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| Viewpoint |
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 During
the 1990s, we have seen several major world conferences on important
development issues. But what effect have they really had?
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| The
Education for All 2000 Assessment, just launched by the EFA
Forum, will analyse the progress achieved since the 1990 World
Conference on Education for All in expanding and improving the
provision of basic education around the world. This global assessment
is important for several reasons. |
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| The
first is that it will generate current and reliable statistics
about the many components of basic education, ranging from early
childhood development, through primary schooling, to educational
activities for youth and adults. This will enable countries
to monitor and measure their progress more closely and comprehensively.
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| The
second is that the assessment exercise will produce a broad
picture of the challenges that countries face, the various solutions
they have found, and the partner-ships that have developed in
basic education. |
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| The
final and most important is that it is an excellent opportunity
for each country to examine how well the basic learning needs
of its people are being met and to revise its public policies
and strategies as necessary. |
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| In
order to fulfil these expectations, the assessment process must
involve the principal providers of basic education, both inside
and outside governments, as well as parents' associations, teachers'
unions, research institutions and the media. |
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| The
1990 world conference was a major milestone on the road towards
the right to education for all people of all ages. The EFA 2000
Assessment will measure how far we have come and give a clearer
idea of how long the road ahead will be. |
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| Michael
Lakin Executive Secretary of the EFA Forum |
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| Global
EFA Assessment begins |
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| How
well have countries delivered on their commitment to provide.
|
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| basic
education to their people? To answer this question, the EFA
Forum has launched a global assessment of the progress made
during the 1990s towards the goal of Education for All. |
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| Each
country is invited to establish a special team, headed by a
national co-ordinator, with a clear mandate to design, supervise
and carry out the national assessment. National co-ordinators
will be able to examine data and discuss problems at sub-regional
workshops early in 1999. |
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| Moreover,
the regional offices of the five convenors of the EFA Forum
(UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank) are invited
to agree on the composition of a Regional Technical Advisory
Group. This group will backstop country offices and assist the
EFA Forum Secretariat in organizing the regional and sub-regional
assessment activities. |
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| Finally,
some thirty developing countries will be asked to carry out
special sample studies to examine the learning environment and
measure achievement of primary-school pupils. |
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| "This
exercise will provide new data that are essential for planning
further action to promote basic education," says Michael Lakin,
Executive Secretary of the EFA Forum, who is co-ordinating the
assessment. He underlines the fact that the assessment is more
than a technical exercise to generate reports: "We hope that
this major stocktaking will encourage countries to rethink their
EFA strategies and monitor their actions closely," he says.
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| The
results will be examined by the international community at the
EFA Forum's fourth global meeting, planned to be held in the
first quarter of 2000. |
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| The
EFA Forum web site, www.education.unesco.org/efa,
provides current and detailed information on the EFA 2000 Assessment. |
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| Timetable
for the EFA 2000 Assessment |
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| July
1998: Invitation letter, together with the General Guidelines,
sent to all national governments and all country and regional
offices of UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank.
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| August
1998: Setting up of national EFA assessment groups with
a national assessment co-ordinator to organise the work.
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| September-November
1998: Phase One of assessment work, commissioning studies,
surveys and data collection, and undertaking preliminary analyses.
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| December
1998: National EFA assessment groups prepare a preliminary
draft report of their national EFA assessment report, based
on existing data, for discussion in country and at sub-regional
workshops |
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| January-March
1999: National co-ordinators meet at sub-regional workshops
to examine preliminary draft reports and discuss problems. National
data collection and analysis continues. |
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| April-August
1999: Phase Two of the assessment work, integrating new
data and information resulting from Phase One activities.
|
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| September
1999: National EFA assessment reports to be submitted to
the EFA Forum. |
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| November-December
1999: The EFA Forum convenes regional policy |
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| review
seminars to examine issues papers based on the national assessment
reports. |
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| EFA
Forum Steering Committee meets |
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| The
Steering Committee of the EFA Forum will hold its next meeting
at UNESCO headquarters in Paris from 30 September through.
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| 1
October 1998. The meeting’s substantive theme for discussion
is "inclusive education", which is also the focus of the July
issue of the EFA 2000 Bulletin, Including the excluded: One
school for all. |
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| The
Steering Committee will also discuss the global EFA 2000. |
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| Assessment,
how to make optimal use of its results, and decide on preparations
of the Forum’s fourth global conference in the year 2000.
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| The
Management Group of the Steering Committee will meet on 2 October
1998 to discuss the financial implications of the EFA 2000 Assessment
and the subsequent conference. |
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| Inter-agency
group guides assessment |
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| An
ad hoc Technical Advisory Group (TAG) has been estabished to
advise and assist the EFA Forum Secretariat to plan and co-ordinate
the EFA 2000 Assessment at the global level. Members of the
Group are staff of UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World
Bank. |
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| The
group has already met twice this year -- in April and in June
-- to decide on a set of technical guidelines, proposing eighteen
core EFA indicators, that should be used to describe or measure
the main components of basic education. |
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| The
next meeting of TAG will take place in November 1998. This meeting
will evaluate how the EFA 2000 Assessment is developing at national
and regional level and analyse the. |
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| The
high price of school wastage |
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| An
increasing number of children in developing countries enrol
in primary school. But this positive trend is undermined by
a persistently large number of pupils who take more than one
year to complete a particular grade and/or who drop out of school
before completing even the primary cycle. |
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| This
problem is examined in a new report, Wasted Opportunities: When
Schools Fail, published by UNESCO in the EFA Forum’s "Status
and Trends" series. The report analyses the latest data on trends
in repetition and drop out in developing countries. |
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| It
discusses the scope of wastage, its causes and what can be done
to make schools more efficient, and it also presents actual
experiences of several developing countries. |
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| "Wastage
absorbs a large share of scarce resources, and it takes its
greatest toll on the most vulnerable groups in society," says
Michael Lakin. "Finding ways to minimize ‘school wastage’ must
play a central role in any serious effort to reach the goal
of Education for All". |
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| Staff
members of the EFA Forum Secretariat: |
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Executive
Secretary:
Michael Lakin
Deputy Executive Secretaries:
Svein Osttveit, Ulrika Peppler Barry
Information Officer:
Anne Müller
Secretary:
Mary Konin |
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Assessment
co-ordination:
Warren Mellor (country assessment)
Vinayagum Chinapah (special surveys) |
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 |
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The Education
for All Newsflash is published by the Secretariat of the International
Consultative Forum on Education for All (EFA Forum). It is a
special information service for professionals involved in the
worldwide EFA 2000 Assessment (1998-2000). The assessment is
a major activity in the follow-up of the 1990 World Conference
on Education for All.
Editor: Anne Müller
Contact: The EFA Forum Secretariat, UNESCO, 7, Place de Fontenoy,
75352 Paris 07 SP, France.
Fax: (33) 1 4568 5629; E-mail: efa@unesco.org
Internet homepage: http://www.education.unesco.org/efa
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