediate goals can usefully be formulated as specific targets
within national and subnational plans for educational development.
Such targets usually (i) specify expected attainments and outcomes in
reference to terminal performance specifications within an appropri
ate time-frame, (ii) specify priority categories (e.g., the poor, the
disabled), and (iii) are formulated in terms such that progress toward
them can be observed and measured. These targets represent a “floor"
(but not a “ceiling”) for the continued development of education pro
grammes and services.
6.
Time-bound targets convey a sense of urgency and serve as a ref
erence against which indices of implementation and accomplishment
can be compared. As societal conditions change, plans and targets
can be reviewed and updated. Where basic education efforts must be
focussed to meet the needs of specific social groups or population
categories, linking targets to such priority categories of learners can
help to maintain the attention of planners, practitioners and evaluat
ors on meeting the needs of these learners. Observable and measur
able targets assist in the objective evaluation of progress.
7.
Targets need not be based solely on current trends and
resources. Initial targets can reflect a realistic appraisal of the possi
bilities presented by the Declaration to mobilize additional human,
Framework for Action 3
organizational, and financial capacities within a cooperative commit
ment to human development. Countries with low literacy and school
enrolment rates, and very limited national resources, will need to
make hard choices in establishing national targets within a realistic
timeframe.
8.
Countries may wish to set their own targets for the 1990s in
terms of the following proposed dimensions:
1.
Expansion of early childhood care and developmental
activities, including family and community
interventions, especially for poor, disadvantaged and
disabled children;
2.
Universal access to, and completion of, primary edu
cation (or whatever higher level of education is con
sidered as “basic”) by the year 2000;
3.
Improvement in learning achievement such that an
agreed percentage of an appropriate age cohort (e.g.,
80 percent of 14 year-olds) attains or surpasses a
defined level of necessary learning achievement;
4.
Reduction of the adult illiteracy rate (the appropriate
age group to be determined in each country) to, say,
one-half its 1990 level by the year 2000, with sufficient
emphasis on female literacy to significantly reduce the
current disparity between male and female illiteracy
rates;
5.
Expansion of provisions of basic education and train
ing in other essential skills required by youth and
adults, with programme effectiveness assessed in
terms of behavioural changes and impacts on health,
employment and productivity;
6.
Increased acquisition by individuals and families of
the knowledge, skills and values required for better
living and sound and sustainable development, made
available through all education channels including the
mass media, other forms of modern and traditional
communication, and social action, with effectiveness
assessed in terms of behavioural change.
9.
Levels of performance in the above should be established, when
possible. These should be consistent with the focus of basic educa
tion both on universalization of access and on learning acquisition, as
4
Framework for Action
joint and inseparable concerns. In all cases, the performance targets
should include equity by gender. However, setting levels of perform
ance and of the proportions of participants who are expected to reach
these levels in specific basic education programmes must be an
autonomous task of individual countries.
PRINCIPLES OF ACTION
10. The first step consists in identifying, preferably through an
active participatory process involving groups and the community, the
traditional learning systems which exist in the society, and the actual
demand for basic education services, whether expressed in terms of
formal schooling or non-formal education programmes. Addressing
the basic learning needs of all means: early childhood care and
development opportunities; relevant, quality primary schooling or
equivalent out-of-school education for children; and literacy, basic
knowledge and life skills training for youth and adults. It also means
capitalizing on the use of traditional and modern information media
and technologies to educate the public on matters of social concern
and to support basic education activities. These complementary
components of basic education need to be designed to ensure equi
table access, sustained participation, and effective learning achieve
ment. Meeting basic learning needs also involves action to enhance
the family and community environments for learning and to correlate
basic education and the larger socio-economic context.
The
complementarity and synergistic effects of related human resources
investments in population, health and nutrition should be recognized.
11. Because basic learning needs are complex and diverse, meeting
them requires multisectoral strategies and action which are integral
to overall development efforts. Many partners must join with the
education authorities, teachers, and other educational personnel in
developing basic education if it is to be seen, once again, as the
responsibility of the entire society. This implies the active involve
ment of a wide range of partners — families, teachers, communities,
private enterprises (including those involved in information and
communication), government and non-governmental organizations,
institutions, etc. — in planning, managing and evaluating the many
forms of basic education.
