TOWARDS LIFELONG EDUCATION FOR ALL — ENROLMENT AND ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS

1956 International Conference on Educational Research, Atlantic City, United States 1956-1965 First Major Project for the Extension and Improvement of Primary Education in Latin America 1960 Adoption of the Convention against Discrimination in Education, UNESCO General Conference, Paris Adoption of the Karachi Plan for the Development of Free and Compulsory Primary Education in Asia 1960-1961 Regional conferences on compulsory education, Karachi, Beirut, Addis Ababa 1961 Creation of the Regional Centre for Research on School Buildings, Bandung, Indonesia (transferred to Colombo in 1966) Creation of the Asian Institute for Educational Planning and Management, New Delhi

THE PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY EDUCATION AND THE QUEST FOR GREATER RELEVANCE TO THE ENVIRONMENT By adopting an overall plan for the development of education at all levels, the May 1961 Addis Ababa Conference on education in African countries marked a strategic turning point in respect of goals (6) with the integration of primary education into the framework of global educational planning to the systematic development of which UNESCO devoted great efforts. (7) Between 1960 and 1970, with the support of the United Nations Special Fund, and then of UNDP on the one hand, and UNICEF on the other, UNESCO was to launch national primary education projects in about fifty countries in the different regions. (8) Towards the end of the 1960s, given the very weak internal (drop-outs and repeated years) and external (lack of relevance) return at this level of education, brought to light primarily during regional ministers’ conferences, emphasis was placed upon improving the quality and relevance of elementary education. This was one of the tasks assigned to the regional networks of educational innovation for development, which support, along with other innovations, the introduction into the curriculum of know-how linked to daily life. Moreover, returning to the principles of fundamental education in its early years, the Organization once more began to work towards better linking school education and rural development with the creation of integrated rural development projects in Latin America and Asia, (9) and of rural teacher-training colleges in Africa. (10) Action to foster primary education also concentrated on school buildings, (11) textbooks, and methods (audiovisual and programmed learning), as well as on content (introduction to science and technology, population and environmental education), and included specific measures for the education of girls and minorities. However, teacher- training remained the main thrust and between 1960 and 1974 the Organization helped to train more than 300,000 teachers in co- operation with UNDP, and nearly 70,000 more with UNICEF. An inventory of technical co-operation projects related to teacher-training is contained in the CD-ROM (Vol. I) which accompanies this brochure. In the 1970s, it was admitted that ‘[...] the fact the school system in developing countries is not able to attract and retain the majority of children, that is the rural poor, is a source of disillusionment with the school as a centre of learning’. (12) Whilst continuing to give priority to the development of primary education, (13) a commitment confirmed once more in 1984 by the ICE which adopted a recommendation on the generalization and renewal of primary education, (14) the Organization was also to help develop non-formal schemes calling upon communities to take action. (15) From 1985 onwards a revitalized strategy of education for all began to be implemented through the regional networks. This consisted not only of linking literacy and primary education, but also of systematically seeking a point of linkage between formal and non-formal education. (16)

1960-1995 GROWTH OF TOTAL SCHOOL ENROLMENT Developing countries	René Maheu (France) Director-General of UNESCO from 1962 to 1974 If illiteracy is really to be wiped out, the battle must be fought on two fronts simultaneously. First and foremost, we must see to it that primary and compulsory education becomes a reality everywhere, for without this, as I have already said, new multitudes of illiterates will continue to loom up and cloud the world horizon. At the same time we must redouble our efforts to reduce the present large number of adult illiterates. It is essential that the two types of action should go hand in hand since obviously generalized primary education is impossible in a society of illiterate adults, and adult illiteracy is pointless if no steps are taken to ensure the adequate education of children. Address to the Interparliamentary Union, Copenhagen, 26 August 1964 Malcolm S. Adiseshiah (India) Deputy Director-General of UNESCO from 1963 to 1970 One explanation for this failure is that the schools were set up by the colonial authorities to train a certain number of clerks and subordinate officials for the ruling foreign government. With the countries’ independence, the same schools, with little or no change, were unable to take over their assigned tasks of universalizing primary education. Reflections on the Future Development of Education, UNESCO, 1984
Schools in rural areas.

                               

FOOTNOTES:

(6) Primary education is perceived as a preparation for secondary school, and loses its vocation of terminal grade for most pupils.

(7) See the section on educational planning, p. 182 et seq.

(8) Globally until the mid- seventies most aid and international credits went to secondary and higher education, despite (and also because of) the adoption by the United Nations of a resolution on the role of education in economic development. At the initiative of Robert McNamara, then President of the World Bank, from 1975 onwards part of the Bank loans to education were earmarked for primary education and literacy.

(9) Close co-operation established between ILO and FAO: creation of a Joint FAO/UNESCO/ILO consultative committee on education, training and agricultural science. UNESCO, in particular, attempted to develop primary education in rural areas. For example, in this respect, the Organization assisted the Government of Thailand in the extension of the rural teacher training college at Ubol (TURTEP) which was to work closely with the Thailand-UNESCO fundamental education centre (TUFEC). The purpose of this project is:
i) to provide suitable pedagogical training for teachers in rural schools, preparing them to act as leaders of the communities in which they teach;
ii) to acquaint fundamental education specialists with the work that rural schools can do for the social and economic development of communities; and
iii) in this way link school education with fundamental education by teaching the techniques of both to rural teachers and to fundamental education specialists.

(10) The Institute for Rural Education (IPAR) in Yaoundé (Cameroon) simultaneously took on the reform of training programmes, revision of curricula, introduction of innovations (felt boards) and production of materials and school textbooks.

(11) Building teacher-training colleges and schools. In this respect, see the section in ‘Aid to Education’ on school buildings and equipment and the CD-ROM (Vol. I) which accompanies this brochure for an inventory of projects in this domain.

(12) Malcolm S. Adiseshiah, ‘Education and Social Justice’ In: Reflections on the Future Development of Education, UNESCO, 1984.

(13) With some flagship activities, such as the Educational Television Programme in Côte d’Ivoire.

(14) Recommendation No. 74 of ICE on the universalization and renewal of primary education in the perspective of an appropriate introduction to science and technology requests that co-ordination with the other levels of teaching be strengthened and continuity of objectives, content and structures reinforced.

(15) See, in particular, the study prepared by the International Council for Educational Development New Paths to Learning for Rural Children and Youth, Philip Coombs, UNICEF, 1973; Basic Services for Children: Continuing Search for Learning Priorities, IERS, No. 36-37, UNESCO, 1980; Non-conventional Approaches to Education at the Primary Level, A. Ranaweera, UIE, Hamburg, 1990.

(16) Linking Formal and Non-formal Education. Implications for Teacher training A. Hamadache, UNESCO, 1993.