6.3 Learning Achievement

From class 1-8, students move automatically from one level to the next every end of the year irrespective of whether or not he she has attained a satisfactory pass. The idea is for pupils of the same age group to remain with their peers in the same class. We believe that pupils will learn, play and work better in their own age groups rather than to put them in mixed age groups. All along pupils in their respective age groups are usually tested to ensure that they achieve satisfactory results. Schools usually hold their mid year exams as well as their final year examinations for all levels in the school. This practice has been in the system for a long time. While this system is believed to be the best for our students in attaining learning achievement, the result of the Pill Test for Classes 4 and 6 in 1994 and 1996 revealed that students literacy rate has fallen far below the expected level. In 1997, a National Literacy Seminar was held in the capital. Included in the seminar were politicians, teachers, non-governmental organisations, island leaders, representatives from the youth and women, Island Council presidents from outer islands and the public sector. The following were the resolutions that were passed to address the unsatisfactory results of the PILL Tests :

official curriculum should be produced and the Ministry of Education should ensure that the curriculum is effectively implemented in all schools.

All schools should be inspected three times a year.

All schools should be well staffed by qualified teachers by the year 2000.

Schools should be well supplied with textbooks, stationeries as well as reading books for all levels.

School buildings and teachers quarters on the outer islands should be properly renovated.

Teachers Professional development to be strengthened.

Multiple Class Teaching should be kept to the minimal.

Teachers’ salaries should be increased.

Transferring of teachers from one school to another during school terms or within the year should be kept to the minimal.

Since 1997, all the resolutions above have been accomplished except for qualified teachers. Shortage of qualified teachers in Primary schools still exists but by the year 2003, we shall have more than enough qualified teachers to staff primary schools. The target that we have already achieved in primary schools for learning achievement is 100% for appropriate age cohorts. This is reflected by the 99% literacy of the total population in the country. There are no students not attending school. Parents have realised the importance of schooling and they hate to see their children not attending school. They have realised that education will provide their children with the best knowledge and skills that are essential for their lives in the future, therefore they will never fail to send their children to school. Community Support is one component of the BELS programme where parents’ involvement in their children’s education has been broadened. Therefore parents have become aware of the different roles that they are expected to play in their homes to provide help for their children after school hours. The community is now in a better position to provide extra help required by the schools whenever that is necessary.

Table 11: Source: 1991 census : Literacy Rates

According to the figures obtained from the last census in 1991, there were 73 adults who were illiterate out of the total population of 6442. The highest illiterate number that was recorded was 15 from one of the fourteen different age groups. The 15 illiterate persons mentioned above were children within the school compulsory age group of 10-14 years old. However there were no records which showed that these children were the school dropouts or they were slowed learners. In spite of that, however, if these 15 children were within the basic education system and were to be distributed out to the nine primary schools, then there would be 1 to 2 children per school who were illiterate in the whole country for the 10-14 year old group. At the time of the census, the 10-14 year olds had a total of 779 children.

The data for the 1991 census revealed that the number of illiterates in the 15-24 age group was 17 and the total population for this age group at that time was 1280. The number of children who were found illiterate at that time could have been those who were slower learners, physically abled or those who dropped out from the system. It was a very uncommon practice by parents to withhold their children from attending school here in Tuvalu. Therefore, as such, it would be an unrealistic conclusion to say at this stage that these 17 illiterates in the 15-24 age groups did not attend any form of basic education at all.

As recorded in the last census, the remaining 40 of all the illiterates fell within the 25-75 plus age group. This was a very small number compared with the total population of this age group, which was 4383.

Adult literacy in terms of reading, writing and numeracy in the mother tongue was and is still not a problem in Tuvalu.

With compulsory education coupled with 100% access of students up to junior secondary schools Years 1 to 10, literacy rate is expected to reach well above 98%. This seems good as it stands but there are concerns over the lack of reading materials in the vernacular language. This will lead to slowing down of the children’s early childhood learning experiences of their environment. The production of reading materials in the Tuvalu language is given high priority at this stage. Government gives training of teachers and parents through organised in-country workshops to combat any form of illiteracy in Early Childhood Education.

Improvements on adult literacy in Tuvalu were to base on various workshops and seminars provided by all the Government departments in collaboration with the non-governmental organisations in the country.

