ment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults. The
movement was launched at the World Conference on Education for All in
1990 by UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank. Participants
endorsed an 'expanded vision of learning' and pledged to universalize primary
education and massively reduce illiteracy by the end of the decade 2005-2015.
Ten years later, with many countries far from having reached this goal, the
international community met again in Dakar, Senegal, and affirmed their
commitment to achieving Education for All. They identified six key education
goals which aim to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults
by 2015:
Goal 1: Expand early childhood care and education
Goal 2: Provide free and compulsory primary education for all
Goal 3: Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults
Goal 4: Increase adult literacy by 50 per cent
Goal 5: Achieve gender parity by 2005, gender equality by 2015
Goal 6: Improve the quality of education
TVET particularly contributes to EFA goals 3 and 6 as they relate to life skills.
As the lead agency, UNESCO has been mandated to 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.
Universal Primary Education (UPE)
Universal Primary Education (UPE) is a global initiative to ensure that all
children have access to primary education, regardless of gender. It was a
focus of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, with the goal of
achieving UPE by 2015.
Some challenges to UPE include:
1.Infrastructure gaps
Children in rural areas may study in dilapidated buildings or in the shade of
trees.
2.Drop-out rates
Children may drop out if they have to walk long distances to school or help
with household chores.
Some countries have made notable progress towards UPE, including
Kenya,where the government has been committed to UPE since
independence, and has taken steps such as introducing free primary
education in the 1970s and reintroducing it in 2003. Kenya has also
decentralized education governance.
Some strategies for achieving UPE include:
Prioritizing, planning, and financing primary education
Establishing sector policies for improving and expanding primary
education
Partnering and coordinating the efforts of partners
Sources: Unesco website and inee.org
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