Education for All: Status and Trends.

Overview & Synopsis

The 1990 World Conference on Education for All, held in Jomtien, Thailand, resulted in the creation of the International Consultative Forum on Education for All. The "World Declaration on Education for All" adopted at the conference reaffirms the international community's commitment to ensure the right to education for all people. Subsequently, the International Consultative Forum was established to monitor progress toward Education for All (EFA) and to promote consultation and cooperation at a global level. This report, issued by the Forum's Secretariat, provides a global overview of current trends in primary education. Following the introduction, the first section examines progress made toward the following goals: reducing illiteracy; reaching the excluded children; easing the demographic pressure; and universalizing primary education. The second section identifies the ups and downs of primary education, such as uncertain growth and the schooling of girls. Section 3 describes problems in ensuring educational quality--the measurement of quality, the age at which children enter school, incomplete schools, grade repetition, school survival, lack of materials, teachers' qualifications, and the measurement of academic achievement. Resources for education are described in the fourth section, which include public expenditures and donor support for basic education. The final section examines the EFA process in various countries. A league table shows key indicators for 87 developing countries; another illustrates how 121 countries are implementing the EFA framework. Twenty-five figures are included. Appendices contain a list of regions for the EFA report and notes on data. (LMI)