Adult Education

Adult Education is one of the areas that was neglected before the EFA/EFL programs came into operation. Since 1990, adult education through training workshops has become popular. All government departments have programs for adult education. Similarly non-governmental organisations have also conducted training workshops for adults. These workshops have been centered on subjects such as:

Improved Public Health

Home Gardening

Secretarial work including computing and typing

Community skills such as home economics, weaving and craft

Technical skills – woodwork

One of the Government initiatives is to promote adult education on all islands in Tuvalu and Government has agreed to have a voluntary non-formal education coordinator on each island. The community meeting hall or primary schools will be used as Learning Centres.

Already all islands have their community workers whose main responsibility is to help the community provide essential skills that are required by the community, especially in the training of women. An Agricultural Assistant is also placed on each island to help the community with skills required to improve subsistence agriculture.

Post Secondary Education is provided by the Tuvalu Maritime School (TMS), which offers technical Training to International Maritime Organisation (IMO) standards to certify Tuvalu seamen to serve on foreign vessels. TMS offers free pre- service training including practical training of nine months duration to 45 students and in-service upgrading programs of two weeks duration to about 400 students each year.

The University of the South Pacific Extension Centre (USPEC) in Funafuti also provides post- secondary education. USPEC offers foundation studies (senior secondary equivalent) and vocational and degree programs through distance education and a small program of continuing education courses. In recent years, enrolment in distance education programs has been of the order of 110 per semester. Students from outer islands have continued to enroll in the USPEC programs and about one–third of the total enrolments come from the outer islands. A total of 60 students per year are involved in continuing education programs. Fees are charged for all USPEC courses and are of the order of $160 per semester unit for credit programs.

Education for better living starts from Early childhood when children first enter pre-schools. At this age pre-school teachers start to cultivate in the children’s minds some cultural values such as love, respect, honesty, co-operation and a sense of sharing with one another in pre-schools.

These cultural values continue to be taught as part of the child development process when he/she reaches the primary school in conjunction with cultural skills such as art and craft, singing and dancing. Education for better living continues on to our secondary school and beyond.

The EFA/EFL programme supports the conviction of the people of Tuvalu that the roots of culture and tradition must continue to grow deeper into the soil of their lives. Tuvalu gives high recognition to the need to preserve the most valued elements of culture. Thus, within the Tuvalu education system, there is increasing attention to the preservation of cultural identity in face of modernisation.

In the school curriculum there is emphasis on improving the quality of living. This leads the children to understand some of the common elements of the accepted quality of standard of living such as a reasonable life expectancy, adequate food and nutrition, basic housing, water sanitation and clothing, adequate income and meaningful employment, access to health and education services and ability to participate in community life and cultural pursuits.

It is also emphasised that education for better living is not only confined to the handing down of the traditional Tuvaluan society knowledge, skills and values, but it should be combined with the knowledge and skills that have been brought about by the modern age of science and technology. Together they will equip the individuals and families with the knowledge and skills to improve, sustain and make their environment a better and happy place for them to live in.

Before the introduction of EFA/EFL programme, education for better living was given low priority. The expectations of parents when they sent their children to school was for them to be taught those subjects such as Maths, English, Social and Basic sciences that would qualify them for white collar jobs. No parents were prepared to support school programmes that were mounted for cultural values and community skills. Their argument was that community skills and cultural values could be learnt by children when they return to their own communities after completing their formal education. It was this reason that the Community Centers that were established for the purpose of strengthening the children’s knowledge and understanding of cultural values and community skills.

However, the introduction of the EFA/EFL programme brought with it much emphasis on the strengthening and promotion of education for better living. Adult education has been strengthened and the participation of adults in activities related to education for better living has increased tremendously over the present decade. Education for better living programmes are not only confined to school children through the school curriculum but such programmmes have been extended to the communities by means of workshops and talks over Radio Tuvalu by the government ministries and non governmental organisations.

As a result of strengthening programmes on education for better living, there are hardly any children who do not enrol in basic education. The communities’ means of survival has increased. Individuals as well as mothers with their babies report to the clinics for treatment when they are sick. Families and individuals are using new and traditional methods of agriculture and fishing. The government has also established a Council of elders known as Falekaupule on each island and has given autonomy to make their own bye-laws and other developments that are useful for the good and well being of their own people.

