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| Gains,
losses in Education for All in Asia and the Pacific
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 Bangkok,
12 January 2000 (United Nations Information Services) -
In 1990, at Jomtien, Thailand, 155 nations committed themselves
to not only make every school-age child complete their elementary
education, but halve the number of adult illiterates by the
year 2000. |
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| Today,
in the year 2000, over 25 education ministers, experts and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) from 44 Asia-Pacific nations will assemble
here next week to take stock of what progress they have made. |
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| The
Prime Minister of Thailand, H.E. Mr. Chuan Leekpai will open
the 17 to 20 January 2000 Asia-Pacific Conference on EFA 2000
Assessment at the UN Conference Center (UNCC) in the ESCAP building. |
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| Mr.
Koichiro Matsuura, the new Director General of the U.N. Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will be present
at the conference on his first visit to Asia since taking over
as the head of the organization in November 1999. |
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| The
EFA 2000 Assessments for the Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America,
the Caribbean, North America and Europe and the Arab world have
been preceded by two years of the most detailed, reliable and
comparable self-assessments of educational progress ever to
have been carried out by the nations of the world. |
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| Using
a set of 18 indicators and a uniform assessment technique to
measure movement towards the Jomtien goals, the national progress
report cards reveal a picture of impressive gains and persisting
problems in the Asia-Pacific. |
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| Primary
school enrollment has kept a step ahead of the growth rate of
the school age population with nearly 70 million more children
attending primary classes in these countries compared to the
331 million in 1990. The biggest gain has been in the field
of pre-school education with enrollment in early childhood programs
-- nurseries, kindergartens, day care centers -- up by 50 percent
to 47 million. |
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| More
importantly, more and more countries are concerned about the
quality of the instruction, improving curriculum, teaching material,
teacher training and evaluation methods. Adult literacy has
grown, which is increasingly aimed at equipping the marginalized
with the capability of improving their lot. |
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| National
governments in the region are spending much more on basic education
with budgets up by 80 percent on average. International financial
support for EFA goals in the Asia-Pacific shot up from 3.8 billion
US dollars in 1985 to six billion dollars in 1990 and 7.4 billion
dollars in 1995. |
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| But
much remains to be done. The dramatic increases in primary school
enrollments conceal the growing gaps in access to education.
Far more boys than girls go to school, specially in the overpopulated
nations of South Asia. The spectacular growth of early childhood
schooling is largely to be seen in the towns and cities rather
than the villages. |
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| A
preoccupation with enrollment in formal schools has led to relative
neglect of alternative, non-formal channels of instruction that
are far more meaningful. |
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| While
most children are now being admitted to school, not many stay
the full course with not enough attention given to retention
measures. However, Asia-Pacific nations are increasingly realizing
that it is not enough to simply hike enrollment ratios without
slashing the persistently high dropout rates. |
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| Although
government spending on basic education has grown sizably, the
gains are not much in real terms because of inflation and an
overall increase in budgets. Most international donors, except
the Nordic nations are still to keep their pledge to set aside
0.7 percent of their Gross National Product for overseas development
assistance. |
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| The
Asia-Pacific Conference on EFA 2000 Assessment will discuss
ways of tackling these issues. Sessions on each of the six Jomtien
goals will be held for each of the four Asia-Pacific sub-regions
-- Central Asia and the Trans-Caucasus, South and West Asia,
East and South East Asia and the Pacific. |
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| The
world education body along with UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, the World
Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ESCAP, is organizing
the meeting in the run up to the global assessment of progress
towards the targets set by the landmark World Conference on
Education for All that was held in Jomtien, Thailand in March
1990. It is one of six regional conferences leading to the World
Education Forum to be held in Dakar, Senegal 26 to 28 April
2000. |
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| The
conference is expected to adopt a regional plan of action, which
will be put up before the World Education Forum in Dakar in
April that will chart out the global road to education for all
in the 21st century. |
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For
further information contact:
Regional Technical Advisory Groups in Asia and the Pacific
UNESCO Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
P.O. Box 967, Prakanong PO
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel. (66-2) 391 0577, Fax: (66-2) 391 0866
Email: uhbgk@unesco.org
Uhord@unesco.org
Web Site: www.unescobkk.org
or
United Nations Information Services
2nd Floor, Block B, United Nations Building
Rajdamnern Avenue, Bangkok 10400
Tel: (662)2881866,
Fax: (662)2881052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
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