Press
Release No.2002-92
HIGH LEVEL GROUP
URGES COUNTRIES TO MAKE
EDUCATION FOR ALL A TOP PRIORITY
Abuja, November 20 - The High Level
Group on Education For All, meeting here for the past two days,
has expressed its alarm that only 83 countries, on present trends,
have achieved or have a high chance of achieving by 2015 the goals
of universal primary education, gender parity in education and
the halving their illiteracy rates.
In a communiqué issued at
the close of the meeting, the High Level Group, comprising 24
members, including government ministers, representatives of donor
organizations, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations,
also highlighted its concern over the reported decline in aid
for education during the 1990s. Despite recent commitments from
some countries, it says, existing evidence suggests a serious
gap in international support to achieve Education for All (EFA)
goals even after countries undertake maximum efforts to improve
domestic resource mobilization and efficiency."
These findings were reported in
the recently released 2002 Education for All Global Monitoring
Report: Is the World on Track?, written by an independent international
team, with UNESCO's support, and which formed the basis of the
High Level Group's discussions.
The communiqué urged the
international community to accelerate progress to deliver on commitments
made at the World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, 2000), and
to ensure that no country was left at risk through lack of resources.
Countries themselves also need
to increase their efforts, said the communiqué, stressing
the importance of good planning, set in the economic context of
countries, and taking into account such challenges as the HIV/AIDS
pandemic and conflict. Another priority is action to eliminate
gender disparity at primary and secondary school level.
The communiqué pointed to
the importance of increasing the involvement of civil society
in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
EFA efforts, and building up of professionals skills required
for these tasks.
Improving data on education is
another vital area of concern to the High Level Group. Effective
planning, financing and policy development for education depend
greatly on the availability of reliable data. The communiqué
signals the need for more accurate and timely qualitative and
quantitative data and encourages EFA partners to intensify their
support for capacity building efforts in this area.
Nonetheless, the High Level Group
acknowledged that "important advances" have been made
and looked forward to a marked improvement in the situation when
its members meet for their third meeting scheduled next year in
India.
"This second meeting has proved
particularly fruitful," said UNESCO Director-General Koichiro
Matsuura. "We have been more focused and more purposeful,
and I feel sure that we have helped put Education for All back
on track."
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Contact Sue Williams
Bureau of Public Information, Editorial Section
Tel: (+33) (0) 45 68 17 06, Email: s.williams@unesco.org
The 2002 Education
for All Global Monitoring Report: Is the World on Track? is available
online in pdf format at www.unesco.org/education