The most important Adult programmes include:

Nutrition

Gardening

Environment contemporary issues

Providing an Adult Education network

Education programmes featuring on radio broadcasts include:

Issues concerning the environment (i.e. climate change, sea levels, etc)

Running small businesses

Health (i.e programmes related to HIV/AIDS, etc)

Home Management and Child Care

World Health Organisation Programmes

With regard to some of the WHO programmes such as HIV/AIDS, Child Care, Family Planning etc, the adult population, both male and female, heave learnt ways of protecting themselves from becoming victims of the deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDs. According to an unpublished report, HIV/AIDs has found its way to Tuvalu. Out of its present population of over 10,000 people, two positive HIV/AIDs cases have been detected. The HIV/AIDs programme has been widely disseminated to people not only through Radio Tuvalu broadcasting station and workshops, but also by actual visits to the outer islands by the Public Health Department. The same programme is also conducted in our secondary school, Maritime School and moderately implemented in our primary schools.

The Public Health Department has also held seminars and workshops with mothers on ChildCare and Nutrition. The present unpublished survey on malnutrition showed that malnutrition is not a problem in Tuvalu. The problem is obesity. Newborn babies are over-weight. However, to address the problem, nurses in charge of the dispensaries or clinics on all islands hold regular meetings with women groups or pregnant mothers and discuss important issues relating to nutrition and Child Care. Now all pregnant mothers have established the habit of visiting the clinics from early pregnancy up until they give birth.

Family planning has already been introduced in Tuvalu. Educational programmes such as Family Life Education have been disseminated in the whole country through seminars, workshops, and visits to communities on outer islands.

Many couples, and some single parents, have put into practice the knowledge that they have achieved from the workshops, seminars and also from listening to interviews held on the radio on issues related to Family Planning, and the outcome of this programme has been quite satisfactory. There is now a steady growth of the population over more than a decade ago.

All of the above educational programmes have been, one way or another, to be disseminated to the public. The most influential way of disseminating the information to the public is by way of songs. Small groups have composed songs on health-related issues highlighting the important issues that have been discussed during the workshops and seminars, and also what they hear from interviews over the radio. They also highlighted, in the songs, the sad consequences for the individuals or families who do not comply with the advice offered through these health programmes that have been conducted. The songs are regularly played over Radio Tuvalu and the messages are not only heard but also learnt through the songs.

As well, UNESCO Apia’s two year programmes which began with the training of a core group of four young people from each of thirteen Pacific Island countries resulted in a National Youth Forum and other activities which have contributed to education for better living for youth.

Music and Dancing

Tuvalu tradition, songs and dancing are something that all people of Tuvalu love and appreciate. In basic education, traditional songs and dances are included in the school curriculum. The schools have started implementing this programme and children learn and practise the art of traditional singing and dancing in schools. There have been occasions when schools put on shows or displays for the public, and the children performed magnificently in traditional singing and dancing. In addition, Japan invites primary school children to go to Japan every year for a cultural exchange. Representatives from Tuvalu usually practise, among other things, traditional songs and dances as one of their cultural displays in Japan. The art of traditional dancing and singing is commonly used by adults to welcome important guests coming into the country, or to individual islands. The people usually put on their highest performance in traditional dancing as a token of friendship to their guests of honour, and also to show them that there is nothing more precious that they can offer in return for the assistance that they have provided than to entertain the guests with their cultural dance which the people of Tuvalu value and hold in high esteem.

Other forms of western types of music and dancing have also been introduced and are commonly practised by the youth in small groups. Dancing is commonly performed as a sort of entertainment by youths and some adults in clubs. This sort of entertainment is not commonly used when community functions are held.

Media and Newspaper

The Radio Broadcasting station of Tuvalu had in the past not been regularly used for the purpose of disseminating educational programmes to the public. Now it has become a very important avenue for disseminating information related to educational issues to the public. All issues related to training workshops and seminars held in the capital, and debates in the House of Parliament, are regularly recorded and put on the air for the information of the public.

The newspaper known as the Tuvalu Echo was started towards the end of 1998. Its publications are issued fortnightly. In it there are small columns made available to all Government departments. However, most of the people in Tuvalu are not accustomed to reading newspapers and therefore what is published is only read by the minority of the people, even though the text is written in both English and Tuvaluan languages. The newspaper has presently not gained in popularity among the people but we hope that Government, as well as non-Governmental organisations, will fully utilise the Tuvalu Echo in future as a means of delivering educational programmes to all the people living in the capital as well as those on the outer islands.