12. Current practices and institutional arrangements for delivering
basic education, and the existing mechanisms for co-operation in this
regard, should be carefully evaluated before new institutions or
mechanisms are created.
Rehabilitating dilapidated schools and
Framework for Action 5
improving the training and working conditions of teachers and liter
acy workers, building on existing learning schemes, are likely to bring
greater and more immediate returns on investment than attempts to
start afresh.
13. Great potential lies in possible joint actions with non
governmental organizations on all levels. These autonomous bodies,
while advocating independent and critical public views, might play
roles in monitoring, research, training and material production for
the sake of non-formal and life-long educational processes.
14. The primary purpose of bilateral and multilateral co-operation
should appear in a true spirit of partnership — it should not be to
transplant familiar models, but to help develop the endogenous
capacities of national authorities and their in-country partners to
meet basic learning needs effectively. Action and resources should be
used to strengthen essential features of basic education services,
focussing on managerial and analytical capacities, which can stimulate
further developments. International co-operation and funding can be
particularly valuable in supporting major reforms or sectoral adjust
ments, and in helping to develop and test innovative approaches to
teaching and management, where new approaches need to be tried
and/or extraordinary levels of expenditure are involved and where
knowledge of relevant experiences elsewhere can often be useful.
15. International co-operation should give priority to the countries
currently least able to meet the basic learning needs of their pop
ulations. It should also help countries redress their internal dispari
ties in educational opportunity. Because two-thirds of illiterate adults
and out-of-school children are female, wherever such inequities exist,
a most urgent priority is to improve access to education for girls and
women, and to remove every obstacle that hampers their active
participation.
1.
PRIORITY ACTION AT NATIONAL LEVEL
16. Progress in meeting the basic learning needs of all will depend
ultimately on the actions taken within individual countries. While
regional and international co-operation and financial assistance can
support and facilitate such actions, government authorities, commu
nities and their several in-country partners are the key agents for
improvement, and national governments have the main responsibility
for coordinating the effective use of internal and external resources.
Given the diversity of countries’ situations, capacities and develop
ment plans and goals, this Framework can only suggest certain areas
6 Framework for Action
that merit priority attention. Each country will determine for itself
what specific actions beyond current efforts may be necessary in each
of the following areas.
1.1
ASSESSING NEEDS AND PLANNING ACTION
17. To achieve the targets set for itself, each country is encouraged
to develop or update comprehensive and long-term plans of action
(from local to national levels) to meet the learning needs it has
defined as “basic”. Within the context of existing education-sector
and general development plans and strategies, a plan of action for
basic education for all will necessarily be multisectoral, to guide
activities in the sectors involved (e.g., education, information, com
munications/ media, labour, agriculture, health). Models of strategic
planning, by definition, vary. However, most of them involve constant
adjustments among objectives, resources, actions, and constraints. At
the national level, objectives are normally couched in broad terms
and central government resources are also determined, while actions
are taken at the local level. Thus, local plans in the same national
setting will naturally differ not only in scope but in content. National
and subnational frameworks and local plans should allow for varying
conditions and circumstances. These might, therefore, specify:
•
studies for the evaluation of existing systems (analysis of
problems, failures and successes):
•
the basic learning needs to be met, including cognitive
skills, values, attitudes, as well as subject knowledge;
•
the languages to be used in education
•
means to promote the demand for, and broadscale partici
pation in, basic education;
•
modalities to mobilize family and local community support;
•
targets and specific objectives;
•
the required capital and recurrent resources, duly costed,
as well as possible measures for cost effectiveness;
•
indicators and procedures to be used to monitor progress
in reaching the targets;
•
priorities for using resources and for developing services
and programmes over time;
•
the priority groups that require special measures;
Framework for Action
1.2
7
•
the kinds of expertise required to implement the plan;
•
institutional and administrative arrangements needed;
•
modalities for ensuring information sharing among formal
and other basic education programmes; and
•
an implementation strategy and timetable.
DEVELOPING A SUPPORTIVE POLICY ENVIRONMENT
18. A multisectoral plan of action implies adjustments to sectoral
policies so that sectors interact in a mutually supportive and benefi
cial manner in line with the country’s overall development goals.
Action to meet basic learning needs should be an integral part of a
country’s national and subnational development strategies, which
should reflect the priority given to human development. Legislative
and other measures may be needed to promote and facilitate co
operation among the various partners involved. Advocacy and public
information about basic education are important in creating a
supportive policy environment at national, subnational and local
levels.
