Education For All (EFA)

When you hear or see the word Education for All what usually comes into your
mind?
Distinguished panel of judges, fellow competitors, my dear friends and lovely
spectators, good afternoon! Its my pleasure to be over here taking responsibility to
share my thoughts about the governments program called Education for All

Education is a right, like the right to have proper food or a roof over your head.
According to Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it states that
everyone has the right to education. Education is not only a right but a passport to
human development. It opens doors and expands opportunities and freedoms. It
contributes to fostering peace, democracy and economic growth as well as improving
health and reducing poverty. Education for All is a vision and a holistic program of
reforms that aims at improving the quality of basic education for every Filipino by 2015
and promotes sustainable development.
Why is then Education for All important?
I believe that every citizen in every society must acquire the benefits brought about by education. It provides
everyone an avenue

Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the
most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

Ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, those in difficult circumstances, and those
belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free, and compulsory primary
education of good quality.

Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access
to appropriate learning and life-skills programs.

Achieve a 50 % improvement in adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable
access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve 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.

Improve all aspects of the quality of education and ensure the excellence of all so that

recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy,
numeracy and essential life skills.
After a decade of slow progress, the international community reaffirmed its commitment to EFA in Dakar,
Senegal, in April 2000 and again in September of that year. At the latter meeting, 189 countries and their
partners adopted the two EFA goals that are also Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Although
MDGs 2 and 3 refer only to issues of universal primary education and gender parity, respectively, the
World Bank recognizes that achieving these goals requires supporting the full EFA commitment.

Why is EFA important?

Achieving the Education for All goals is critical for attaining all 8 MDGsin part due to the direct impact
of education on child and reproductive health, as well as the fact that EFA has created a body of
experience in multi-partner collaboration toward the 2015 targets. Simultaneously, achieving the other
MDGs, such as improved health, access to clean drinking water, decreased poverty, and environmental
sustainability, are critical to achieving the education MDGs.
Although there has been steady progress towards achieving many EFA goals, challenges remain. Today,
there are about 77 million children of school age, including 44 million girls, who are still not in school due
to financial, social, or physical challenges, including high fertility rates, HIV/AIDS, and conflict.
Access to schooling in developing countries has improved since 1990some 47 out of 163 countries
have achieved universal primary education (MDG 2) and an additional 20 countries are estimated to be
on track to achieve this goal by 2015. However, huge challenges remain in 44 countries, 23 of which
are in Sub-Saharan Africa. These countries are unlikely to achieve universal primary education by 2015
unless domestic and international efforts are accelerated substantially.
Although the gender gap in education (MDG 3) is narrowing, girls are still at a disadvantage when it
comes to access and completion of both primary and secondary school. Despite recent gains in girls
enrollment at both the primary and secondary levelsparticularly in low-income countries in SubSaharan Africa and South Asia24 countries are unlikely to achieve gender parity at either the primary
or at secondary level by 2105. The majority of these countries (13) are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Poor learning outcomes and low-quality education also remain overriding concerns in the education
sector. For example, in many developing countries, less than 60 percent of primary school pupils who
enroll in first grade reach the last grade of schooling. Additionally, pupil/teacher ratios in many countries
exceed 40:1 and many primary teachers lack adequate qualifications.

What is the World Bank doing to achieve EFA?

The World Bank supports the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) as the primary vehicle for
accelerating progress toward quality, universal primary education, and other EFA goals. The Bank
supports EFA through specific operations in almost 90 countries worldwide through multidimensional
efforts to:

improve primary school access and equity, as well as educational quality and learning
outcomes

improve the dropout and retention rates of girls, as well as their learning outcomes

help education systems cope with HIV/AIDS

pomote early childhood development

potect EFA prospects in fragile states

The Bank has also established a Children and Youth unit to strengthen support for nonformal education,
which helps young people develop the necessary skills to improve their opportunities and transition to the
labor market.
Policy work is a key component of the Banks work to realize EFA. This work involves analysis of
individual countries education systems and enhancing the capacity of ministries of education to develop
and implement policies and programs, as well as to generate reliable data with which to monitor and
evaluate educational performance.
Work with individual countries on EFA goals requires a mutual accountability between developing
countries and donors. On one hand, developing countries need to develop sound education sector
programs through-broad based consultation, lead the development and implementation of a national
education program, coordinate donor support, and demonstrate results on key performance indicators.
On the other hand, donors need to help mobilize the additional resources needed to achieve EFA goals,
work to make donor education funding more predictable, align donor work with country development
priorities, and coordinate donor support around one education plan (including the harmonization of donor
procedures as much as possible).
Finally, the World Bank also supports EFA efforts through analytic work and the sharing of global
knowledge and good practice. The Banks analytic work has, for example, helped establish benchmarks
for quality, efficiency, and resource mobilization in the education sector.

In the year 2000, the worlds governments adopted the six EFA goals and the eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), the two most important frameworks in the field of education. The education
priorities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are shaped
by these objectives.

The two sets of goals are an ambitious roadmap for the global community to follow. They offer a long-term
vision of reduced poverty and hunger, better health and education, sustainable lifestyles, strong
partnerships and shared commitments.
The EFA goals and MDGs are complementary: as Irina Bokova, UNESCOs Director-General, says:
When you fund education, you are securing progress towards all the Millennium Development Goals.

Education for All Goals

Goal 1: Expand early childhood care and education

Goal 2: Provide free and compulsory primary education for all
Goal 3: Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults
Goal 4: Increase adult literacy
Goal 5: Achieve gender parity
Goal 6: Improve the quality of education

Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development