Education for All > Background Documents > Mid-Decade Meeting 1996 > Backgrounder: Achieving Education for All The World Conference on Education for All (1990), an important milestone in the development of education, was organized in response to the widespread concern over the inadequacy and deterioration of education systems during the 1980s and over the millions of children and adults who remain illiterate and poorly prepared for life in their societies. Convened by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank, the Conference took place in Thailand, 5-9 March 1990. In the small coastal town of Jomtien, 155 governments pledged to take the necessary steps to universalize primary education and massively reduce illiteracy before the end of the decade, as well as to : expand early childhood education improve learning achievement reduce the male-female literacy gap expand basic education opportunities for youth and adults use all available communication channels to promote knowledge, skills and values for better living. The Conference adopted the World Declaration on Education for All and the Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs . Through these documents the world community broadened the scope of basic education to include early childhood development, primary education, non-formal learning (including literacy) for youth and adults, and learning conveyed through the media and social action. The International Consultative Forum on Education for All was set up after the Jomtien Conference as a "watchdog" body to promote and monitor progress towards education for all goals through the 1990s. The Forum periodically brings together senior policy-makers and specialists from developing countries, international and bilateral development agencies, and non-governmental organizations and foundations. In 1996, the Jomtien convenors are organizing a high-level meeting to assess what has been done -- by nations and the international community -- to achieve Education for All. The mid-decade meeting of the International Consultative Forum on Education for All (Amman, Jordan, 16-19 June) will provide the balance sheet and map the road ahead.