(i) The Government of Tuvalu has a well-established education plan and strategy officially named as "Education for Life" which runs parallel to this Education for All programme. The aims and objectives of these two strategic education plans are very similar and all aiming to achieve the most important goal of providing quality education (academic stream, vocational stream + all aspects of education) to all citizens of Tuvalu. Therefore this Education for All is providing a similar perspective to the already existed Tuvalu’s Education for Life but with different mechanics and a more dynamic analytical approach.

Education for All strategy, plan and programmes have provided a sound input into the Tuvalu Education system, especially in terms of bringing out the true picture in all aspects of education in Tuvalu. EFA has provide an avenue for more critical inward assessment of our education system, in terms of the management of education; the teachers; educating all children; the provision of all the required forms of education to cater for the needs of all children and adult and the development of Tuvalu.

The EFA plans, strategy and programmes are just right for the further development of Tuvalu’s education. It covers all the foundations of bringing good and effective education to all citizens of Tuvalu, and also provides Tuvalu with a well established database of Tuvalu’s Education sector, and most importantly a detailed analysis of the past, and current status of the education sector in Tuvalu. These provide a solid foundation for Tuvalu policy makers to formulate and base their decisions in both the short and long term aspect of providing education for all in Tuvalu.

(ii) The implementation of EFA strategy, plan and programmes is still and would continue to be a high priority area for the Government of Tuvalu. As shown in the above section 6, the Government of Tuvalu since the past twenty years has well established the provision of education from pre-school, primary level and up to the level in secondary school education. This support has also been consistent for the improvement of the literacy rate, the skills and the quality of life amongst the citizens of Tuvalu. This could be witnessed by the continuous large proportion of Government’s budget allocated for education and the continued assistance (provision of money, infrastructure, books, school equipment and teachers) from donor agencies.

However, as discussed above Tuvalu is faced with a lot of problems especially in terms of the availability of financial resources; qualified human to look in to the effective materialisation of EFA’s plan and strategy. The Government is fully aware of these difficulties and has committed to and overcome them. For this, the assistance of donor countries like Australia and New Zealand was acquired and the Government of Tuvalu applauded these two Governments for their invaluable assistance and effort.

The other problem which arose from the implementation of EFA plan and strategy was the absence of a sound management in Tuvalu’s education system and a well properly organized plan for the overall education sector. This problem also reflected the need for Tuvalu to have qualified persons to manage the problem and a lot of monetary support.

(iii) In achieving EFA goals, plan, strategy and programmes, the results for Tuvalu is a mixed result, i.e., some aspects of Tuvalu’s education system were of excellent achievement while the others are still in the infancy status (in terms planning and implementing). Thus, Tuvalu has managed to set up good solid education for pre-school, primary school and secondary school; but not enough to cater for the development of skills through the establishment of a vocational schools and strengthening of curriculum in the this field. Moreover, the only vocational school in Tuvalu only provides opportunities for boys; hence there is gender inequality in the provision of education for all in this respect.

The Government of Tuvalu through the Ministry of Education is firmly addressing the above concerns where the education system and sector is currently under detailed review. In addition, the Department of Education is improving its management capacity by expanding and establishing a newly organized curriculum development and examination unit together with supervision and inspection unit. This is a huge positive move whereby all the required EFA goals, plans, strategy and programmes would be fully catered for by this newly developed management and the materialisation of these plans would be in a much better position to be achieved.

Therefore the results with reference to EFA has been satisfactory for Tuvalu. The Overall EFA plan has been effective in Tuvalu, where some of the plans have been achieved and dealt with. However, there is still a need for a huge improvement and assistance for Tuvalu to fully realised and meet all the EFA plan, strategy and programmes.

There is a Government project that has been started with regard to building extra new classrooms for primary schools and at the same time renovating the existing buildings. This project is expected to be completed by the year 2003. Funds for building new classrooms for pre-schools have been secured from overseas donors. Construction work on pre-school classrooms in the capital, Funafuti, will be started toward the end of 1999. Pre-schools on the outer islands will be started in the year 2000.

Infrastructure

It has been anticipated that to be able to achieve EFA/AFL goals effectively there must be sufficient infrastructure i.e. classroom blocks on each island to house the students, and enough staff accommodation quarters of teachers. Work has started on the outer islands where renovation of existing schools buildings has started and it is envisaged that this exercise will cover all islands. Tables and chairs are also being produced on large scale to be distributed to all islands for this purpose. It is planned that by the year 2001 every child in school should have a chair and table during class work.