19. Four specific steps that merit attention are: (i) initiation of
national and subnational level activities to create a broad, public
recommitment to the goal of education for all; (ii) reduction of ineffi
ciency in the public sector and exploitative practices in the private
sector; (iii) provision of improved training for public administrators
and of incentives to retain qualified women and men in public service;
and (iv) provision of measures to encourage wider participation in the
design and implementation of basic education programmes.
1.3
DESIGNING POLICIES TO IMPROVE BASIC EDUCATION
20. The preconditions for educational quality, equity and efficiency,
are set in the early childhood years, making attention to early child
hood care and development essential to the achievement of basic
education goals. Basic education must correspond to actual needs,
interests, and problems of the participants in the learning process.
The relevance of curricula could be enhanced by linking literacy and
numeracy skills and scientific concepts with learners’ concerns and
earlier experiences, for example, nutrition, health, and work. While
many needs vary considerably within and among countries, and there
8 Framework for Action
fore much of a curriculum should be sensitive to local conditions,
there are also many universal needs and shared concerns which should
be addressed in education curricula and in educational messages.
Issues such as protecting the environment, achieving a balance
between population and resources, slowing the spread of AIDS, and
preventing drug abuse are everyone’s issues.
21. Specific strategies addressed to improve the conditions of school
ing may focus on: learners and the learning process, personnel (teach
ers, administrators, others), curriculum and learning assessment,
materials and physical facilities. Such strategies should be conducted
in an integrated manner; their design, management, and evaluation
should take into account the acquisition of knowledge and problem
solving skills as well as the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of
human development. Depending on the outcomes desired, teachers
have to be trained accordingly, whilst benefiting from in-service pro
grammes as well as other incentives of opportunity which put a
premium on the achievement of these outcomes; curriculum and
assessment must reflect a variety of criteria while materials — and
conceivably buildings and facilities as well — must be adapted along
the same lines. In some countries, the strategy may include ways to
improve conditions for teaching and learning such that absenteeism is
reduced and learning time increased. In order to meet the educa
tional needs of groups not covered by formal schooling, appropriate
strategies are needed for non-formal education. These include, but go
far beyond, the aspects described above, and may also give special
attention to the need for coordination with other forms of education,
to the support of all interested partners, to sustained financial
resources and to full community participation. An example for such
an approach applied to literacy can be found in UNESCO’s Plan of
Action for the Eradication of Illiteracy by the Year 2000. Other strategies
still may rely on the media to meet the broader education needs of the
entire community. Such strategies need to be linked to formal educa
tion, non-formal education or a combination of both. The use of the
communications media holds a tremendous potential to educate the
public and to share important information among those who need to
know.
22. Expanding access to basic education of satisfactory quality is an
effective way to improve equity. Ensuring that girls and women stay
involved in basic education activities until they have attained at least
the agreed necessary level of learning, can be encouraged through
special measures designed, wherever possible, in consultation with
them. Similar approaches are necessary to expand learning opportu
nities for various disadvantaged groups.
Framework for Action 9
23. Efficiency in basic education does not mean providing education
at the lowest cost, but rather the most effective use of all resources
(human, organizational, and financial) to produce the desired levels
of access and of necessary learning achievement. The foregoing con
siderations of relevance, quality, and equity are not alternatives to
efficiency but represent the specific conditions within which effi
ciency should be attained. For some programmes, efficiency will
require more, not fewer, resources. However, if existing resources
can be used by more learners or if the same learning targets can be
reached at a lower cost per learner, then the capacity of basic educa
tion to meet the targets of access and achievement for presently
underserved groups can be increased.
1.4
IMPROVING MANAGERIAL, ANALYTICAL
AND TECHNOLOGICAL CAPACITIES
24. Many kinds of expertise and skills will be needed to carry out
these initiatives. Managerial and supervisory personnel, as well as
planners, school architects, teacher educators, curriculum develop
ers, researchers, analysts, etc., are important for any strategy to im
prove basic education, but many countries do not provide specialized
training to prepare them for their responsibilities; this is especially
true in literacy and other out-of-school basic education activities. A
broadening of outlook toward basic education will be a crucial pre
requisite to the effective co-ordination of efforts among these many
participants, and strengthening and developing capacities for plan
ning and management at regional and local levels with a greater
sharing of responsibilities will be necessary in many countries. Preand in-service training programmes for key personnel should be
initiated, or strengthened where they do exist. Such training can be
particularly useful in introducing administrative reforms and innova
tive management and supervisory techniques.
