EFA: THE TURNING POINT
The significance of the Education for All (EFA) movement can be measured by the difference between what would have been and what nay be in the year 2000. Figure 1 shows the total number of children of primary-school age in the nine high-population countries during the period 1970-2000, as well as the number of students of the same age- group actually enrolled in primary school throughout the period *1. As can be observed, 1990 is a turning point. It is in this year that the line showing enrolment slopes steeply upward, indicating a sharp increase in the number of children enrolled and a corresponding decline in the number of out-of-school children.
Why 1990? This, it will be recalled, was both the United Nations International Literacy Year and, more especially, the year in which the World Conference on Education for All was held in Jomtien, Thailand. It was this Conference that launched the worldwide EFA movement. Most of the nine high-population countries arrived in Jomtien armed with national EFA plans. In the follow-up to the Conference, countries refined these plans and began to implement them. The fruits of these efforts are now
1 Statistics cited in this document are based upon national reports and questionnaires prepared for the Summit. They are not official UNESCO statistics and should not be cited as such. where statistics from other sources are used. references are provided. Quotations are also from the national reports. unless other sources are indicated.
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appearing. By the year 2000, if efforts are sustained, the impact of Jomtien will be clearly evident in all countries.
The country-by-country impact of the EFA movement, calculated on the basis of data provided by the nine countries, is shown in Table 1. In those countries that in 1990 already enrolled over 90 per cent of children in primary school - e.g. China, Indonesia and Mexico -, the impact of EFA on enrolment appears moderate, the emphasis in these countries being mainly on improving quality. Even as concerns enrolment, however, the progress is greater than apparent as special efforts and measure are required to enroll the final 5 to 10 per cent of difficult-to-reach or difficult-to-serve children. In those countries having large numbers of out-of-school children, EFA has already had a significant impact on expanding access and enrolment. In India, for example, EFA efforts since 1990 appear to have accounted for the enrolment of over 16 million additional children in primary schools and programmes providing non-formal primary education. In Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan, EFA efforts, if sustained, will result in significant increases in enrolment by the end of the century. Millions of children, who would otherwise have been excluded from school, will be enrolled. Many of them will be the first members of their families to have ever received formal education.
Table 1
ENROLMENT OF SCHOOL AGE POPULATION IN THE
NINE HIGH POPULATION COUNTRIES
(MILLIONS)
ESTIMATES
COUNTRY 1980 1990 1993 2000
WITHOUT WITH WITHOUT WITH
EFA EFA EFA EFA
Bangladesh 8.4 10.3 10.9 11.7 12.4 16.1
Brazil 21.9 22.4 22.5 24.6 25.0 28.7
China 72.3 88.7 96.5 97.5 114.7 115.5
Egypt 4.0 5.2 5.4 5.8 6.2 6.5
India 53.0 68.0 73.2 89.6 79.3 98.2
Indonesia 20.2 24.9 25.7 26.0 24.5 25.0
Mexico 10.1 12.2 12.3 12.8 13.2 13.8
Nigeria 9.2 11.2 12.3 15.2 17.3 19.2
Pakistan 4.7 6.9 7.2 7.5 7.5 11.7
TOTAL 203.8 249.8 266.0 290.7 300.1 334.7
Indeed, 1990 appears to have been a decisive turning point in all countries. In some, the success has been mainly in expanding enrolment and, in others, primarily in improving quality. But the war is far from being won. Enormous efforts
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will be required to sustain and build upon the progress gained in the first years of the EFA movement. As Figure 1 shows, the slope is steep. If commitment lags or efforts fail, the momentum of the movement will be quickly lost and Jomtien could be remembered not as a singular success, but as a Sisyphean effort.
The Summit of the Nine High-Population Countries represents a unique and historic occasion to give fresh impetus to the EFA movement. Collectively, the nine nations participating in the Summit account for more than half the world's population and over 70 per cent of the world's illiterate adults. Most of them, while old societies, are 'new nations' that emerged from colonialism or domination in the middle of the present century. They possess substantial means and enormous potential. Certain of them are among the most scientifically and technologically advanced nations on earth. Several were the cradles of human civilization. All are leaders within their respective regions: countries whose role is recognized and whose example is often followed. All of these nations have long and proud traditions in education and well-trained and able professional educators in their ministries, institutes and universities.
In brief, the nations represented at the Summit have it within their power, by action and example, to transform the educational situation in the world. This, in essence, is the agenda of the meeting. It can be acted on in two ways. First, by the leaders and peoples of each nation re-dedicating themselves to the pursuit of Education for All as a basic human right and an essential condition for development. Secondly, by the promotion of co-operation in education among the nine countries and, indeed, among all nations. Education for All is a global challenge. All nations and all peoples have a stake in its success. Education is not only a social service, it is the fulfilment of the human vocation: a transformative and revolutionary act upon which all progress ultimately depends. Hence, in a fundamental sense, the purpose of the Summit is to help shape the world of tomorrow by creating, through education, the conditions for realizing the common hopes of humanity and for avoiding the fate which, unless we act, may be our shared tragedy.
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