Further, special modules of buildings have been designed for classrooms and these would be constructed on each island by the year 2001. These buildings will also serve as additional classrooms for the students.

Teachers quarters: -There is a special housing scheme for all teachers. This will help solve the problems of teachers on the outer islands. It is hoped that with the new falekaupule administration system, each island will see to the repairs and maintenance of teacher’s quarters.

This project is anticipated to be completed by the year 2002.

The new system of promotion to the next grade at the end of the year without repetition of grades has been implemented. This implementation in primary schools starts from Class 1 to Form 2, which is Years 1 – 8. It then continues on to Year 9. There is a screening at the end of Year 10 and those who fail those examinations repeat the Year 10 program and the rest move on to the next grade.

There are many adult education programs taking place in the country, however, there is still no co-ordinating body that has been set up so far.

There is only one teacher that has been sent for further training overseas on special education. The Government is hoping to send more teachers to take up the same training programs in future.

Training of pre-school teachers and Government financial assistance:

There are pre-school teachers taking up University of the South Pacific extension courses leading to a Certificate in Primary School Teaching. Funding is allocated out of the Government’s own Training Budget. This operation started in 1998 and Government hopes to continue offering training awards for pre-school teachers.

There are numerous problems encountered and anticipated towards effective implementation of the EFA/EFL program for the year 20001. Some of the problems are solved, and plans are underway toward the solution of others. It is hoped that by the year 2001 most of them would have been solved completely.

Some of the main problems at current time are:

Distance and Geographical Location:

Tuvalu has nine coral islands, which are isolated from one another by a vast ocean. Communication between the islands is always difficult due to the fact that Government has only one boat to service all the islands. It normally takes one to two weeks by boat to travel around all the islands. The Telecommunications Department has installed a telephone network system to link all the islands. The two means of communication used in the country are still unsatisfactory. The boat usually breaks down and spare parts are difficult to obtain. They are usually ordered from the United Kingdom or Japan. This same problem occurs with the telecommunications system. It takes months for mechanical problems to be repaired before the telephone system is back in service again. The unreliable means of communication now used in Tuvalu poses serious problems to the Department of Education in carrying out satisfactory monitoring of all school programs, as well as conducting school inspections from time to time during the year.

Finance: - Although this has been a major constraint in the past, the Government of Tuvalu is managing to keep it under control. At least there are lots of assistance from donor countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Japan, France, Canada and international organisations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP as well as other regional organisations to which Tuvalu is affiliated. Due to the importance the Government attached to education, she has increased education budget from 16% to 26% in recent years (to cater for administration expenses, salaries and other expenditures in education). It is envisaged therefore that by the year 2001 there would be sufficient funds available to tackle all financial problems hindering educational development in the country. But this problem would never be solved completely; it will remain an ongoing problem because of the Government’s dependency on foreign assistance because of lack of natural resources.

Lack of Teachers: - Shortages of teachers at all levels throughout Tuvalu in the past has been one of the drawbacks for Tuvalu. However, the Government has embarked upon a large-scale training program for teachers in anticipation of the EFA/EFL program.

The training falls in to three categories:

In-service Training:-Those awarded scholarships just from high school to undertake Diploma Teacher Training courses, Degree programs as well as certificate courses in various institutions Some of these will return and will be responsible for the primary schools up to class eight. Some will be posted to the secondary schools

(b) Those undertaking Teachers’ Certificate courses, and will be responsible for the lower primary and pre-schools where necessary.

(c) In -service Training: - Those teachers who are in the profession but taking courses by extension from the University of the South Pacific through the USP extension centres, to upgrade themselves to Diploma and Degree levels, but remain in the primary schools. Some might move to the secondary schools. Other in-service groups sponsored by donors offer opportunities to teachers..

Countries to undertake short term courses by means of attachment to institutions overseas to under study the systems of education in the institutions where they are attached or to specialise in various subjects .(English, maths, science etc) but these attachments are seldom done every year and the number of teachers sent are very small.

This training program will continue into the future until such a time as there are sufficient qualified teachers to teach in all schools at all levels in

Tuvalu. However, there must be specialist trained teachers to be able to teach subjects like science, mathematics, business studies in classes seven and eight in the junior secondary schools in Tuvalu in future.

Changes of Personnel:

One of the constraints that the Ministry of Education is facing is the shortage of staff in the Department of Education and in the teaching force. The Department of Education is presently being staffed by a newly appointed Director of Education, two Senior Education Officers, one for SEO Administration and Assessment, one Education Officer and no Curriculum Officer. The SEO Administration and Examination is currently undergoing her studies abroad for two to three years, leaving only three officers to manage the Department of Education.