25. The technical services and mechanisms to collect, process and
analyze data pertaining to basic education can be improved in all
countries. This is an urgent task in many countries that have little
reliable information and/or research on the basic learning needs of
their people and on existing basic education activities. A country’s
information and knowledge base is vital in preparing and
implementing a plan of action. One major implication of the focus on
learning acquisition is that systems have to be developed and
improved to assess the performance of individual learners and deliv
ery mechanisms. Process and outcome assessment data should serve
as the core of a management information system for basic education.
10 Framework for Action
26. The quality and delivery of basic education can be enhanced
through the judicious use of instructional technologies. Where such
technologies are not now widely used, their introduction will require
the selection and/or development of suitable technologies, acquisi
tion of the necessary equipment and operating systems, and the
recruitment or training of teachers and other educational personnel
to work with them. The definition of a suitable technology varies by
societal characteristics and will change rapidly over time as new
technologies (educational radio and television, computers, and vari
ous audio-visual instructional devices) become less expensive and
more adaptable to a range of environments. The use of modern
technology can also improve the management of basic education.
Each country may reexamine periodically its present and potential
technological capacity in relation to its basic educational needs and
resources.
1.5
MOBILIZING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
CHANNELS
27. New possibilities are emerging which already show a powerful
impact on meeting basic learning needs, and it is clear that the educa
tional potential of these new possibilities has barely been tapped.
These new possibilities exist largely as a result of two converging
forces, both recent by-products of the general development process.
First, the quantity of information available in the world — much of it
relevant to survival and basic well-being — is exponentially greater
than that available only a few years ago, and the rate of its growth is
accelerating. A synergistic effect occurs when important information
is coupled with a second modern advance — the new capacity to com
municate among the people of the world. The opportunity exists to
harness this force and use it positively, consciously, and with design,
in order to contribute to meeting defined learning needs.
1.6
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS AND MOBILIZING RESOURCES
28. In designing the plan of action and creating a supportive policy
environment for promoting basic education, maximum use of oppor
tunities should be considered to expand existing collaborations and
to bring together new partners: e.g., family and community organiza
tions, non-governmental and other voluntary associations, teachers’
unions, other professional groups, employers, the media, political
parties, co-operatives, universities, research institutions, religious
Framework for Action
11
bodies, as well as education authorities and other government depart
ments and services (labour, agriculture, health, information, com
merce, industry, defence, etc.).
The human and organizational
resources these domestic partners represent need to be effectively
mobilized to play their parts in implementing the plan of action. Part
nerships at the community level and at the intermediate and national
levels should be encouraged; they can help harmonize activities,
utilize resources more effectively, and mobilize additional financial
and human resources where necessary.
29. Governments and their partners can analyze the current alloca
tion and use of financial and other resources for education and
training in different sectors to determine if additional support for
basic education can be obtained by (i) improving efficiency,
(ii) mobilizing additional sources of funding within and outside the
government budget, and (iii) allocating funds within existing educa
tion and training budgets, taking into account efficiency and equity
concerns. Countries where the total fiscal support for education is
low need to explore the possibility of reallocating some public funds
used for other purposes to basic education.
30. Assessing the resources actually or potentially available for basic
education and comparing them to the budget estimates underlying
the plan of action, can help identify possible inadequacies of resources
that may affect the scheduling of planned activities over time or may
require choices to be made. Countries that require external assis
tance to meet the basic learning needs of their people can use the
resource assessment and plan of action as a basis for discussions with
their international partners and for coordinating external funding.
31. The individual learners themselves constitute a vital human
resource that needs to be mobilized. The demand for, and participa
tion in, learning opportunities cannot simply be assumed, but must be
actively encouraged. Potential learners need to see that the benefits
of basic education activities exceed the costs the participants must
bear, such as earnings foregone and reduced time available for com
munity and household activities and for leisure. Women and girls,
especially, may be deterred from taking full advantage of basic educa
tion opportunities because of reasons specific to individual cultures.
