D+C Development and Cooperation
(No. 6, November/December 2002, p. 12-13)

That the proportion of adults in developing countries who can read and write increased between 1970 and 1999 from 46 per cent to 75 per cent is certainly a notable success. But there are still almost 900 million illiterate people, and more than 100 million children have no access to schools. A World Conference held in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990 declared Education for All as its goal. But it was not achieved. The follow-up conference, the World Education Forum, in Dakar, 10 years later had to pronounce it anew. Andreas Baaden reports on efforts by UNESCO, together with other national and international organisations, to bring more and better basic education to the world and link it with the goal of sustainable development.

The call for 'Education for All' (EFA) was the focus of the conference which took place in Jomtien, March 5-9, 1990. The delegates adopted the 'World Declaration on Education for All' and a 'Framework for Action'. A few months earlier UNESCO had adopted an action plan which provided for "the eradication of illiteracy by the year 2000". This plan was reaffirmed in Jomtien, and the new 'Framework Plan' proposed precise "phasing of implementation for the 1990s" to achieve the target. By 2000 there were to be no illiterates in the world.

Almost two years later, in December 1991, UNESCO staged the 'International Consultative Forum on Education for All' in Paris, which concluded that to ensure the goal of Jomtien would be achieved each country should pursue an appropriate strategy. "Whether we succeed depends largely on further large-scale efforts by individual countries," its final statement said.

The Dakar conference:
target 2015

Thus the goal should have been achieved by the end of the decade: no longer any illiterates. At the World Education Forum (Jomtien+10) organised by UNESCO together with UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank in Dakar, April 26-28, 2000, the delegates summed up the bottom line: goal not achieved. True, in developing countries the proportion of adults who could read and write had risen markedly from 46 per cent in 1970 to 75 per cent in 1999. The number of children attending school had increased between 1990 and 1998 from 599 million to 681 million. But there were still 875 million illiterate adults worldwide, and 113 million children were not going school. Two-thirds of these disadvantaged people were girls and women

The reasons why the international community had failed to advance basic education and literacy decisively in the developing countries were clear in Dakar. They were shortcomings in democratisation, poor teacher training, unprofessional education policy and education system administration, disadvantaging of girls and women, a lack of teaching in native languages, insufficient participation of the people, and irrelevant curricula. Debt crises and corruption also played a role.

In view of this sobering outcome, the Dakar Forum reaffirmed the goal of Education for All, but gave it a new target year. It also came up with an international action plan, the 'Dakar Framework for Action: Education for All - Meeting our Collective Commitments', which obliged the governments to halving the number of illiterates in the world by 2015. Children in all countries were to have the opportunity to attend school. Equality of opportunity for women and girls in basic and secondary education was also to be achieved.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to the governments to draw up binding national plans to provide education for their people. This has been done in many places. By end-2001, some 41 countries had produced national plans which were to be implemented in coordination with development cooperation programmes, and especially with action plans for poverty reduction, and in close cooperation with civil society organisations. But UNESCO made clear that without technical and financial support most developing countries would not be able to realise their EFA plans.

In October 2001, UNESCO's annual Monitoring Report stuck to the Dakar plan. It said US$ 8-15 billion per year would be needed to achieve the goal by 2015. As immense as this sum may appear, compared to the defence budgets of some countries it is 'peanuts'. So the target is achievable. UNESCO called on the donor countries to support states that made a serious commitment to the Dakar goals.

By 2015, access to school must be provided for 156 million children, 88 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 million in South Asia, and 23 million in the Arab states. A vast effort will be needed for the Southern Africa region, which must more than double its enrolment rate compared with the last decade if it is to achieve the goal of basic education for all by the target deadline. Some countries, such as Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Liberia, Niger and Somalia must in fact increase their enrolment rates tenfold.

Positive examples are Malawi, Mauritania and Uganda, all of which have doubled their enrolment rates during the last 10 years. With regard to the targeted equality of opportunity for women and girls, the UNESCO report noted a slight improvement in their situation except for sub-Saharan Africa and some South Asian countries.

But the report also noted critically that in many countries the enrolment figures were increasing at the cost of the quality of education. Also, a large number of children dropped out of school after only a short time and thus acquired only limited skills in reading and writing.

In order to halve the number of adult illiterates by 2015, about 90 million people per year must learn how to read and write. Some countries have large backlogs here as well. The Monitoring Report said Egypt and India must double their adult literacy rates compared to the 1990s, and Bangladesh and Pakistan must treble theirs.

UNESCO will use the United Nations 'International Literacy Decade', which begins in 2003, as a platform to give the Dakar process more dynamism worldwide, especially by more intensive PR work.

Education in the Rio process

In the run-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg last September, UNESCO pointed out that achieving the goals of Agenda 21 adopted in Rio 10 years ago also depended to a decisive degree on education. It said awareness of the environment, a sense of social responsibility and understanding for cultural diversity were qualities which people acquired mainly though their upbringing in the family, at school and in their social environment. The Delors Report of 1997 named four dimensions of basic education for full development of human potential:

• learning to know;
• learning to do;
• learning to live together;
• learning to be.

Education and upbringing are therefore key factors for sustainable development. UNESCO has assumed the role of task manager for implementation of Agenda 21's Chapter 36 (Education and Training). To date, however, the central role of education for sustainable development (ESD) in the Rio process has not been perceived sufficiently.

That is why in New York on March 25 this year, at the third meeting of the WSSD Preparatory Committee, UNESCO tabled a draft position paper titled 'Enhancing Global Sustainability', which was to be included in the discussions at the summit. The paper focused on the six goals of the action plan 'Education for All' to which the international community had made a binding commitment at the World Education Forum in Dakar. These goals must also be the basis of the ESD strategy (see below).

The Dakar goals have in the meantime been reaffirmed several times, such as by the resolution of the 147 government leaders at the UN Millennium summit and - marking the second anniversary of the Dakar Declaration - on April 26 this year in a joint statement by UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank: 'Closing the Gaps to Achieve Education for All'.

Alliance for education

UNESCO calls for a New Alliance between governments, international organisations, NGOs, education professionals and the private sector, which should pursue the goals of Agenda 21's Chapter 36 more decisively than to date. To secure financing, UNESCO proposes the setting up of an international fund for ESD projects, which it says must be located at municipal and regional level. The aim is a fundamental realignment of formal education on sustainable development, for which the 60 million teachers around the world are especially important. By reform of teacher training they should become the key figures of the change.

Exchanges of views and knowledge between local actors can give the ESD process added impetus. To network local initiatives, UNESCO suggests the setting up of a database and communication platform to which the people would have direct access. The focal point should be countries with particularly high population densities.

Securing local knowledge systems and cultural diversity are also of great importance for global sustainable development. Cultural impoverishment also means a lack of economic opportunity. Globalisation threatens cultural diversity and results in the loss of knowledge handed down over the generations, which in developing countries is of great significance for sustainable use of natural resources. Therefore in October 2001 UNESCO adopted its 'Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity'. UNESCO calls for its introduction as a basic document for sustainable development and thus the acceptance of culture as a development factor in its own right.

1. expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;
2. ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality;
3. ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes;
4. achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults;
5. eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality;
6. improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.