In the same manner, there is also a great shortage of teachers in pre-schools, primary and secondary schools. In all these sectors, approved teachers have been appointed to fill in the vacant positions in the teaching force. These approved teachers are those without their Teaching Certificates but they have reached Form 6 and 7 levels in secondary schools. At present there are no qualified teachers not being employed. All retired teachers have been contracted and there are no more qualified teachers left who are not under contract in the country. There are some qualified teachers who have left teaching and have secured employment in other government departments. However, we hope that by the year 2003, all our schools will be staffed by qualified teachers when all our students who are currently attending Teachers’ Colleges return with their qualifications.

Workload

This problem is associated with shortage of manpower in both the Department of Education and teachers in schools. For example, in the Department of Education, there are two vacant positions - the SEO Administration and Assessment and the SEO Curriculum. The result is that one person has to carry a great many responsibilities and no matter how hard these officers work they will not be able to give equal attention to all the responsibilities they now have with them. Consequently, there will be some responsibilities that will be left unattended to.

Data Gathering

The Department of Education identifies data gathering as a problem. This is due to the fact that there is still no data base system that has been mounted by the Department. The data that has been collected in past years is all scattered and some has gone missing. The Department of Statistics has a data base system but not all the data is available in the Department. However, the Ministry of Education is hoping to install a data base system in the Ministry by the year 2000.

Prior to the implementation of EFA/EFL programs, basic education had been confined to Government decisions alone with little involvement of the public. However, after the restructuring of the education system, it became evident that government, non-governmental and public organizations should work closely together in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the EFA/EFL programs.

After the restructuring of the education system, education became government’s top priority. All matters that are related to the general improvement of education in the country are publicly announced over radio.

Government has already unveiled and is still providing training workshops for all teachers to upgrade their professional skills in teaching. Methodologies and curriculum development, so that reading, writing and numeracy skills could be improved in schools, and numerous workshops on school administration and management have also been organised for teachers. As a result of the above training, the relationship of the school and community has become very much stronger. Parents are often invited to participate in school programs and much cooperation has been achieved between the schools and the community.

Political will - Apart from the in-country training workshops that have been conducted by Government departments and non-Governmental organisations for adult education, the use of radio and broadcasting media has been used extensively. All Government departments, together with non-Governmental organisation have access to the use of the media for all educational purposes.

National capacity

For Government to meet its commitment on education, it has allocated just over twenty percent of the national 1998/1999 budget for the education sector. When the Government of Tuvalu initiatives in the Scholarship Program and donor development assistance are added to the education budget, the overall national investment in education and training nears thirty percent. This is by far the biggest allocation that has ever been made by Government to the education sector over the past years.

Government investment in education has not only contributed to the expansion of Basic Education in terms of building better classrooms and providing more school supplies to Primary schools and Early Childhood Education but it has also strengthened adult education throughout the nation, reaching down to the grassroots level.

10. General assessment of the progress

The EFA/EFL program has two main objectives. It provides education for the overall development of the whole human being through developing positive attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enhance improved standard and quality of living both materially and non materially.

It is to ensure that all Tuvaluans are equipped with sound understanding of such useful skills and knowledge that would give them personal gratification and enable them to make a useful contribution towards the fulfillment of their community aspirations.

Secondly, EFA/EFL aims tat promoting positive attitudes towards the refinement of Life qualities. It aims to achieve a change of attitudes towards the purpose of education. EFA/EFL builds a firm foundation upon which the virtues of life of an individual such as assertiveness, discipline, motivation, leadership and recognition of the needs for social cohesion and national unity are nourished and nurtured.

Logistically, EFA/EFL is ensuring suitable provision of in-country education for all at all age levels. The provision includes facilities for Early Childhood Development, primary, secondary, academic, vocational and technical education. It is to provide equal opportunities to all for education including the disabled and the disadvantaged groups as recognised.

The progress towards EFA/EFL goals is considered a great success. EFA/EFL goals are highly recognised by all governments that have come and gone within the present decade 1990-2000. At the initial implementation stage of the EFA/EFL program until now, students who have gone through the new system and have had the opportunity to go abroad for further studies have returned to country with diplomas, Bachelors and Masters qualifications in various fields. Educational qualifications are no exception to the qualifications specified above.