Such barriers to participation may be overcome through the use of
incentives and by programmes adapted to the local context and seen
by the learners, their families and communities to be “productive
activities”. Also, learners tend to benefit more from education when
they are partners in the instructional process, rather than treated
simply as “inputs” or “beneficiaries”. Attention to the issues of
12
Framework for Action
demand and participation will help assure that the learners’ personal
capacities are mobilized for education.
32. Family resources, including time and mutual support, are vital
for the success of basic education activities. Families can be offered
incentives and assistance to ensure that their resources are invested to
enable all family members to benefit as fully and equitably as possible
from basic education opportunities.
33. The preeminent role of teachers as well as of other educational
personnel in providing quality basic education needs to be recognized
and developed to optimize their contribution. This must entail meas
ures to respect teachers’ trade union rights and professional
freedoms, and to improve their working conditions and status, nota
bly in respect to their recruitment, initial and in-service training,
remuneration and career development possibilities, as well as to allow
teachers to fulfill their aspirations, social obligations, and ethical
responsibilities.
34. In partnerships with school and community workers, libraries
need to become a vital link in providing educational resources for all
learners — pre-school through adulthood — in school and non-school
settings. There is therefore a need to recognize libraries as invaluable
information resources.
35. Community associations, co-operatives, religious bodies, and
other non-governmental organizations also play important roles in
supporting and in providing basic education. Their experience,
expertise, energy and direct relationships with various constituencies
are valuable resources for identifying and meeting basic learning
needs. Their active involvement in partnerships for basic education
should be promoted through policies and mechanisms that strengthen
their capacities and recognize their autonomy.
2.
PRIORITY ACTION AT REGIONAL LEVEL
36. Basic learning needs must be met through collaborative action
within each country, but there are many forms of co-operation
between countries with similar conditions and concerns that could,
and do, assist in this endeavour. Regions have already developed
plans, such as the Jakarta Plan of Action on Human Resources,
adopted by ESCAP in 1988. By exchanging information and experi
ence, pooling expertise, sharing facilities, and undertaking joint
activities, several countries, working together, can increase their
Framework for Action
13
resource base and lower costs to their mutual benefit. Such arrange
ments are often set up among neighboring countries (sub-regional),
among all countries in a major geo-cultural region, or among coun
tries sharing a common language or having cultural and commercial
relations. Regional and international organizations often play an im
portant role in facilitating such co-operation between countries. In
the following discussion, all such arrangements are included in the
term “regional”. In general, existing regional partnerships will need
to be strengthened and provided with the resources necessary for
their effective functioning in helping countries meet the basic learn
ing needs of their populations.
2.1
EXCHANGING INFORMATION, EXPERIENCE AND
EXPERTISE
37. Various regional mechanisms, both intergovernmental and non
governmental, promote co-operation in education and training,
health, agricultural development, research and information, commu
nications, and in other fields relevant to meeting basic learning needs.
Such mechanisms can be further developed in response to the evolv
ing needs of their constituents. Among several possible examples are
the four regional programmes established through UNESCO in the
1980s to support national efforts to achieve universal primary educa
tion and eliminate adult illiteracy:
•
Major Project in the Field of Education in Latin America
and the Caribbean;
•
Regional Programme for the Eradication of Illiteracy in
Africa;
•
Asia-Pacific Programme of Education for All (APPEAL);
•
Regional Programme for the Universalization and Renewal
of Primary Education and the Eradication of Illiteracy in
the Arab States by the Year 2000 (ARABUPEAL).
38. In addition to the technical and policy consultations organized
in connection with these programmes, other existing mechanisms can
be used for consulting on policy issues in basic education.
The
conferences of ministers of education organized by UNESCO and by
several regional organizations, the regular sessions of the regional
commissions of the United Nations, and certain trans-regional confer
ences organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat, CONFEMEN
(standing conference of ministers of education of francophone
14 Framework for Action
countries), die Organization of Economic Co-operation and Develop
ment (OECD), and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (ISESCO), could be used for this purpose as needs arise.
In addition, numerous conferences and meetings organized by non
governmental bodies proride opportunities for professionals to share
information and views on technical and policy issues. The conveners
of these various conferences and meetings may consider ways of
extending participadon, where appropriate, to include representa
tives of other constituencies engaged in meeting basic learning needs.
39. Full advantage should be taken of opportunities to share media
messages or programmes that can be exchanged among countries or
collaboratively developed, especially where language and cultural
similarities extend beyond political boundaries.
