The World Education Forum, which was organized by UNESCO, FNUAP, UNICEF and the World Bank, provided the opportunity to take stock of the successes and failures, and to draw the lessons from them for the preceding decade.

The Forum was aimed at translating Article 1 of the Universal Declaration on Education for All into reality by adopting a Framework for Action designed to help the Member States to respond to the basic educational needs of all by 2015.

The Dakar Framework defines six fundamental EFA goals and puts forward twelve major strategies. The strategies take account of the experience gained over the past decade and the changing world context. They also incorporate the international education development objectives already agreed by national Governments and the international community: The six Dakar goals are as follows:

(i) expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;

(ii) ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality;

(iii) ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes;

(iv) achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults;

(v) eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving 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;

(vi) improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

Education for all is a fundamental right that is at the very heart of development. It should be a national and international priority, requiring determined and sustainable political commitment, more substantial resources and the participation of all the EFA partners in the processes of policy preparation, strategic planning and programme execution. The achievement of the six goals given above requires a diversified approach which far exceeds the framework of formal education systems. The assessment made of the past decade leads one to the conclusion that the achievement of education for all would require the following strategies whose implementation should be of decisive importance, namely to:

(i)mobilize strong national and international political commitment for education for all, develop national action plans and enhance significantly investment in basic education;

(ii)promote EFA policies within a sustainable and well-integrated sector framework clearly linked to poverty elimination and development strategies;

(iii)ensure the engagement and participation of civil society in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of strategies for educational development;

(iv)develop responsive, participatory and accountable systems of educational governance and management;

(v)meet the needs of education systems affected by conflict, national calamities and instability and conduct educational programmes in ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and tolerance, and that help to prevent violence and conflict;

(vi)implement integrated strategies for gender equality in education which recognize the need for changes in attitudes, values and practices;

(vii)implement as a matter of urgency education programmes and actions to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic;

(viii)create safe, healthy, inclusive and equitably resourced educational environments conducive to excellence in learning with clearly defined levels of achievement for all;

(ix)enhance the status, morale and professionalism of teachers;

(x)harness new information and communication technologies to help achieve EFA goals;

(xi)systematically monitor progress towards EFA goals and strategies at the national, regional and international levels; and build on existing mechanisms to accelerate progress towards education for all.