2.2
UNDERTAKING JOINT ACTIVITIES
40. There are many possible joint activities among countries in sup
port of national efforts to implement action plans for basic education.
Joint activities should be designed to exploit economies of scale and
the comparative advantages of participating countries. Six areas where
this form of regional collaboration seems particularly appropriate
are: (i) training of key personnel, such as planners,, managers, teacher
educators, researchers, etc.; (ii) efforts to improve information collec
tion and analysis; (iii) research; (iv) production of educational materi
als; (v) use of communication media to meet basic learning needs; and
(ri) management and use of distance education services. Here, too,
there are several existing mechanisms that could be utilized to foster
such activities, including UNESCO’s International Institute of Educa
tional Planning and its networks of trainees and research as well as
IBE’s information network and the Unesco Institute for Education;
the five networks for educational innovation operating under
UNESCO’s auspices; the research and review advisory groups
(RRAGs) associated with the International Development Research
Centre; the Commonwealth of Learning; the Asian Cultural Center
for UNESCO; the participatory network established by the Interna
tional Council for Adult Education; and the International Association
for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, which links major
national research institutions in some 35 countries. Certain multilat
eral and bilateral development agencies that have accumulated valu
able experience in one or more of these areas might be interested in
participating in joint activities. The five United Nations regional
Framework for Action
15
commissions could provide further support to such regional col
laboration, especially by mobilizing policymakers to take appropriate
action.
3.
PRIORITY ACTION AT WORLD LEVEL
41. The world community has a well-established record of co
operation in education and development.
However, international
funding for education stagnated during the early 1980s; at the same
time, many countries have been handicapped by growing debt bur
dens and economic relationships that channel their financial and
human resources to wealthier countries. Because concern about the
issues in basic education is shared by industrialized and developing
countries alike, international co-operation can provide valuable
support for national efforts and regional actions to implement the
expanded vision of basic Education for All. Time, energy, and fund
ing directed to basic education are perhaps the most profound invest
ment in people and in the future of a country which can be made;
there is a clear need and strong moral and economic argument for
international solidarity to provide technical co-operation and finan
cial assistance to countries that lack the resources to meet the basic
learning needs of their populations.
3.1
COOPERATION WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
42. Meeting basic learning needs constitutes a common and univer
sal human responsibility. The prospects for meeting basic learning
needs around the world are determined in part by the dynamics of
international relations and trade.
With the current relaxation of
tensions and the decreasing number of armed conflicts, there are
now real possibilities to reduce the tremendous waste of military
spending and shift those resources into socially useful areas, includ
ing basic education. The urgent task of meeting basic learning needs
may require such a reallocation between sectors, and the world com
munity and individual governments need to plan this conversion of
resources for peaceful uses with courage and vision, and in a thought
ful and careful manner. Similarly, international measures to reduce
or eliminate current imbalances in trade relations and to reduce debt
burdens must be taken to enable many low-income countries to
rebuild their own economies, releasing and retaining human and
financial resources needed for development and for providing basic
16 Framework for Action
education to their populations. Structural adjustment policies should
protect appropriate funding levels for education.
3.2
ENHANCING NATIONAL CAPACITIES
43. International support should be provided, on request, to coun
tries seeking to develop the national capacities needed for planning
and managing basic education programmes and services (see
section 1.4). Ultimate responsibility rests within each nation to design
and manage its own programmes to meet the learning needs of all its
population. International support could include training and
institutional development in data collection, analysis and research,
technological innovation, and educational methodologies.
Manage
ment information systems and other modern management methods
could also be introduced, with an emphasis on low and middle level
managers. These capabilities will be even more in demand to support
quality improvements in primary education and to introduce
innovative out-of-school programmes. In addition to direct support
to countries and institutions, international assistance can also be
usefully channelled to support the activities of international, regional
and other inter-country structures that organize joint research, train
ing and information exchanges. The latter should be based on, and
supported by, existing institutions and programmes, if need be
improved and strengthened, rather than on the establishment of new
structures. Support will be especially valuable for technical
cooperation among developing countries, among whom both circum
stances and resources available to respond to circumstances are often
similar.
3.3
PROVIDING SUSTAINED LONG-TERM SUPPORT FOR
NATIONAL AND REGIONAL ACTIONS
44. Meeting the basic learning needs of all people in all countries is
obviously a long-term undertaking. This Framework provides guide
lines for preparing national and subnational plans of action for the
development of basic education through a long-term commitment of
governments and their national partners to work together to reach
the targets and achieve the objectives they set for themselves.
International agencies and institutions, many of which are sponsors,
co-sponsors, and associate sponsors of the World Conference on
Education for All, should actively seek to plan together and sustain
their long-term support for the kinds of national and regional actions
Framework for Action
17
outlined in the preceding sections. In particular, the core sponsors of
the Education for All initiative (UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, World
Bank) affirm their commitments to supporting the priority areas for
international action presented below and to making appropriate
arrangements for meeting the objectives of Education for All, each
acting within its mandate, special responsibilities, and decisions of its
governing bodies. Given that UNESCO is the UN agency with a
particular responsibility for education, it will give priority to imple
menting the Framework for Action and to facilitating provision of
services needed for reinforced international co-ordination and
co-operation.
45. Increased international funding is needed to help the less
developed countries implement their own autonomous plans of action
in line with the expanded vision of basic Education for All. Genuine
partnerships characterized by co-operation and joint long-term com
mitments will accomplish more and provide the basis for a substantial
increase in overall funding for this important sub-sector of education.
Upon governments’ request, multilateral and bilateral agencies should
focus on supporting priority actions, particularly at the country level
(see section 1), in areas such as the following:
a.
The design or updating of national and subnational multisec
toral plans of action (see section 1.1), which will need to be
elaborated very early in the 1990s. Both financial and tech
nical assistance are needed by many developing countries,
particularly in collecting and analyzing data, as well as in
organizing domestic consultations.
b.
National efforts and related inter-country co-operation to attain a
satisfactory level of quality and relevance in primary education
(cf. sections 1.3 and 2 above). Experiences involving the
participation of families, local communities, and non
governmental organizations in increasing the relevance and
improving the quality of education could profitably be
shared among countries.
c.
The provision of universal primary education in the economi
cally poorer countries. International funding agencies should
consider negotiating arrangements to provide long-term
support, on a case-by-case basis, to help countries move
toward universal primary education according to their
timetable. The external agencies should examine current
assistance practices in order to find ways of effectively
assisting basic education programmes which do not require
18
Framework for Action
capital- and technology-intensive assistance, but often need
longer-term budgetary support. In this context, greater
attention should be given to criteria for development
co-operation in education to include more than mere
economic considerations.
d.
Programmes designed to meet the basic learning needs of disad
vantaged groups, out-of-school youth, and adults with little or no
access to basic learning opportunities. All partners can share
their experience and expertise in designing and implement
ing innovative measures and activities, and focus their fund
ing for basic education on specific categories and groups
(e.g., women, the rural poor, the disabled) to improve
significantly the learning opportunities and conditions
available for them.
e.
Education programmes for women and girls. These program
mes should be designed to eliminate the social and cultural
barriers which have discouraged or even excluded women
and girls from benefits of regular education programmes,
as well as to promote equal opportunities in all aspects of
their lives.
f.
Education programmes for refugees. The programmes run by
such organizations as the United Nations High Commission
for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) need more
substantial and reliable long-term financial support for this
recognized international responsibility.
Where countries
of refuge need international financial and technical assis
tance to cope with the basic needs of refugees, including
their learning needs, the international community can help
to share this burden through increased cooperation. The
world community will also endeavour to ensure that people
under occupation or displaced by war and other calamities
continue to have access to basic education programmes
that preserve their cultural identity.
g.
Basic education programmes of all kinds in countries with high
rates of illiteracy (as in sub-Saharan Africa) and with large illit
erate populations (as in South Asia). Substantial assistance
will be needed to reduce significantly the world’s large
number of illiterate adults.
h.
Capacity building for research and planning and the experi
mentation of small-scale innovations. The success of Educa-
Framework for Action
19
tion for All actions will ultimately be determined by the
capacity of each country to design and implement programs
that reflect national conditions. A strengthened knowledge
base nourished by research findings and the lessons of
experiments and innovations as well as the availablity of
competent educational planners will be essential in this
respect.
46. The coordination of external funding for education is an area of
shared responsibility at country level, in which host governments
need to take the lead to ensure the efficient use of resources in
accordance with their priorities.
Development funding agencies
should explore innovative and more flexible modalities of co
operation in consultation with the governments and institutions with
which they work and co-operate in regional initiatives, such as the
Task Force of Donors to African Education. Other forums heed to be
developed in which funding agencies and developing countries can
collaborate in the design of inter-country projects and discuss general
issues relating to financial assistance.
3.4
CONSULTATIONS ON POLICY ISSUES
47. Existing channels of communication and forums for consulta
tion among the many partners involved in meeting basic learning
needs should be fully utilized in the 1990s to maintain and extend the
international consensus underlying this Framework for Action. Some
channels and forums, such as the biannual International Conference
on Education, operate globally, while others focus on particular
regions or groups of countries or categories of partners. Insofar as
possible, organizers should seek to coordinate these consultations
and share results.
48. Moreover, in order to maintain and expand the Education for
All initiative, the international community will need to make appro
priate arrangements, which will ensure co-operation among the inter
ested agencies using the existing mechanisms insofar as possible: (i) to
continue advocacy of basic Education for All, building on the momen
tum generated by the World Conference; (ii) to facilitate sharing
information on the progress made in achieving basic education targets
set by countries for themselves and on the resources and organiza
tional requirements for successful initiatives; (iii) to encourage new
partners to join this global endeavor; and (iv) to ensure that all
partners are fully aware of the importance of maintaining strong
support for basic education.
20 Framework for Action
INDICATIVE PHASING OF IMPLEMENTATION FOR
THE 1990S
49. Each country, in determining its own intermediate goals and tar
gets and in designing its plan of action for achieving them, will, in the
process, establish a timetable to harmonize and schedule specific
activities. Similarly, regional and international action will need to be
scheduled to help countries meet their targets on time. The following
general schedule suggests an indicative phasing during the 1990s; of
course, certain phases may need to overlap and the dates indicated
will need to be adapted to individual country and organizational
contexts.
1.
Governments and organizations set specific targets and
complete or update their plans of action to meet basic
learning needs (cf. section 1.1); take measures to create a
supportive policy environment (1.2); devise policies to
improve the relevance, quality, equity and efficiency of
basic education services and programmes (1.3); design the
means to adapt information and communication media to
meet basic learning needs (1.4) and mobilize resources and
establish operational partnerships (1.6). International part
ners assist countries, through direct support and through
regional co-operation, to complete this preparatory stage.
(1990-1991)
2.
Development agencies establish policies and plans for the
1990s, in line with their commitments to sustained, long
term support for national and regional actions and increase
their financial and technical assistance to basic education
accordingly (3.3). All partners strengthen and use relevant
existing mechanisms for consultation and co-operation and
establish procedures for monitoring progress at regional
and international levels. (1990-1993)
3.
First stage of implementation of plans of action: national
coordinating bodies monitor implementation and propose
appropriate adjustments to plans. Regional and interna
tional supporting actions are carried out. (1990-1995)
4.
Governments and organizations undertake mid-term evalu
ation of the implementation of their respective plans and
adjust them as needed. Governments, organizations and
development agencies undertake comprehensive policy
reviews at regional and global levels. (1995-1996)
Framework for Action 21
5.
Second stage of implementation of plans of action and of
supporting action at regional and international levels.
Development agencies adjust their plans as necessary and
increase their assistance to basic education accordingly.
(1996-2000)
6.
Governments, organizations and development agencies
evaluate achievements and undertake comprehensive pol
icy review at regional and global levels. (2000-2001)
50. There will never be a better time to renew commitment to
the inevitable and long-term effort to meet the basic learning
needs of all children, youth and adults. This effort will require a
much greater and wiser investment of resources in basic educa
tion and training than ever before, but benefits will begin accru
ing immediately and will extend well into the future — where the
global challenges of today will be met, in good measure, by the
world community’s commitment and perseverance in attaining
its goal of education for all.
FOR ADDITIONAL COPIES AND INFORMATION:
WCEFA Liaison
ADG/Education
UNESCO
7, Place de Fontenoy
Paris 75700, France
WCEFA Liaison
Bureau of Programme
& Policy Evaluation
UNDP
One, United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017, USA
WCEFA Liaison
Programme Division
UNICEF
Three, United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017, USA
NDQ-4/92-EDU -ENG-5-92/2504/1920
WCEFA Liaison
Population & Human Resources
Department
WORLD BANK
1818 H Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20433, USA
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